Total Betrayal (Deep Space Endeavor) (6 page)

             
"I cannot wait either. Until then, I shall be with Josiah on his mission to Pythos. Are you alright with that?"

             
"Of course, I figured he'd ask you. Just stay safe, okay." He leaned in and kissed her and as he turned to go, she grabbed him and kissed him intensely. She smiled as he slowly returned to his sister's side. He glanced back three times, and each time she was still there, and she was still smiling.

             
"It's about time you came to your senses with her, Jess." Nina said as they walked.

             
"I know, how could I have been so stupid for so long?"

             
"You got me; it's one of the galaxy's great mysteries." She laughed at his scowl as they walked into their next meeting.

______

              The vote had been returned, not quite as quickly as the Enclave demanded, but Lucien realized that these things took time. Twenty-eight planets had voted overwhelmingly in favor of bringing the Marcos and Romanov families and all of their associates before the Coalition and Enclave governments for sentencing. He knew that frightened people would turn on even their most beloved heroes if they thought it might save them. The people of the Coalition were merely sheep, and he already had them doing his bidding. He couldn't wait to see the look on their collective faces when he had his Enclave turn the tables and subjugated them.
They will hate themselves for what they have done because they will have turned on the one family that had any hope of defeating their invaders
. That thought made him smile. Lucien loved other people's misery, and this was shaping up to be one of the most pleasant experiences of his life. Then there was the alien defeat at Polisia. Losing that many ships that quickly would slow down their attacks and give him the time he needed to consolidate his power within the Coalition.

             
"Rhodes," Lucien, called. “What are the final numbers?"

             
"The people have spoken, Lucien," he excitedly replied. "They have voted against Marcos, eighty-nine percent to nine percent with two percent abstaining. All of the Coalition except Polisia, that is. Polisia has voted ninety eight percent to none in favor of Marcos, again, with two percent abstaining."

             
"That is troubling, Rhodes, we'll need to do something about that."

             
"It was to be expected, he did just save them from annihilation. He also did us a huge favor, taking out that many alien vessels. They may not have the fleet resources to continue the attack, and they will surely not reach Enclave Prime, now."

             
"No, they won't, but that is not what worries me. Jesse Marcos is charismatic; his people will follow him to hell and back if he asked them to. We can't have that type of personality sitting safely on a well protected world with a fleet of over a hundred ships at his disposal, especially with the delusions that we somehow owe him money and ships. It's a recipe for trouble." Lucien paused as he thought through where the situation was leading. "We will need to put considerable pressure on Polisia until they acquiesce and turn him over to us. Do whatever needs to be done. Planetary embargo, threats with deadlines. They have almost a million refugees to worry about, let's sneak some people in and stir them up. We must get rid of Marcos and have his ships."

             
"I'll do what I can, but it has just come to my attention that he is about to give the government of Polisia almost eighty billion dollars to help them with their refugee problem and they are also using what they have left of their construction equipment to build settlements for the displaced people. I don't see them giving in to any of our demands."

             
"Figure something out," Lucien yelled as he straightened his jacket and prepared to tell the media how proud he was of the Coalition and how disappointed he was in Polisia.

             
"We should be able to get assassins into the refugee camps very easily, though. They would be ready to strike if he or any of his people are inclined to personally help those poor souls."

             
"That might work," he replied as he walked out the door.

______

              "You're giving us what?" Councilor Dana asked in disbelief.

             
"We're gonna give you enough money to make sure adding this many people to the planet doesn't hurt the economy," Nina replied with a smile.

             
"How much are we talking about?" The Councilor's inquiry was all business.

             
"Eighty billion, to start, more if it's needed. We're also getting all of the construction equipment our company has left and we're going to build settlements for our brothers and sisters seeking refuge."

             
"How, how are you gonna pull that off. That's a lot of people."

             
"Some of our equipment is already here and Lieutenant Jackson is retrieving the rest of it." Jesse informed them. "When we have it all, we'll be able to build fast enough to house almost one hundred twenty thousand people every two weeks. So within four months, all of the refugees should be settled."

             
"We'll work it on a lottery system as to who goes first, just so it's fair. In the meantime, we're gonna get them everything they need to be as comfortable as possible, while we work on creating jobs they can take to sustain themselves and contribute to the economy once they are settled." Nina finished with a hint of pride in her voice.

             
"Why are you doing all of this? Not that we're not grateful, but why?" One of the older council members asked.

             
Nina tried not to let the pain show on her face as she tersely answered, "Because the Coalition has abandoned us, not just Polisia, but us as well." She paused to collect herself, but it did no good as she continued. "They took everything we've ever done and threw it away as if it never existed." She was on the verge of yelling now and for the first time, Jesse could see how deeply hurt his sister was. "Twenty eight other worlds are voting right now as to whether or not we're even allowed back in the Coalition and we've done nothing wrong. I know it's because this, this Enclave wants our ships. Ships they didn't work to build, ships they didn't pay for and ships they wish to use to subjugate us. I won't have it, not while we are still able to fight."

             
Jesse had never seen his sister so close to losing it in a meeting before. He put his arm around his sister and finished more calmly. "They left you to be destroyed and we were able to help. So it works out for both of us, we still have a home and you still have a planet."

             
"Thank you, Colonel Marcos, thank you, Missus Romanov. We are very grateful. We will begin working on the suggestions you have made immediately. Polisia will be better than ever, and we won't need the Coalition or the Enclave to make it happen." When the leader of the ruling council had finished, they said their goodbyes.

             
Jesse walked his sister out into the corridor and quietly asked, "Is everything alright, Sis? I've never seen you almost lose it in a meeting before."

             
"I know, and I'm sorry. It's all just starting to get to me, you know."

             
"I do, and you have nothing to be sorry about. Are you sure you don't need me to stick around and help you out?"

             
"Not a chance, you need to go get to know your beautiful daughter. We'll be alright." She kissed his cheek and then he was quickly out the door to pick up Lana and head into the mountains."

______

              ...Back in the Kalephi Galaxy, Chief of State Enosal ended his transmission with a grin. The Lawless Sector Alliance had just picked up two new allies, giving them a total of five races and twenty-seven worlds. Even with the Zinnebailans rebuilding their fleet and the pirates choosing Captain Xia to be their leader, they still wouldn't be able to pose a threat to the Hyperian-backed alliance. On top of the twenty-three human worlds, the alliance also contained the Qualoosh, Julanii, Rizniaz of Negowinz and the newest species, the Salacateans of Honasaur.  The Salacateans are an ingenious species that resemble small woodland animals. Standing three feet high, three and a half if they are considered tall for their species, they do not make good warriors. They do, however, build some really impressive machinery. They have soldiers, and a pseudo-army, but it's more of a planetary pride thing. There hasn't been a war on Honasaur in over five thousand years. One of their best engineers just joined the crew of the
Catamaran II
, a young Salacatean named Goslar. His recommendation might actually be the reason his planet joined the alliance, that and the rumors of a new bad guy forcing aliens to choose. They reasoned they wanted to be allied with the good guys. Enosal smiled again as he remembered asking them how they knew the alliance was good. They responded by saying that any friend of Colonel Jesse Marcos had to be good.

             
Cassie was flying high. Another successful mission was just put to bed. She had helped negotiate another planet into the alliance. Also, her crew now stood at eight once again. Sibbie and Teha both loved Goslar, even though they sort of thought of him as a kid. It didn't help that Goslar was cute as well as small. They were happily showing him around the ship. Agent Desmond was fitting in well, and Tioga had recently remarked that it was actually starting to feel like a family again. Losing Lenk and Sandstorm had been difficult, but with Desmond and Goslar, Wennagal commented on how the crew felt whole again.

             
"We are ready to depart," Enso called up to the bridge from engineering. He had been making some light drive modifications that Collin had suggested months ago, but that he had not had the time to make until now. "Our trip should be almost ten percent quicker."

             
"Good work, Enso," Cassie smiled as she spoke to her cousin. "Take us out, Wen," She added as Wennagal gently brought the ship off the ground and into the sky. As they prepared to break orbit, her mind was suddenly drawn back to her time on
Endeavor
. She still regretted how she had treated Jesse, but she regretted even more that the entire galaxy knew how she treated Jesse. Her time on
Endeavor
did teach her that there were people in the galaxy that could be trusted, and she was working on how to do that with her crew. She loved that they were becoming a tight knit group, and hoped to continue to foster that atmosphere until the crew of the
Catamaran II
was as much a family as the crew of
Endeavor
.

             
"Where to, Captain?" Wennagal asked as the
Catamaran II
shot through the ionosphere and broke free from Honasaur's gravity.

             
"Let's go home, Wen, we could all use a couple days off."
We have been going almost non-stop since the battle at Chawanas, mostly to try and forget about Ogen and Lenk. Now, however, it is time for a break, and I have an elite luxury spa with my name on it, literally. I purchased it with part of my share of the treasure, and they are waiting for me to arrive
.

______

              Collin approached Josiah while
Endeavor
was in light space heading for Pythos, worry etched on his face and Josiah already knew what he wanted to talk about. "Jo, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I really thought my parents would warm up to Bessa after a couple weeks, but it's just not happening. I thought that once they saw how much I loved her and how happy we were, they would get past their alien bias. What am I gonna do?"

             
"I wish I knew, Collin, we didn't count on the Coalition being at war with five alien races when we returned, and I'm sure that's got to be part of your parent's apprehension."

             
"We didn't count on a lot of things, Jo." he replied sadly.

             
"Well, it might take them a little longer than expected, but your parents are good people. They'll come around eventually."

             
"I know, I'm just worried about Bessa and how she's handling all of this. I hate to be away from her right now, even for a couple days."

             
"Yeah, I'm sorry I couldn't risk bringing her on the mission, if we get caught and she's with us, it would be all kinds of bad, for all of us."

             
"I understand, buddy, but that doesn't mean I have to like it." He left the bridge to get something to eat and he was soon replaced by Kimi. He also knew what she wanted to talk about.

             
"Do not worry about Bessa, she will be safe with my mother and sister. Suzy, Reece and Jason are also with her. She will be in no danger."