Total Betrayal (Deep Space Endeavor) by Ron Francis

his men and twenty-seven ships into the fleet protecting Polisia. He graciously cut the meeting short to continue dealing with the fallout over the assassination attempts at the refugee camps. Collin had immediately run off to check on Bessa and Sarah. Josiah was relieved that Mathias had not been injured, and impressed with the reports of how well he fought, but he, too, graciously dismissed himself from the General to go check on his family. He and Tanna left almost immediately. Jesse took the General over to Admiral Collingsworth and Admiral Sonnadall and asked them to begin coming up with defensive plans and strategies. He was most interested in how they were going to stop the assassination attempts and the Coalition rabble-rousers that had begun entering the refugee camps. When he was told that Kimi's shuttle was getting ready to land, he excused himself and quickly went to meet her. Her world was about to be forever and irrevocably changed and he needed to be the one to tell her.
                  Kimi was so excited to see Jesse waiting for her when she disembarked the shuttle. She smiled and ran into his arms, but she quickly sensed something was terribly wrong by Jesse's demeanor. She pulled back from his embrace and looked into his eyes. "What is it, Jesse? What is wrong?"
                  Jesse couldn't find the words, how was he going to tell the woman he loved that her mother was gone? How was he going to tell her that he was not there to protect the people that mattered most in her life? He took a deep breath and began. "A group of over thirty assassins hit the refugee camp our people were working at a few hours ago."
                  "Oh no, Sun, is Sun alright?" Kimi was shaking. Sun was the one person she just couldn't lose.
                  "Sun is fine, Raina saved her life, and took a fair amount of shrapnel doing it, but Kimi, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. It was your mom that dove on the fragment grenade to save both of them. Her wounds were too severe; Jason said she died instantly. I'm sorry.
                  "No, there must be some mistake, Jesse. No!" She hit his chest with her fist over and over again as she broke down and cried in his arms. After what seemed like an eternity, she looked at him with tears still running down her face and asked. "Where is Sun now? I have to be with her."
                  Jesse took her by the hand and replied. "She's still at the hospital; Manny has been consoling her while Zoe is recovering."
                  "Zoe?"
                  "Yeah, from what I hear, she almost didn't make it."
                  "Who else was killed?"
                  "No one, but several were hurt pretty badly. Bessa was touch and go for a while, Raina, Jason, Reece and Ariel all needed time in the pod and the rest had a fair amount of bruises and lacerations. Kimi, the Enclave tried to take all thirteen of them. They killed all of the camp security forces and several civilians just to get to them. I'm so sorry that I wasn't there to protect your family."
                  "Me, too," she quietly replied. She leaned her head on Jesse's shoulders as they made their way to the Vanguard and added, "What are we gonna do now Jesse, Sun and I are all alone now."
                  He gently lifter her chin with his fingers and looked her right in the eyes. "As long as I'm around, you'll never be alone, Kimi, and I'm not going anywhere."
                  "But you have Lana to worry about now, that wouldn't be fair to you."
                  "Kimi, it's my greatest desire to be there for you and Sun. I'll give up field work if I have to and Lana will be happy to be there with me; she already loves Sun. My relationship with Lana will never change how I feel about you. If anything, it only reminds me more of how much I want to be there for you. I'll do whatever