A Pirate's Tale: The Only Solution Is Retribution (22 page)

“I don’t know.” Victoria answered.

Gem arrived at the entrance immediately after the man exited and stood inside the front glass as he watched the man head across the street.  He went to a tiny ship where he was confronted by an alien.  It happened so quickly that Gem was only able to see it due to his enhanced vision.  The alien’s head was cut off so fast that the man’s movements went unnoticed by anyone around him.  The man saw Gem staring at him from inside the tavern as he boarded the small ship. He left the alien lying on the ground as the small ship lifted above the street.  In a moment, he was gone. 

Gem stared at the alien’s body until several security guards arrived.  He then turned and headed back to the table.  He took his seat and Desiree asked, “What was that all about?”

“That man was here so that someone could take a recording of him.  Once he was sure that was done, he left.”

Victoria nodded, “I saw that in the pattern.”

“Well, one of those that took his image attempted to stop him from leaving.”

“And?” Desiree asked.

Gem looked at them, “The alien had his head removed by the man faster than any of us could have done it.  He was also carrying a Bellingham Sword.”  Both women stared at Gem in disbelief.   He assured them, “If I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t believe it.  Somewhere in that man’s past his body underwent some sort of training similar to yours.  He had the sword out and back in the scabbard in less than a three tenths of a second.”

“That’s not possible!”

“Desiree, I saw it happen.”

“Why do you think he wanted his photo taken?”

“He wants someone to come here looking for him.”

“Should we leave?”

“No.  I want to speak to him if he comes back.”

The two women looked at each other and wondered why the man wanted to be found.  Their meal arrived and they ate it in silence.  After a few minutes, Victoria looked at Desiree, “You know, we’ve visited several galaxies and in none of them are humans hiring themselves out as mercenaries.  What prompted you to become one?”

Desiree sighed, “I actually followed a man I was interested in into the Legion.  However, he managed to get himself killed in our first battle.  But what was done was done and I had to complete my enlistment.  When it came time to re-up, I felt comfortable with the people I was fighting with and really didn’t have anything to return to, so, I signed up again.”

“You didn’t have a problem killing other beings?” Gem asked.

Desiree shrugged, “The CO found planets that needed our help in fighting off some pretty vicious organizations.  I think he knew if he signed on to a planet on the wrong side of things, he would lose his command.  Most of those we killed deserved it.”

“But…”  Victoria paused and shook her head, “I just don’t know if I could have killed another being if I didn’t have any skin in the game.”

“When you’ve seen females and young children massacred in horrendous ways, it’s not real hard to find the motivation to prevent more killing.  For the most part, we saved more lives than we took.  If you wonder why we did it in the first place, you need look no further than Barney and his warriors that were stranded on that planet.  They were barely able to survive and that was the situation most of us were in that signed up.  After the Legion was disbanded, most of us suffered afterwards.”

Victoria nodded, “I’ve heard that life on Earth is not very good.”

Desiree nodded, “There’s never enough food to go around and the prices are outrageous.  Joining the Legion probably saved my life.”

Gem glanced at them as he watched the front door, “Humans have become mercenaries a lot more often than either of you think.”

“Oh?  Why do you make that statement?  My Legion was the only human one I knew about,” Desiree replied.

“What do you think a Pirate is?  They go out and attack other ships in an organized military fashion.  They can also be hired to do it for others and the most successful Pirates are humans.  John Blakely is a good example of that.”

“We were not Pirates!!” Desiree said sternly.

“Desiree, you can call it what you want but your actions match up very closely with pirates.  Victoria and Leonidas believe that Blakely was hired by someone in Romanov’s Business to attack the Starliner she was on.  That is mercenary behavior.”

Victoria lowered her head, “I’ve pretty much lived in the lap of luxury my entire life.  I’ve never wanted for anything but I really haven’t been very happy.”

“Why not?” Desiree asked.

“I don’t know.  I guess at some level I could tell that my parents really didn’t love me and my sister.  I was forced to only associate with people that were trusted by the company and had to have guards go out with me wherever I went.  Now that I know we were bought and used as a target for kidnappers or as agents to carry out dangerous assignments, my suspicions were validated.  I knew in my heart that my family was ruthless in their business dealings and I didn’t feel good about what we did most of the time.  I have to say that being on this ship has been the best time of my life.”  She looked at Gem, “Your gift of Victoria’s DNA changed me.  I’ve enjoyed our time out partying on different planets.  I guess I’m more outgoing than I was before the change.  Desiree, you are as close to me as my own sister.”

Desiree raised the corner of her mouth, “It has been fun.”  Victoria nodded and knew Leonidas would be showing up the next day.  She wondered how that was going to go.  She glanced at Desiree and knew he would have to make a choice between them eventually.  She didn’t know if she wanted that to happen…yet.  She needed more time with him to make him see she was the one he needed in his life.  Besides, she was rich enough to turn his head.  She wondered if that made her like her father.  And would wealth attract Leo or possibly push him away?

• • •

Leonidas looked at the monitor and saw that Jester was about eight hours away from their current position.  He looked at Barney, “You have the ship.  I’m going to take a break to get some sleep.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Leonidas left the bridge and went to his quarters.  He fought to find sleep but kept thinking about what could be done about the Romanovs searching for Victoria’s ship.  He knew that Victoria was interested in him and so was Desiree.  That kept swirling around in his thoughts as well.  He also thought about how Mark had deceived him about Desiree and between the three issues, sleep was impossible.

He forced himself to focus on each item one at a time.  Victoria may just have to stay out of the Romanov’s galaxy.  She was safe as long as she didn’t come back.  He realized they would think differently but that was the most logical thing to do.

“Which of the two women had his attention?  Well…both of them did.  They were different from each other but both of them were attractive in their own ways.  Desiree shared a common history with him and shared his fighter’s soul.  Victoria had an innocence that made him want to protect her.  She was also pretty strong of spirit and would take on anyone that threatened her family or friends.  She was also incredibly wealthy.  He thought about the wealth and decided that it really wasn’t important to him.  It was nice but not something he craved.  He did fine before he met her and would continue to be fine after she was gone.

He sat up straight.  Something in his subconscious was telling him that he would not stay with her; he was already looking at life without her in it.  Did he feel the same way about Desiree?  He wasn’t sure.  Either way, this was not a decision he was going to make now.

What about going after Mark’s killer?  Ummm…Mark used him and deceived him about Desiree over the years…but…Mark took him in when he was a starving seventeen year old on Earth and gave him a home and purpose in the Legion.  The reason Mark deceived him was he didn’t want to lose him.  He was selfish in doing it but his affection was clear.  Mark must have seen that if he knew about Desiree, he would have eventually chosen to go with her.  Desiree was a strong willed woman and wouldn’t be easily controlled by Mark.  He was given his purple card as a result of Mark’s decision to fight off the pirates attacking a Unity ship.  Neither of them knew the President of the Unity was on that vessel and he later rewarded him with a Purple Card.  Mark would have received one as well but died in the aftermath.  It took the President a while to find his savior and thank him for saving him.  Leo closed his eyes and remembered when Mark promoted him the first time in the middle of a battle on Haden.  He could almost smell the ozone and burning trees from the heavy blaster beams that had his platoon pinned down.

• • •

The Platoon was trapped behind a line of burned out trees.  The Lieutenant had just been vaporized by a blaster beam from the center heavy blaster bunker two hundred yards in front of them and sticking one’s head up to check out the three bunkers facing them was an invitation to join the Lieutenant.  Captain Anderson’s voice came over the communication links and everyone in the platoon heard him say, “Corporal Piper!  You’re promoted to Lieutenant and you will take your platoon and take out those three blaster bunkers in front of your position now!!”

Leo keyed his link, “But Sir, there are others in the platoon that outrank me…”

“I know who’s in your platoon!  Now follow your orders and take them out.  This war is lost if we don’t break through those blasters.  Now get moving!!”

Leo looked around and saw the other members of the platoon were all staring at him; they knew they were all about to die.  Leo looked at Carl laying on the ground next to him and said, “You should be the one doing this!”

“Forget it, Lieutenant!  I’m perfectly happy hugging this piece of dirt I’ve grown quite fond of in the last ten minutes!”

A brilliant blaster beam flashed over their heads and a tree two hundred yards behind them exploded into flames.  Leo rolled over on his back and keyed the platoon’s frequency.  “First squad will remain here and dig in.  Second squad will belly crawl fifty yards to the left and dig in there.  Third squad will crawl fifty yards to the right and dig in.  I want the Automatic Heavy Projectile Guns in each squad to be set up on their tripods and sighted in on the bunker directly in front of each squad.  Second Squad has the one on the left, First Squad has the center bunker, and third squad has the one on the right.  Now get this straight; you will sight in on the openings to those bunkers and on my command open fire and don’t stop.  I don’t care if we run out of munitions doing this, we’re dead if we don’t pull this thing off and saving rounds won’t do us any good.”  Leo paused and said, “Jeff, Chuck, Billy, and Glenny pick up two explosive packs each and be ready to jump up and start sprinting between first and second squad’s fire toward the bunkers.  Carl, Jack, Embree, and I will do the same between first and third squads’ fire. We will stay between their lines of fire so the rest of you keep those bunkers sighted in and don’t lose your sight pictures. The only way we’re going to make it to those bunkers is for everyone to fire everything they have at the openings to those emplacements and keep it going.  If you let up, they’ll raise their armor covers and all of us running toward them are dead.  Report in when you’re ready to fire.”

“First Squad Projectile Gun is locked on target.  All shoulder blasters are locked on target.”

“Second Squad is also ready.”

“Third is ready, Sir.”

Jack looked at Leo, “Sir, you’re in command now.  Shouldn’t you send someone else?”

Leo said over the link where everyone could hear, “I’ve chosen the fastest runners in the platoon.  That includes me.  We win or lose using our best elements to make it happen.”

Carl looked at Leo, “Care to make a wager on my beating you to the bunker?”

“What would you like to wager?”

“I’ve always wanted a certain gold watch.”

“Alright, Carl.  If I ever get to a point where I can afford it, I’ll get you that watch.  What do I get if I beat you?”

“Nothing, Sir.  That’s for choosing me to do this.  Now I at least have a reason to leave this beautiful patch of dirt.”

“What’s the matter, Carl?  Do you want to live forever?”

“Tomorrow would be just fine by me, Sir,” Carl replied.

  Leo chuckled, “We’re going do this or I’ll have the record for the shortest promotion on record.”

“Sorry, Sir.  Lieutenant Madden was blown up by an enemy rocket the moment after he received word about his promotion a week ago.  You’re already two minutes behind his time,” Embree said over the link.

Leo rolled his eyes as he pushed two explosive packs into his pouch, adjusted his shoulder blaster’s quick swivel sling, and said, “Well, let’s hope I don’t take second place.  Alright, on my command, open fire with everything you’ve got; ready…FIRE!”

Leo heard the heavy projectiles leaving the three squads and he used his arms to push himself up to his feet, jumped over the burned tree trunk directly in front of him, and started sprinting toward the three bunkers two hundred yards away.  He jumped over on a fallen tree trunk and leapt over a blast depression.  The smoke from the burning trees obscured the view ahead but he cleared the last of the trees and saw the bunkers directly ahead as a brilliant wall of blaster fire passed him on both sides.  He focused on the three bunkers in front of him and saw that the clear armor blast covers had come down over the bunker openings.  The brilliant sparks of the heavy projectiles hitting the three bunkers and ricocheting away were almost mesmerizing as he passed the half way point and zigged around another blast crater.  He was ten yards ahead of Carl as he approached a hundred and fifty yards into the run and he could actually see one of the soldiers in the center bunker pointing at him as he jumped up and down.  He leaned into the sprint and saw the blaster cover start to rise but a volley of heavy projectiles forced the blaster crew to slam it shut.  He knew the blaster crew wasn’t going to just sit still and he narrowed his eyes and focused on the center and right bunkers.  When he was ten yards out from the central blaster, he saw three enemy soldiers come out from behind the bunker and raise their weapons.  He slid to a stop and went to a knee as he raised his shoulder blaster in an instant and quick fired a blaster bolt across the three soldiers cutting them in half.  He jumped back up as Carl ran past him and threw himself against the center blaster’s wall.