Free A Pirate's Tale: The Only Solution Is Retribution by Saxon Andrew

and she began taking orders.  Leo sat down and the thirty-six gathered at the table began updating Leo on everything that had happened since they last saw him.  Ana listened in silence and noticed all of them looked at her when they thought she wasn’t looking but none of them questioned Leo about her.  It didn’t take long to see that Leo was right; the people at the table had deep feelings for him and were very closed mouthed.
    One of the men went back to his chair and bumped into a giant of a man walking behind him, which caused him to spill his drink.  He cursed out loud and Leo immediately jumped up and said to the huge man, “I’m so sorry.  This is entirely our fault.  Please allow me to buy you and those at your table a round to replace your drink.”  Leo grabbed his waitresses’ arm and said, “Please, take this man and his friends as many drinks as they want and put it on my tab.”
    The giant looked at Leo and smiled, “Thank you very much.  We appreciate your generosity.”  Leo patted him on the back as he walked back to his table.
    Leo sat down and one of the men said, “Sir, why have you called us here?”
    Leo looked around the table and said, “Before I get into that, are any of you unable to take an assignment that might take a few years to complete?”
    The men all looked around at each other and Glenny said, “I’ve just started a new job that took a year to get.”
    Leo nodded, “Are any of you married and have families?”
    The man who spoke first said, “All of those that do weren’t able to answer the call, Sir.”
    Leo smiled, “I thought that might be the case, Jack.  I notice that Russel, Nick, TR, and Elizabeth aren’t here.”
    “They told me to let them know if you are in danger and they’d saddle up immediately.”
    Suddenly the huge man appeared behind Leo and said, “Jack?  Is that you?”
    Jack looked at the man and his eyebrows came together, “Do I know you?”
    The man laughed, “You knew me before I grew this beard and long hair.  I’m Barney Baker.”
    Jack’s eyes went wide, “Barney!  You old dog, what are you doing in this run down town?”
    Barney shrugged, “You know how it is, when they disbanded the unit; we ended up stuck here.”
    Jack looked around the table, “Hey everybody, we served with Captain Baker on the Regulus Campaign!”  Jack looked at Barney, “Hey Barn, this is my former CO, Leonidas.”
    Barney turned to Leo and his eyes were wide, “Not the Leonidas?”
    Jack smiled, “The one and only!”
    Barney started shaking his head and stuck out his hand, “Sir, it should be me that is buying you drinks.  What you did to save the platoon on Regulus was incredible.”
    Leo smiled as he shook Barney’s hand, “Thank you, what unit were you in?”
    “I and the lads at my table were in Third Special Forces.”
    Leo tilted his head, “You were the ones that took out the major artillery units on the front of The Mountain.”
    Barney smiled, “That was us, Sir.  But it was your unit that got us out alive.  We were pinned down and outnumbered when you gave us cover to escape.”
    “Captain, it looks like you’ve run into bad times,” Leo said as he looked at the men dressed in old clothes sitting at Barney’s table.
    Barney shrugged, “You know how it is, Sir.  The Unity disbanded all of the mercenary units once they took control of the sector.  We were taking R and R here as a reward for the battle and our ship just left us.  This planet wasn’t this bad off before the Unity took control.”
    Leo looked at Barney’s table and saw the other seven men were watching them.  “Why don’t you invite your table to join us?”
    Barney’s eyes went wide and he waved the others over, “Come on over; this is Leonidas!”
    Ana leaned in and whispered, “Do you trust them?”
    “I know who they are and they didn’t fold when everyone else was giving up and running away.  It was their taking The Mountain that gave us the