A Pirate's Tale: The Only Solution Is Retribution (8 page)

• • •

“Are we going to the planet where you’re going to have the modifications done?”

“Not yet, Ana.  I’m meeting the boys at another planet first.”

“Why?”

“They might not sign on and I don’t want to reveal what we’re doing if they don’t.”

“Oh.  Ok.”

They arrived above a planet in the Proxima Sector of the galaxy and took an old shuttle out of Leo’s ship’s landing bay.  They landed at the spaceport twenty minutes later and rented a bus.  “Where are we going, Leo?”

“The boys arrived earlier this morning; they’re waiting for us at a local establishment.”  Ana nodded and stared out of the windshield; this part of the city they were moving into didn’t look like a high rent section.  Matter of fact, it didn’t look good enough to be low rent either.  Leo parked the bus in front of a large tavern and handed a fifty credit note to the bouncer at the door, “Can you insure it won’t be damaged?”  The huge bouncer took the note and smiled.  Leo looked at Ana and said, “Stay close.”  He didn’t have to worry.  She grabbed his arm and held on tightly.  This was a rough part of the city.

They walked through the door and immediately heard loud laughter and loud voices in the rear of the establishment.  Leo smiled, “They’re here.”  He threaded his way through the crowd and many of the customers stared at Ana but didn’t try anything with Leonidas escorting her.  As he approached the table one of the men saw him and jumped up out of his chair, “LEONADIS!!”  The others at the table jumped up as well, ran over to him, and began pounding him on the back and hugging him.  Leo smiled and returned their affection as two chairs were pulled over to the table where they could join the loud group.  Leo looked at a waitress and said, “Bring a round for everyone and put it on my tab.”

“I’m sorry, sir.  But you have to pay in advance,” the waitress said while staring at Ana.

Leo pulled out a thousand credit note and handed it to the waitress, “Let me know if you need more.”  The waitress’ eyes went wide and she began taking orders.  Leo sat down and the thirty-six gathered at the table began updating Leo on everything that had happened since they last saw him.  Ana listened in silence and noticed all of them looked at her when they thought she wasn’t looking but none of them questioned Leo about her.  It didn’t take long to see that Leo was right; the people at the table had deep feelings for him and were very closed mouthed.

One of the men went back to his chair and bumped into a giant of a man walking behind him, which caused him to spill his drink.  He cursed out loud and Leo immediately jumped up and said to the huge man, “I’m so sorry.  This is entirely our fault.  Please allow me to buy you and those at your table a round to replace your drink.”  Leo grabbed his waitresses’ arm and said, “Please, take this man and his friends as many drinks as they want and put it on my tab.”

The giant looked at Leo and smiled, “Thank you very much.  We appreciate your generosity.”  Leo patted him on the back as he walked back to his table.

Leo sat down and one of the men said, “Sir, why have you called us here?”

Leo looked around the table and said, “Before I get into that, are any of you unable to take an assignment that might take a few years to complete?”

The men all looked around at each other and Glenny said, “I’ve just started a new job that took a year to get.”

Leo nodded, “Are any of you married and have families?”

The man who spoke first said, “All of those that do weren’t able to answer the call, Sir.”

Leo smiled, “I thought that might be the case, Jack.  I notice that Russel, Nick, TR, and Elizabeth aren’t here.”

“They told me to let them know if you are in danger and they’d saddle up immediately.”

Suddenly the huge man appeared behind Leo and said, “Jack?  Is that you?”

Jack looked at the man and his eyebrows came together, “Do I know you?”

The man laughed, “You knew me before I grew this beard and long hair.  I’m Barney Baker.”

Jack’s eyes went wide, “Barney!  You old dog, what are you doing in this run down town?”

Barney shrugged, “You know how it is, when they disbanded the unit; we ended up stuck here.”

Jack looked around the table, “Hey everybody, we served with Captain Baker on the Regulus Campaign!”  Jack looked at Barney, “Hey Barn, this is my former CO, Leonidas.”

Barney turned to Leo and his eyes were wide, “Not the Leonidas?”

Jack smiled, “The one and only!”

Barney started shaking his head and stuck out his hand, “Sir, it should be me that is buying you drinks.  What you did to save the platoon on Regulus was incredible.”

Leo smiled as he shook Barney’s hand, “Thank you, what unit were you in?”

“I and the lads at my table were in Third Special Forces.”

Leo tilted his head, “You were the ones that took out the major artillery units on the front of The Mountain.”

Barney smiled, “That was us, Sir.  But it was your unit that got us out alive.  We were pinned down and outnumbered when you gave us cover to escape.”

“Captain, it looks like you’ve run into bad times,” Leo said as he looked at the men dressed in old clothes sitting at Barney’s table.

Barney shrugged, “You know how it is, Sir.  The Unity disbanded all of the mercenary units once they took control of the sector.  We were taking R and R here as a reward for the battle and our ship just left us.  This planet wasn’t this bad off before the Unity took control.”

Leo looked at Barney’s table and saw the other seven men were watching them.  “Why don’t you invite your table to join us?”

Barney’s eyes went wide and he waved the others over, “Come on over; this is Leonidas!”

Ana leaned in and whispered, “Do you trust them?”

“I know who they are and they didn’t fold when everyone else was giving up and running away.  It was their taking The Mountain that gave us the victory.  They have the hearts of a warrior.”  Ana sat back and wondered just who Leo was.  She didn’t know he had served in the military.

Leo waited as many of the former soldiers recognized each other and introduced the others.  All of the seven Special Forces warriors came over and shook Leo’s hand thanking him for saving their lives.  After an hour, Leo said, “I have one more guest I’ve invited to be here and he should arrive in exactly twelve minutes.”

Jack looked at Leo, “How can you be that accurate?”

“Insectoids are always exactly on time.”  The entire table went silent.  Leo looked at them, “I want all of you to understand that he is a friend of mine and I expect you to treat him with the same courtesy you show me and each other.”

Barney said, “I’ve never actually seen an Insectoid but the rumors about them are scary.  I hear they’re incredibly ugly.  They are not a part of the Unity and I understand the Unity does not fool around with them.”

The only woman in the group said, “Can’t be as ugly as some of you.”  She looked at Leo, “We’ll treat him properly, Sir.”

Ana looked at the woman and saw she was quite pretty; short black hair and brilliant blue eyes.  She felt a twinge of jealousy and wondered why.  She saw that the woman kept her eyes on Leonidas and ignored her.

Leo turned to Barney, “I’m here to recruit some warriors for a one to two year assignment.  Would any of your group be interested?”

Barney looked at Leo and said, “Will it get us off this cesspool planet?”

“It will.”

“Then count us in.”

Leo smiled, “I think it will do better than that, Barney.”  Leo looked around the table, “I need to know now if any of you can’t or won’t want to take part in this mission.  There will be a high level of danger involved and you could die if things go bad.”

He looked at each of those gathered around the table as they looked at each other and Jack said first, “I’m in.  I’ve been bored to tears for the last few years.”

Leo looked at Glenny, “Don’t worry about your new job; I’m sure you’ll make more with us in two years than you will in ten on your new job.  The others immediately began agreeing as well. 

Everyone heard crowd noise and immediately noticed the customers gathered around the entrance began scattering as Barney said, “It must be eight o’clock.”

Everyone at the table looked toward the door and saw an eight foot tall Insectoid moving through the crowd toward their table.  It walked on four legs with two arms emerging out of its thorax below its huge triangular shaped head.  Two large multifaceted black eyes were located on each side of the triangle that were large enough to wrap around its head from the front to the sides.  It was flashing different colors of green and neon blue as the lights in the tavern flashed of the hard shell that protected its body.  The woman said, “I was wrong.  None of you are that ugly!”

Leo turned around and saw the Insectoid being given plenty of space by the crowd.  He stood up and met the creature before he arrived at the table and said, “Thank you for coming; I wasn’t sure you would.”

“I may not be staying.  I just wanted to see what she looks like.”

Leo shrugged, “She’s pretty close to the original but she is not Victoria.”

The Insectoid turned his multi-faceted eyes toward Leo, “Is she not worthy of the gift?”

“Actually, her heart is purer than Victoria’s.  You’ll have to make your own decision about whether or not she’s worthy of the gift.”

Ana watched them communicating and stood up, walked over to them, and looked up at the huge Insectoid.  They stopped talking and Ana said, “I understand that you provided the DNA Technology to change my appearance.”  The Insectoid nodded.  “I was not happy at first but now I’ve become accustomed to my appearance and I want to thank you for your gift.  I’ve managed to stay alive because of it and I want you to know I truly appreciate it.  Please lean down for a moment.”  The Insectoid leaned down expecting Ana to whisper something but she went up on her toes and kissed it on the side of its triangular shaped head.  “Thank you!”

The Insectoid stared at her for a long moment and then turned to Leo, “You’re right, her heart is purer.”  It turned back to Ana, “You are welcome.  I see that Leonidas has chosen well on who to use it on.”

“Are you going to stay?” Leo quickly asked.

The Insectoid looked at Leo and then back at Ana before answering, “Yes, I think I will for a while longer.  At least for the time being.”

Leo smiled and waved him over to the table.  Ana smiled as well and followed Leo back to her chair as the Insectoid stood behind Leo looking around the table where the former mercenaries sat in silence staring at him.  “Everyone, this is Gem.  He’s been a close friend and has helped me more than I can say in developing my survival skills.  He’s here to listen to what’s going on just like all of you and I’m hoping he will join us.  You can introduce yourselves to him once you hear what I’m planning but we need to get down to business now.”

The Insectoid looked at the gathering and said in a calm voice with perfect Cartian dialect, “I apologize if my appearance causes any of you distress.  I understand that initially my appearance can cause some to feel ill but, after some time has passed, you will become accustomed to how I appear.”

Barney smiled as he said, “I’ve seen much worse.  I think all of us are glad you’re here with us.  We’ve heard many things about your species and I can honestly say that I’m hoping to find out if they’re true.”

“Thank you.” The Insectoid looked around and said to Leo in a soft, clearly modulated voice, “Do you wish to keep this conversation private?”

Leo said without turning around, “I do.”  Suddenly, the entire group was surrounded by a light blue colored privacy field.  Leo smiled and said, “I know all of you are wondering why I brought this woman with me.  The name you will use to address her will be Victoria or My Lady, which is not her real name, but it makes it easier for you to not inadvertently say her name.”  Leo looked at Ana, “Alright, tell them what you want.”

Ana’s eyes went wide, “I thought you were going to do that?”

“You’re the one paying them.  You asked to be here so it should be you who tells them what’s going on.  Tell them everything; they deserve to know what they’re getting into.”

Every eye around the table, including Gem’s eyes turned to her.  She looked around the table and sighed heavily as she began speaking, “About a month ago I was traveling on a Starliner for Kellinger.  We were boarded by pirates led by John Blakely and he killed two members of the group I was traveling with…”

Leo sat back and listened to Ana retell everything that had happened down to the smallest detail except for the name of her family.  He was genuinely surprised she remembered all of it.  She even remembered the trigger ring on the man’s hand in the black vehicle.  He watched the former warriors gathered around the table and saw she had their total attention.  He could even tell that Gem was also totally focused on what she was saying.  He saw most of the warriors looked directly at him when Ana mentioned that he was going after Blakely for killing his brother.  That information will have to be handled after Ana finished.  He turned and listened with the others.

“…so when Leo said he was going to pick up a crew, I asked if he might help me find a crew to fly my ship as well.  That pretty much brings you up to date.  I’m here with him to hire a crew to fly my ship.”

Jack looked at Leo, “Tell me about this brother.  I never knew you had a brother.”  Leo saw Ana’s head jerk around to stare at him.  Leo sighed, “Most of you know after the unit was dissolved, I shipped out with my former Regimental CO.”  The group nodded.  “He was given a medium warship as pay he never received and left before the Unity Fleet arrived.  We moved around the galaxy hiring ourselves out as mercenary escorts defending commercial shipments.  We were between jobs and traveling on the Unity’s filament, when we heard a distress call from a Unity Warship.  The ship was under attack by a pirate fleet and most of the support vessels were knocked out of action.

  We boosted in and opened fire on the three ships moving in to board the ship and breached their hulls causing them to withdraw.  Four of the remaining pirate ships started pursuing us as three other pirate ships began moving in to replace the ships that were knocked out of the fight.  Then a Unity supporting fleet came boosting in at high speed on the filament and the pirates fled.  We also got out of there fast and thought we had lost the Pirates.  We went to Jergan to replenish our stores.”