Total Betrayal (Deep Space Endeavor) (45 page)

             
"We're on our way." Josiah replied as he commed Reece and told him where to meet. He brought Tanna, Xanu, Maria and Damon in a speeder while Collin and Bessa prepared
Endeavor
for emergency liftoff. He couldn't help but worry about how Jesse would hold up in battle with the new leg.

             
"You are surrounded, Marcos, surrender and we may let your girlfriend live." A large bald man called out from behind a speeder across the street. Kimi showed her displeasure with his bargain by firing off two rounds, killing one of the attackers. Jesse added his fire to hers without responding to the offer. As he stood to find better cover, two Pandarans burst through the windows of the store behind him. He turned in time to catch an overhand right to the side of his head. He went with the blow, spinning away from the first into a leaping knee to the face of the second; his gralium knee quickly took consciousness from the Pandaran as his friend brandied a large hunting knife.

             
"I'm gonna kill you, Marcos." He growled as he leapt at Jesse.

             
Jesse thumbed Helga into her blade form and watched as it shot right through the chest of the Pandaran while he was still in the air. Jesse retracted it as the alien hit the ground dead. "Get in line," he quipped as he continued moving. He could see Kimi holding her own out of the corner of his eye, and he decided it was time they stood together, even if it made more of a target. He shot Helga's grappling hook into the building behind Kimi and launched himself into the air. He hit into the building feet first and then lowered himself down to his wife. He took out another attacker with his blaster as he looked at her and said, "Did you miss me?"

             
"Indeed, let us stay together until our friends arrive." She didn't say it, but her eyes told him she was worried about his leg. He was also worried, but he didn't want anyone hovering around to protect him, especially the woman he loved.

             
"That's what I was thinking. There's a lot of them," He added. "I've taken at least six, and you've gotten about the same, and they still have over ten out there."

             
"I have noticed that as well, it seems as though every time we kill one, another appears."

             
"Well, they're gonna run out sooner or later."

             
"Let us hope we are still standing when they do," she replied. Her face darkened when eight of the enemies began to rush their position. She and Jesse each took down two when suddenly Jesse was whirling to face off against two more Pandarans. Kimi drew her sword and faced off against the other four while blasterfire was still ringing out around them. Jesse had only been hit once, but Kimi had taken three hits already. The first Pandaran tackled Jesse, sending Helga flying from his hand and began trying to hit him in the face while his friend kicked at him. Jesse drew his knife from its leg sheath and plunged it deep into the Pandaran’s leg as he tried to kick him again. He then threw the other alien off of him and twisted his arm behind his back until he heard a satisfying crack. He then drew his blaster and put one between the first Pandaran's eyes as he charged. He withdrew his knife from the dead alien's leg and threw it into the throat of the Pandaran with the broken arm. He retrieved Helga and dropped one of the men attacking Kimi and then retrieved his knife as Kimi finished off the last of her foes. They looked up to see another fifteen assassins lined up against them.

             
"I don't know how much longer I can last, Kimi. I'm not in good battle shape and my leg is starting to drag a little."

             
"Josiah should be here any minute, Jesse, just hold on a bit longer." As she searched for Josiah, she wondered where Kaldor's law enforcement was during this attack. Three more Pandarans came at them from behind and were quickly dropped by Reece as he ran up next to their cover.

             
"Sorry it took me so long, looks like there's a battalion of ex-Conglomerate soldiers still mad at you for spoiling their plans. They are holding off the Kaldorian police, and I'm not sure Josiah can get through, either. I've told Ariel to steer clear until she gets Lana and Sun onboard
Endeavor
, but who knows what she's gonna do."

             
"She won't put the girls at risk, she'll drop them off and then come back." Jesse replied as three men swung in on grappling guns. Reece took out two of the men providing cover for the attackers while Kimi sliced through the first with her sword as he landed, and Jesse put Helga through the chest of the second. Commando took down the third with a low rumbling growl as he and Ariel arrived at their side. "Where are the girls?" Jesse asked a mixture of concern and pain etched into his face.

             
"I got as close as I could and then had Lana drive the rest of the way. Josiah can't get through on one side, and the Police are pinned down on the other. The Chairman has mobilized the army, so we only need to hold out a few more minutes. How's the leg, Jess?"

             
"Hurting, but I think I can manage a few more minutes." He smiled, but she could see a hint of worry there. Reece and Ariel covered the back, taking out Conglomerate soldiers at a pretty good clip, while Jesse and Kimi covered the front. The enemy advance slowed and then Jesse mumbled, "Uh oh."

             
"What's uh oh, Jess?" Ariel asked from behind as she stopped and repeated, "Uh oh."

             
The Conglomerate soldiers had two hover tanks on their way. Jesse could see them slowly moving side by side down the street, almost four blocks down. The street wasn't wide enough for both tanks and the speeders lined along the road, but that didn't stop the tanks from going right over the speeders. Light posts also posed no problem as the hover tanks just floated along, crushing anything in their path.

             
"We need to get out of here," Reece called out, a note of impatience in his voice.

             
"We are boxed in, Reece, we have nowhere to run." Kimi grunted as she was taken off her feet by a heavy blaster.

             
"We have to fight our way into one of the buildings," Jesse said. "The tanks won't be able to follow us in," he reasoned.

             
"But we don't know what's waiting for us in there." Ariel argued.

             
As if to prove her point, another half dozen Pandarans burst through the nearest door. Kimi had the first beheaded quickly, but the second landed a hard shot to her face. Jesse leapt and hit him in the nose with his gralium knee, knocking him out and shooting Helga through the stomach of the one that had wrapped his arms around him from behind. Kimi was back up and fighting off another Pandaran that had picked up a pipe and was using it well to block Kimi's sword. Reece and Ariel were tag teaming the fifth one without much luck and Jesse was squared off against the last one. He swung Helga, hitting his foe in the face and making him angry. He charged Jesse, digging one of his horns into Jesse's shoulder while Jesse drew his knife and sliced through the alien's throat. They both fell to the ground in a bleeding heap. Jesse didn't think he could get up until he heard Ariel scream. She had one of the horn gouges in her thigh, and the Pandaran was on top of Reece, slowly pressing his blade down towards Reece's neck. He was too strong and Reece was not going to win. Ariel was slowly crawling for her blaster, but it wouldn't be in time. Helga was out of shots and Kimi was still fighting her attacker. Commando was finishing off a soldier, so it was up to Jesse.

             
  "Hang on Reece, he yelled as he rolled the dead alien off of him, sat up and shot Helga's grappling hook right into the chest of the Pandaran. His knife scratched Reece's throat as he breathed his last and Reece rolled out from under him and collected his blaster with a grateful sigh. He helped Ariel to her feet as Jesse picked up his blaster and shot the last Pandaran after he had blocked Kimi's assault and landed another hard shot to her face, knocking her down. They looked up, and the tanks were now only a block away. They opened fire and speeders all around them began to blow up. Jesse was thrown by one of the explosions and his arm was pinned under the wreckage of a speeder. Reece and Kimi tried to pull him out while Ariel laid down the cover fire. Two shuttles suddenly appeared and used their tactical advantage to destroy the tanks and strafe the Conglomerate soldiers. The shuttles landed and Josiah exited followed by Tanna, Xanu, Maria and Damon. Reece noticed that Bessa was piloting.

             
"Who's flying the other shuttle? Is it Collin?" Ariel inquired.

             
"No," Josiah replied. "Lana is.” Just then, the shuttle bay opened up and two dozen warriorbots ran out. "We would have brought them to start if someone hadn't told me there were only fifteen assailants and five of them were down." Josiah added with a playful wink at Kimi.

             
"We have to get this speeder off of him." Kimi yelled.

             
"Lana, deploy a dozen bots facing each side of the street, have them charge the enemy and kill as many as they can. First, send one over here." Josiah called. Within seconds, twelve bots were running in one direction while eleven were running in the other. The last one arrived at the damaged speeder and easily lifted it off Jesse. The bot then followed the eleven as Reece helped Ariel into the shuttle. Tanna helped Kimi while Xanu and Josiah helped Jesse. Maria and Damon laid down cover fire, but there wasn't a need. The bots were tearing through the Conglomerate forces and Lana was destroying anything bigger than a person they sent her way. She recalled the bots and eleven of them made it back to the shuttle. As they were departing, the Kaldorian military was arriving and they began to quickly take control of the situation, pinning down the remaining Conglomerate soldiers.

             
When Bessa put her shuttle down in
Endeavor's
landing bay, Doctor Stevens and six medbots were waiting with gurneys. Reece and Maria helped Ariel onto the first one. Tanna helped Kimi onto the second, against her wishes. She never easily admitted to being unable to do something on her own. Xanu and Damon brought Jesse out to the third.

             
"Are you alright, buddy?" Josiah asked, concerned about his friend.

             
"I need a new leg," he complained. "I only got caught in that explosion because the leg seized up on me again and I couldn't run fast enough. At least it lasted longer than in the mountains."

             
"Aside from the leg issues, everything's good?"

             
"Yeah, I'm gonna need this gouge in my shoulder sewed up, I probably need stitches in my arm, and I'm pretty sure I cracked a rib. Other than that, it's just cuts and bruises."

             
"I'll be the judge of that, Admiral." Doctor Stevens said as he had the medbots take Jesse's gurney to med-bay.

             
"How's Kimi?" Jesse asked as the gurney floated along.

             
"She will need some time in the recovery pod as will Ariel and Reece, but they will all be fine. You would also have needed a few minutes if your body had not begun developing an immunity to the pod's healing abilities," he added as he ran his scanner over Jesse's bruised and bloody body.

             
"I know, Doc, but I'm okay with healing the old fashioned way. None of this is too bad."

             
"I'd have to agree with you there, Admiral," he conceded as he looked at the scanner's results.

             
Lana caught up to her dad when he reached med-bay and Collin already had
Endeavor
in the white clouds of the light pink morning sky. She was just about to ask him how he was when a transmission was put through to med-bay.

             
"Jesse, are you and your people alright?" Valinor asked in a near panic.

             
"Just some bumps and bruises, nothing a few minutes in the recovery pod won't fix, Tarrick." Jesse replied with a smile. "Just don't let Kiah see me like this, all of the blood will upset her, even though most of it is not mine."

             
"Well, that's good to hear. I'm so sorry my forces could not get to you in time to help. Kaldor's regular police force is ill equipped to go up against a force that large of trained soldiers. By the time they called in our military, I knew it would be almost too late to help."

             
"This is the second time people have tried to assassinate me on Kaldor," Jesse mused.

             
"I know, and I'm sorry."

             
"It's not your fault, Tarrick. I still love this planet. I'm not sure Nina's gonna let me back for a while, but Kaldor is still one of my favorite places. Sorry about all of the damage our battle caused on that street."

             
"Do not worry about that, you have given us more than enough money to make repairs. I'm just happy no civilians were hurt. Apparently, most of my people were sleeping off their victory celebration. If you will excuse me, I have to get on top of this. We shall talk soon."