Deep Space Endeavor 3 Death Match (29 page)

“Tell me, what kind of numbers are we looking at for the
War Hawks
and
Leviathans
?”

“The SSE can currently produce up to forty-eight a year. Sixty if they are really motivated. But in one year’s time, they will finish a production facility that will be able to produce eighty to one hundred per year on top of the forty-eight. So we would be looking at one hundred thirty to one hundred sixty SSE ships a year, beginning next year. The other ships produced by Earth’s military will jump from eighty to two hundred per year. Add that to the already impressive production of the Enclave ship yards, and we should be able to dominate the aliens within the next ten years, Lucien.”

“This is good news. Are you sure these production facilities will be up and running within the next year?”

“Yes, they will, Lucien, President Sandoval is convinced that the more ships we put out, the less likely you or the aliens will be to come looking for trouble.”

“What the fool doesn’t know is that he is building all of those ships for me.” He laughed an evil, soulless laugh as his spy continued.

“I think until both production facilities are complete, we should hold off on any more assassination attempts on Nina Romanov, Ariel Marcos or President Sandoval. If any of them were to die before the completion of the facilities, it would delay completion greatly, especially on the SSE side.”

“I agree. We will call off the plans for Nina Romanov and the President until the facilities are complete.”

“You will have to reign in Natora; he hates the Marcos clan with a passion and is looking for a win since both Enclave attempts on them have failed.”

“Don’t worry, I know how to handle Natora, I will promise him the one thing he wants most.”

“What would that be, Lucien?”

“I will let him personally kill Jesse Marcos once we have the SSE facilities. Until then, I will make him leave them alone. If they are worried about him, they will be distracted from building our ships. If Natora won’t get in line on this, he will be eliminated. Is there anything else?”

“Just one last thing, there is a spy that goes by the name of Ladyhawk, she has uncovered many of our secrets. We need to eliminate her before she finds out we are in league with you.”

“Make it happen, contact me when it is done.” As the transmission ended, Lucien smiled at the thought of all of those powerful SSE ships under his command.
When that happens, the galaxy will quickly be mine. Lucien Drotorr, Supreme Commander of the Milky Way Galaxy. I have to admit, it had a nice ring.

______

Nina had scheduled a meeting with Ladyhawk because she wanted to hire some mercenaries not tied to SSE in any way. She wanted mercenaries that Jesse would trust, and Ladyhawk was the only one likely to know who that might be. Manny might have a couple suggestions, but he would surely object to what it is she was proposing, so she was left with Ladyhawk. A meeting with Ladyhawk wasn’t like a meeting with a customer or business associate. A meeting with Ladyhawk was you waiting until she contacted you with instructions, and then you leaving instructions for the job you needed her to do. This would be a fairly simple assignment for the renowned spy as Nina only needed her to put her in contact with a mercenary willing to do wet work that Jesse would trust. Two days later, a file appeared in Nina’s office. There was no record of who had put it there, and the file was heavily encrypted. If you didn’t have the decryption key, you would not be looking at the information on the file. There was no known way to crack the encryption algorithms she used. If nothing else, she was incredibly cautious. When Nina had decrypted the file, the only information on it was a name with the corresponding contact information. The name was Maria Tejada. Nina recognized her name. She was one of the unit leaders Jesse had led into the Battle of Polisia against the Pack. Nina sighed, took a deep breath, picked up an untraceable line, and reached out to Maria.

As Maria’s face filled the screen, Nina looked at her and began, “My name is Nina Romanov, I’m…”

“Jesse Marcos’ sister, I know. The whole Coalition knows. How did you get my contact information, and what do you want?” Maria knew Jesse was out of reach and a contact from his family was the last thing she had ever expected. She knew it could only mean bad news.

“A mutual friend of my brother’s gave it to me, and I would like to hire you.”

“Hire me, what would the Coalition’s princess of business need with my services?”

“As you may or may not be aware, there have been several recent attempts on my life and the life of my cousin Ariel. My cousin almost didn’t survive the last one, and is still recovering. What I need is someone who can find out who the perpetrator of these attacks is, and take them out before they can try again.”

“Take them out?” The shock was evident in her voice. “I’ve got to admit, I’m very surprised to hear you ask me to do that.”

“Why, do you not do that kind of work?” Nina’s confusion was evident in her voice.

“No, it’s not that, it’s that usually when your brother hires me, he has more benevolent missions in mind.”

“Benevolent?”

“Protecting missionaries in the outer colonies, or helping a farmer stand up to a company trying to illegally seize his land, that sort of thing. You know, a good cause. I always get to feel good about myself for a little while after I work for your brother.”

“I suppose taking out the people that are trying to kill his family does not fit into the category of benevolent.” Nina reflected sadly. She hated that it had come to this, but she felt like it really was them or her family.

“Hold on, Nina, I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it. I was merely surprised. Jesse saved my life on Polisia, and he never called in that marker. I feel like I need to help you.”

“No one can know you are working for me, especially Jesse when he gets back.”

“Agreed, now, do you have any idea who may want you dead or am I starting from scratch.”

“No, I have a list. We believe it is a secret organization called the Enclave. The organization has twelve members and we have been able to identify eleven. I am forwarding you their names. I have to warn you, there are some pretty heavy hitters on this list.”

A look of disbelief crossed Maria’s face as she read the names on the list. “You weren’t kidding. Some of these people are really heavy hitters. Admiral Natora, Admiral Thomas, some senators a member of President Sandoval’s cabinet. Are you sure about this? Where is your intel from?”

“It’s from Ladyhawk; we are one hundred percent sure.”

“And you want me to take out all eleven? That’s going to be a pretty expensive op. I would have to do it simultaneously or they would figure it out before I was half way through.”

“I only want you to take them out if you uncover another plot against myself, any member of my family, or any of my top people at Sea Side Enterprises. If they have changed their mind for whatever reason, and they are not coming after me anymore, we won’t need to go after them.”

“I have to tell you, Nina, this could be a dangerous path you are starting down. If we need to take action, once it’s done, it cannot be undone. You do understand, right? They already tried to kill you and they’ll probably try again. For all intents and purposes, you are hiring me to put a hit out on all of these people. That’s a lot of blood on your hands.”

“I know, Maria, this isn’t a decision I have come to lightly, but it is us or them.” Nina answered softly. “I hate that I even have to think about this, but with Jesse not around, it falls to me to do something about this.”

“Alright then, I’m on retainer until Jesse gets back, I’m seeking out any plots against you or those close to you, and if I find any from any of these people, I take out this whole list. Is that correct?”

“Yes, that sounds about right. I don’t know if we’ll be lucky enough to survive another attack, and I would like Jesse to have a family waiting for him when he comes home. So how much is this arrangement going to cost?”

“Six million standard to keep me on retainer for six months, three million for an active investigation and then eight million for each target taken out with a three million bonus if we get them all. So you could be looking at up to one hundred million. Are you able to do that? I know it sounds like a lot, but I am going to have to bring several people in on this to pull it off. Don’t worry, I won’t use anyone your brother doesn’t know, and each person brought in will only have a small piece of the puzzle. Are those terms acceptable to you?”

Nina was tempted to haggle, but she didn’t think that was how these types of deals worked. In a business room, she knew all the rules and all the tricks, but when it came to this sort of thing, she was out of her element. She only hoped that since this person often worked for Jesse she wouldn’t cheat her too bad.“Those terms are acceptable,” she agreed.

Maria sensed her pause and added with a more serious look, “I’m not overcharging you, Nina, it’s my going rate. You can ask Ladyhawk if you need to.”

“That won’t be necessary. We’ve come to an agreement.” The next several minutes were spent talking about untraceable accounts and transferring funds. The retainer and investigation fees were transferred immediately. The rest would wait until the job was done if the job needed doing.

When Nina finally finished speaking with Maria, she sat alone in her office and began to tear up. She felt so cold and she suppressed a shiver. She felt so alone as she thought,
when did I become the kind of person that could have someone assassinated? Why can’t Jesse just be here? None of this would be necessary if he was here.
That was her fault, too. She had begged him to go. As much as it may hurt, and as evil as she felt about it, she just couldn’t let the Enclave have any of them.
With Jesse unavailable, I have to protect Ariel, Serge and Lana. Poor Lana, subjected to all of this because she shares blood with a father she has never even met.
The obligation fell to Nina to protect them all until Jesse returned and so for the first time in her life, she had committed a crime.
I can only hope they don’t try to kill any of us again. At least then, I can be absolved. That would never change what I was willing to do, though, and I’ll always have to live with that.
She wrapped herself in her jacket and silently cried in her office for several minutes before Ariel came knocking at the door.

“What’s wrong, Cousin?” Ariel asked, concern etched on her recently repaired, beautiful face. Nina felt a little bit better seeing her younger cousin up and about with almost no lingering physical effects of her near death experience.

“Nothing, I just miss Jesse,” she lied.

“Nina, Lana would really like to leave the ship. She’s really bored and we should let her do this before everyone begins to figure out who she is. Once that happens, she won’t be able to. I think it would be alright if she spent a day or two with Raina and Jason. I’m pretty sure Jason’s figured it out anyway. This way she’ll be safe, and maybe even have a little fun. It might take her mind off her mother, if only for a little while. What do you think?”

“I don’t know, it seems dangerous. What if someone figures it out while she’s on the ground?”

“How about we send Charlie with a protective detail to discretely shadow her? I think it will be fine, and it will really help her mental health. The only other thing I can think of to fill her time is to begin training her as a pilot.”

“I don’t know, Ariel, but I suppose if we are ever going to let her leave the ship, sooner would be better than later. Alright, let’s let her go have some fun with Raina. Jason will be there with Charlie and a detail, right?”

Ariel’s face lit up as she nodded an affirmative and leaned over to hug her cousin. “She is gonna be so happy, Nina, thank you.” Nina gratefully accepted the gesture and kissed her cousin’s cheek.

______

Admiral Natora sat at his desk. He was still livid that the President had recalled Bliney from deep space and given him the military’s top spot. He had also been contacted by his liaison to the Enclave, and received explicit instructions to cease all assassination attempts on the Romanovs, Ariel Marcos and President Sandoval, until after completion of the new ship building facilities. Overall, his mood had been bad for weeks. He looked at his monitor as a transmission alert blinked. He steeled himself for more bad news as he answered. He was pleased to see the face of his spy aboard the
Vanguard
flare to life on his monitor. “Stevens, what news do you have for me?” He knew his spy wouldn’t just be giving him a social call, so he skipped the pleasantries all together.

“I have news that could be very important, Sir,” Stevens replied with a malicious grin. “Almost two months ago, I was on the bridge when Captain Hernandez received a transmission from a Terri Evans. He took the transmission in private and erased all recordings of the transmission. At first I thought it might be a mistress we could use to blackmail him, but the reality is so much better.”