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

victory.  They have the hearts of a warrior.”  Ana sat back and wondered just who Leo was.  She didn’t know he had served in the military.
    Leo waited as many of the former soldiers recognized each other and introduced the others.  All of the seven Special Forces warriors came over and shook Leo’s hand thanking him for saving their lives.  After an hour, Leo said, “I have one more guest I’ve invited to be here and he should arrive in exactly twelve minutes.”
    Jack looked at Leo, “How can you be that accurate?”
    “Insectoids are always exactly on time.”  The entire table went silent.  Leo looked at them, “I want all of you to understand that he is a friend of mine and I expect you to treat him with the same courtesy you show me and each other.”
    Barney said, “I’ve never actually seen an Insectoid but the rumors about them are scary.  I hear they’re incredibly ugly.  They are not a part of the Unity and I understand the Unity does not fool around with them.”
    The only woman in the group said, “Can’t be as ugly as some of you.”  She looked at Leo, “We’ll treat him properly, Sir.”
    Ana looked at the woman and saw she was quite pretty; short black hair and brilliant blue eyes.  She felt a twinge of jealousy and wondered why.  She saw that the woman kept her eyes on Leonidas and ignored her.
    Leo turned to Barney, “I’m here to recruit some warriors for a one to two year assignment.  Would any of your group be interested?”
    Barney looked at Leo and said, “Will it get us off this cesspool planet?”
    “It will.”
    “Then count us in.”
    Leo smiled, “I think it will do better than that, Barney.”  Leo looked around the table, “I need to know now if any of you can’t or won’t want to take part in this mission.  There will be a high level of danger involved and you could die if things go bad.”
    He looked at each of those gathered around the table as they looked at each other and Jack said first, “I’m in.  I’ve been bored to tears for the last few years.”
    Leo looked at Glenny, “Don’t worry about your new job; I’m sure you’ll make more with us in two years than you will in ten on your new job.  The others immediately began agreeing as well. 
    Everyone heard crowd noise and immediately noticed the customers gathered around the entrance began scattering as Barney said, “It must be eight o’clock.”
    Everyone at the table looked toward the door and saw an eight foot tall Insectoid moving through the crowd toward their table.  It walked on four legs with two arms emerging out of its thorax below its huge triangular shaped head.  Two large multifaceted black eyes were located on each side of the triangle that were large enough to wrap around its head from the front to the sides.  It was flashing different colors of green and neon blue as the lights in the tavern flashed of the hard shell that protected its body.  The woman said, “I was wrong.  None of you are that ugly!”
    Leo turned around and saw the Insectoid being given plenty of space by the crowd.  He stood up and met the creature before he arrived at the table and said, “Thank you for coming; I wasn’t sure you would.”
    “I may not be staying.  I just wanted to see what she looks like.”
    Leo shrugged, “She’s pretty close to the original but she is not Victoria.”
    The Insectoid turned his multi-faceted eyes toward Leo, “Is she not worthy of the gift?”
    “Actually, her heart is purer than Victoria’s.  You’ll have to make your own decision about whether or not she’s worthy of the gift.”
    Ana watched them communicating and stood up, walked over to them, and looked up at the huge Insectoid.  They stopped talking and Ana said, “I understand that you provided the DNA Technology to change my appearance.”  The Insectoid nodded.  “I was not happy at first but now I’ve become accustomed to my appearance and I want to thank you for your gift.