Total Betrayal (Deep Space Endeavor) (25 page)

             
"You are really doing well with them, Lana."

             
"Thanks, but it was Dad that got the whole thing started. I'm just reinforcing what he taught them. It's hard because they're so cute and I love them. I know that if they're not properly trained we'll have to kill them because they're so dangerous, and I would hate that, so I don't mind being strict for now. I just wish Dad were able to help more, I know how much he loves doing it. I guess that's just one more thing that Admiral Bliney took from him." She paused and a look of anger mixed with hatred came across her face. "Kimi, I hate that man."

             
Kimi hated that this young girl had to feel those kinds of emotions and tried to console her. "Lana, do not worry about Bliney, he will get what he deserves. Worry instead about your father; we are the only ones really in a position to help your dad heal emotionally. It was up to Suzy, Ariel and Nina when Rebecca was killed, but now it is up to us. Are you up for it?"

             
"Kimi, I would do anything to see him smile on a regular basis again, to see the joy he had from a simple hike in the mountains."

             
"I, too, would give anything to hear one of his stupid jokes. It has been far too long since he told one."

             
"I know, Aunt Ariel told me his bad sense of humor was almost as legendary as his bad piloting, and I've never really heard it. This whole thing has just made me so sad and I can never let on because I know Dad is counting on me to be strong."

             
"You can always come to me or one of your aunts to let it all out, Lana. Do not let it build up inside you."

             
"Alright, but only if you promise me the same thing." She embraced Kimi and buried her head in Kimi's shoulder. "I just want my dad back, I waited so long to have him in my life, Kimi; I want him in my life again." Kimi was thinking the exact same thing as she comforted the daughter of the man she loved.

______

              A week later, Jesse was moving around pretty well. He couldn't yet run full tilt, but he could manage more than a brisk jog. He was beginning to learn how to cope, and he was very thankful for Lana and Kimi. They wouldn't leave him alone, and whenever he was tempted to wallow, Lana arrived with one of the pups to cheer him up. It was as if the women he loved were reading his mind. It wasn't so much that the pup cheered him up, it was that his teenage daughter thought the pup would cheer him up that made him smile. Still, he found himself thinking of nothing but revenge whenever he wasn't with them, almost to the point of distraction. He finally heard Serge's question the fourth time he asked.

             
"Jesse, are you feeling alright? I need to know where we will be installing the power couplings on the gravity generator."

             
"I'm sorry, Serge, my mind is elsewhere."

             
"On Bliney, I know, but we must not get distracted from finishing. It might be our only means to escape this nightmare."

             
“You're right, Serge, but I'm not going anywhere until Bliney is dead. We'll finish so that everyone else can get out of here if they need to, but I'm staying until he pays for what he has done to me. The conduit goes on the right side, six centimeters from the bottom and two-point-four centimeters from the left corner. You'll see the wiring ready to go."

             
“Yes, yes, I see it now. Jesse, I know you are hurting, but this need for revenge will destroy you if you do not rein it in."

             
"I know that, Serge, but I can't. I start to think about just leaving and I tense up to the point of headaches just thinking about him getting away with what he's done. Living a comfortable life as a hero back on Enclave Prime, his health, his family, his fortune all intact, and I begin to visibly shake with anger. I hate that I'm like this now, but I can't let it go. Not yet, anyway."

             
"Well, you have to," Josiah interrupted. "At least for the next day and a half; you're coming to the mountains with me, Collin, Reece, Xanu and Frost. Commando is still on puppy duty, so Nina is lending us her girl."

             
"Thanks, Jo, but I don't have the time."

             
"Serge, can you manage without Jesse for the next day and a half?" Collin asked with a smile.

             
"I believe I can." Serge replied with a nod.

             
"Lana," Josiah called over his comms. "Can we take your dad for a day and a half?"

             
"Absolutely," he almost thought he could hear her smile as she replied.

             
"Thanks, Lana." He looked at Jesse and continued.  "And Reece convinced Suzy to clear you to go and Nina said she won't need you either. Manny can handle tomorrow's briefing, so you're free, my friend." The look in Josiah's eye let Jesse know it would do no good to argue.

             
"And, we've already packed your stuff," Collin added with a laugh.

             
"Alright, fine." Jesse relented. He actually thought a night with the guys might do him some good. "Serge, have Jason program the timing device we're gonna use to synchronize the two machines and we could be ready for testing in three or four days."

             
"I will, now go." Serge absently waved him off as he installed the power coupling.

             
An hour later, Jesse smelled the crisp mountain air for the first time since he took Lana camping. Josiah, Collin, Reece and Xanu had the campsite up in minutes and a roaring fire going a few minutes after that. Jesse was glad they had let him chop some firewood without mentioning anything about taking it easy on his leg. The physical labor in the mountain air did wonders for his morale and he noted thankfully that his friends had yet to mention anything about his condition. They were determined to have a good time and that included a couple six packs.

             
"I'm not sure I should have any," Jesse replied when Reece handed him one.

             
"Nonsense, Suzy said it would be fine as long as two or three doesn't turn into nine or ten, and we didn't even bring enough for that." Josiah smiled as he tossed Reece the bottle opener.

             
They spent the next six hours eating and talking and most importantly, laughing. Jesse almost forgot his problems for a while, almost. Still, he was thankful for his friends as he fell asleep.

             
Just before dawn, Jesse woke up to a low growl from Frost. “What is it, girl?” Jesse patted her head while he reached for Helga. He was grateful that his friends had thought to bring his multi-application tactical unit, his favorite weapon that he had affectionately named Helga. He peeked outside his tent to see six sets of boots descending a mountain trail. He didn't recognize the boots and he quickly put on his battle suit jacket. He kept Frost quiet as he heard a slight stirring from the next tent over. He saw two figures slip out the back of the tent and they were joined by two more. He knew it was his friends, and he crawled out behind his tent with Frost. They all took shelter behind the nearest trees as the boots stopped and opened up on the tents with heavy repeating blasters. The sound of blasterfire seemed to wake nature up as birds squawked, snow wolves howled and even the wind picked up a bit. The smell of charred ozone and nylon quickly overwhelmed the pleasant smell of the mountain air.

             
The men ceased fire and one of them called out, "Compliments of Admiral Bliney," to a round of laughter from the rest of his cohorts.

             
By this time, Jesse's group had spread out to catch the assassins in a crossfire. Jesse laughed to himself as he heard one of the men say, "I thought taking out Marcos would be tougher." He then heard the inevitable frustration of one of his companions yelling, "They're not here; no one was in the tents."

             
"That's because we heard you stomping down the trail from like a mile away," Reece yelled back with a smile as he opened fire on the assassins. He was immediately joined by Josiah, Collin, Xanu and Jesse as they quickly took down three of the assassins.

             
"Find cover," one of the attackers yelled as the next barrage took down another.

             
"This can go two ways," Josiah started. "You can surrender and spend a good deal of time in prison or you can die here. What's it gonna be?"

             
"You think I only brought five men," the leader laughed. Just then another eight men arrived to shore up the remaining two assassins. These men were heavily armored and Collin slowly drew his side cannon. "We only want Marcos, send him out and the rest of you walk away. This is your last chance." His offer was met with a blast from the side cannon that took down two of the heavily armored men. The rest of the men immediately charged Jesse's cover, firing as they ran. As they were about to overtake him, he shot Helga's grappling hook into one of the trees and pulled himself into the air. He landed in a less than graceful roll behind the leader and shot him quickly. Frost was dispatching the last of the original assassins while the remaining six decided on a new strategy. They each charged a different person, hoping their superior armor would enable them to overpower their enemy quickly.

             
Reece was the first to engage, burying the ax Jesse had used to split wood into the helmet of the attacker. It didn't go through, but stopped him in his tracks. Reece then swept his leg, putting him on his back while stomping down on the helmet as the man tried to rise. Reece attempted to kick him again, but was tackled to the ground in a desperation move. He rolled with the tackle and used his assailant's weight to throw him off, finally dislodging the helmet. They were both back on their feet quickly, but Reece was quicker to the punch, hitting his opponent with two hard overhand rights and following with a leaping knee to the assassin's face, taking consciousness from him. He looked over at Xanu who wasn't faring quite as well and jumped on the attacker as he was getting ready to plunge his knife into his fallen foe.

             
Josiah and Collin were back to back fighting off the assassins and were both impressed with how well they fought. They were pretty evenly matched, but the attackers wore thicker armor, which gave them a slight advantage in hand-to-hand combat. They noticed Reece helping Xanu and looked over to see Jesse engaging two men.

             
Jesse knew he was in trouble as the two men charged him. He shot Helga's grappling hook right into the faceplate of one of the charging assassins. The plate cracked, but the hook did not go through. Before he could try again, they were upon him. He broke the faceplate and took consciousness from the first man with a gralium-knuckled overhand right, but the move cost him as the second assassin swept his legs and he couldn't get his prosthetic out of the way in time. He went down hard, grazing a rock with his cheek and as he thought about how that could have gone worse, the assassin jumped on him. After several shots to the ribs, the assassin pulled out a blaster and took aim at Jesse's head. He was quickly knocked off by an angry Frost and as he tried to rise, Collin took him out with the last shot from his side cannon.

             
"Jess, you okay?" Josiah called as he ran over. He was greeted with a smile and a thumbs up by his friend as a red welt began to form under the scratch on his cheek.

             
"I need a better leg," Jesse complained. "Still, it did better than I thought it would. I should be fine when I build my new one."

             
"That's what we've been trying to tell you, buddy." Collin smiled as he checked on Reece and Xanu. "Looks like we need new tents," he mused.

             
"I think we'll be alright," Josiah laughed.

             
"We should get back, my leg's not bending right and it's in a lot of pain." Jesse said, not intending to darken the mood.

             
"Jess, are you alright?" Reece asked as Collin and Josiah were helping him up.

             
"Yeah, it's nothing a screw driver and a little oil can't fix, but Suzy is gonna kill you guys." He started laughing and added, "Man, I miss this."

             
"I think our friend is finally on the road to recovery," Josiah laughed as Xanu and Reece shot him a quizzical look.

             
"He told his first bad joke in weeks," Collin clarified as they all laughed. They were a little surprised that Jesse let them help him down the mountain and were relieved to see his mood had improved in spite of or maybe because of the incident.

             
When they reached the command center, word of the assassination attempt had already spread throughout the military. Jesse's leg had begun working almost properly, but he was still limping a bit and he wasn't exaggerating about Suzy's reaction.

             
"What have you guys done to him?" She yelled as she came over to check him out. "I thought I made it clear that you were to take it easy with him. He's not combat ready yet."