END of LINE: Humanities Last Stand - part 3

by John Short

  Jon's appointment of Phillmma as Chief Flight Engineer over all three FTL ships was approved, as were her recommendations for replacement Flight Engineers. So far that was working out nicely and the FTL ships were all making much better times on their runs. Apparently she had designed and implemented some minor changes to the slip drives that not only made them run faster, it also cut down on fuel consumption. Phillie had accomplished all that impressive work in under a week after taking the job. Her changes had already cut the slip time in half on every run! Needless to say, Edwards was very impressed with the small furry female. He had never believed that story about her hitting her commander in a drunken fit while in FTL anyway. As far as he was concerned, hiring Phillmma was the best thing the company had done since acquiring the FTL cargo ships from Cook's Brewery.

  Replacing the comptroller had proven a little more difficult until Jon put through a call to their former comptroller and asked him for a recommendation. Jon had met him several times and the guy liked “Little Jonnie”, that freckled little kid Billy would bring out all the time. Turned out the guy had a nephew who had just graduated from the University on Lexon II with a business degree in finance and was due home in a week. Edwards put a call in to the kid and offered him the job. “I like being able to train new people to do the job right.” he had remarked with a huge smile when the boy accepted the offer. Turned out Edwards knew and liked the boy. His uncle had been bringing the kid to work with him for cycles and teaching him the ropes starting when the kid was only ten. Just like young Jon, he had grown up in the business. Now they would both settle into their proper places in the Corporation.

  As for the stolen and/or undocumented cargo, that was reported to the law enforcement office and an investigation was underway. The accused criminal's right to FTL travel had been revoked so he could not flee the planet until they finished. Yes it would cause a Royal stink at the Summer Palace and put BBITCo under the microscope for several months, but Edwards was willing to pay the price to punish the perpetrator of the crime. He still might be able to sneak away on a different company's ship if he disguised himself as a settler heading out to the rim world colonies, but once word got out to the other captains, no one would be willing to let the man near their docking berths. He wasn't going anywhere unless the King sent the Royal Yacht to pick the man off the planet. Only the FTL ships were involved, so it was business as usual for the system shuttles. Those were pulling in a good profit everyday just as they always had going back to the early colony days when Frank Campbell and his wife Francine had started that end of the company with the original Jon Connell as their biggest investor.

  The bank had merely been a matter of going over a few family financial matters, like making sure things like tax leans and utility payments were made on the house and surrounding 120 acres of forested mountain property. Then came changing the name on all the accounts while making sure that money was channeled into his aunt's account to insure she had whatever she needed. Jon also took out a line of credit for himself to use while he was off planet rather than relying only on his military pay. You never knew when he might need to actually own another house on a distant planet. It just would not be proper to invite a guest in for an important business luncheon only to have them meet you at the mess hall on a Peacekeeper base that was mostly a bunch of dirty tents or roofed over holes in the ground.

  Jon decided that if he did not “steal a few days for himself” he would end up working through his entire leave time. When he woke up this morning he was starving. Not so unusual in itself. He seemed to constantly be hungry these days, but today was more like a craving. He simply had to have those delicious waffles made only at the diner in town. He jumped out of bed and went in to take a shower when suddenly there came a low growl from out on the deck. Pulling back the curtains, he saw a huge solid black saber-tooth tiger sitting there looking back at him.

  “Get down from there Talga!” Jon shouted. “You know better than to jump up on the deck. What would auntie say if she saw you? BAD kitty!” Jon frowned as he went downstairs to tend to the cat. He had not been home in months and no one seemed to know exactly when aunt Gala had left for Sanctuary. Even the video she had left for Jon explaining why she had to go didn't tell him when she went, only where. The cat was probably going mad thinking it had been abandoned. Taking out the fresh milk he had bought last night, he poured the entire gallon into a bowl and placed it outside before calling the animal to him. He'd need to hire someone to come out once a week and give the cat fresh milk.

  Happily purring, Talga paced over to Jon. Big cats do not simply walk, they pace, pounce, run or jump. The Tiger forcefully bumped into him hard enough to knock him down. Then it gently held him down with its front paw as it licked his face. It was very happy to see its human again.

  “Alright Talga. Go drink your milk and let me get a shower. I'm going into town for food and will be back. Then we can play at the water if you like.” Jon told the cat as he roughly scratched behind its ears.

  With the animal taken care of, Jon grabbed a quick shower and then got dressed in his black leggings and silver tunic with the black edging. He didn't remember when he had started wearing his family colors everyday, but he decided that he actually liked them now that he could get out of his military uniform. Taking the stairs two at a time, he ran outside to the pad and took the top off of the sporty little 2 seat hover car. Within seconds, he had the motors fired and the small craft was almost bucking under him to be airborne and flying after sitting so long on the pad. He kept the craft low to the ground while he followed the twisting road that wound its way from the town of Jonsville all the way up to the Lodge and the Royal's Summer Palace just past that.

  He was enjoying the sheer pleasure of the combination of speed and tight turns as he approached town. Suddenly he had to pull up on the controller forcing his craft up and over to avoid slamming into the rear of a much slower craft. Who the heck can that be? He wondered. There weren't any scheduled meetings at the Lodge this month, he'd checked. It was too early in the cycle for the King to be at the Palace. Maybe it was a delivery for one of the Palace servants. He hoped it wasn't for that crook that had stolen over five million credits from his company. Oh well, it was time to slow down anyway. He was coming up on the town line. That meant his max speed could not exceed 80 kph. Right now he was traveling at nearly 200.

  Reaching the downtown area, Jon pulled straight into the pads in front of the diner and, shutting down the motors, he hopped out of his craft without bothering to open the door. As he walked away from his craft he heard the person who he had almost hit honking their horn and pulling in behind him.

  “You there! Stop this instant!” a female voice demanded.

  Oh boy, here it comes, Jon thought to himself. Remember you represent not only an FTL shipping company, but the Peacekeeper Service too. “What do you want?” Jon asked without caring a bit about being polite.

  “I thought there were rules here about the speed allotment on the roads.”

  “Only in town, back out on the mountain I can go as fast as I want.” Jon told the female. It was obvious now that this was one of the high-class female Lexie snobs from the Palace. Jon didn't like them. He especially didn't like them when they were keeping him from his waffles!

  “You should be more careful. I could have been hurt, then where would you be?” she continued in her privileged way.

  “Lady, I really don't care where you would be. Driving that boat of yours, if we would have crashed, you'd be fine and I'd have been dead.” Jon retorted angrily. He was, after all, hungry and she was keeping him for his meal.

  “Do you have any idea who I am?” she asked.

  “I know exactly who or rather what you are. You are one of the rich snobs from up at the Palace who think that just because they are the fifth cousin twelve times removed from the King's left baby toe's hang nail, everyone else owes you something and should treat you like your the King's prized pubic hair!” Jon scream
ed.

  “Who do you think you are talking to me like that?” she continued. Her own anger was starting to show now despite all her training.

  “This has gone on for too long but I'll play just one more round.” Jon informed the annoying female. “I am Warrior Lieutenant Jon Connell of the Peacekeepers. Home on leave before reporting back for flight training. I am also the owner of Burt and Billy's Interplanetary Transfer Company. Complete with my own civilian FTL certifications.” Jon pulled his mirrored sunglasses off and tossed them onto the seat of his hover craft. Then he looked straight at the Lexon female in her larger craft. “Who the hell do you think you are if I may be so bold as to ask? Just so I can make sure your family pays twenty times the going rate for any supplies they want brought in from off world!”

  Satrina sat in her hover craft stunned. Standing there was the most magnificent example of a male she had ever seen. Standing before her was her mate! The male she had first seen months ago at the Reunification Day celebration. The one who had properly flogged that other male for insulting his heart-mother. The one who she later learned had been sent away to the Peacekeepers as punishment for defending his mother. The same one she had unknowingly angered. She should have known who it was by his sheer size and his family colors. No one ever wore the silver and black. Those belonged to the Connell family alone. Taking her own dark glasses off she lowered her voice before speaking.

  “Warrior Connell, I am Crown Princess Satrina of the Lexonian Royal House. I am most assuredly my father's daughter not just his prized pubic hair considering Lexonians do not possess body hair of any kind.” She had to smile at that thought. Just wait until she told the Prince about that one. Her brother would laugh until he cried. “I don't think my father would even notice if your company charged over one hundred times the normal shipping rate to have things sent here since he never pays the bills. I would only beg that you think of the people who pay the tax before raising the rates too far.” Her smile melted the anger from Jon's clouded brain faster than the southern volcanoes melted the winter snows.

  How could he have been so stupid? She was even more beautiful than Jon remembered from that awful day at the celebration. What kind of jerk was he to be yelling at the Princess like that? “I apologize for my anger your Highness. I'm not used to Royalty speaking to me, never mind actually being here in Jonsville. If you would allow me to makeup for my outburst, I was just on my way inside to have morning-meal. Let me buy you a coffee or some of your Lexon tea perhaps?”

  “I would like that very much Warrior. Is it permitted for us to enter without chaperons?”

  “The only problem there might be is if someone insults you and I have to hurt them. Otherwise most folks will just feel sorry for you being seen in public with a freak like me.” Jon informed her. “Besides, this is a public eatery. Judging from the vehicles parked out here I don’t think we will be alone.”

  “I believe any female would be proud to be seen with you Warrior.” she told him as she stepped down from her hover craft. “I know I am.”

  “Lead on ma'am.” Jon gestured for her to take the lead as they walked over to the entry where he opened the door for her to enter before following her inside.

  “Good morning Jon, nice to see you home.” The waitress greeted him as she moved away from the antique cash register that had sat in the same spot ever since the original humans had brought it from Earth, “Who is your friend?”

  Before Jon could tell the woman that his friend was the Lexonian Crown Princess, Satrina spoke up. “I am called Satrina by my friends.”

  “Well now Jonnie-boy, if you ask me, it looks like it was worth the wait.” came a gruff voice from behind the counter. “Just take a seat anywhere folks. Jon the tables with the big boy chairs are still where they have always been.”

  “We'll sit out here thanks Jim.” Jon said.

  “Follow me please,” the waitress told them as she led them past other diners and over to a medium sized table. This place had plenty of diners who came in pairs of both large and small people. So they had different areas setup to make each of their guests comfortable. Of course Jon was the biggest guest they ever got and whoever this stunning female was that was with him was perhaps the smallest. Finding the right table for this couple was going to be a challenge. She needed to find a table with a tall chair for Jon and an even taller, yet equally comfortable stool for the tiny female. After looking around for just a few seconds the waitress finally found the table she was searching for and guided Jon and his Lexie friend to it. She got them seated and then left them with menus.

  “Are you hungry Princess?” Jon asked.

  “No Warrior, but I would very much like to have tea with you.” Satrina replied.

  “Well, I woke up hungry, so if you don't mind, I'm going to have waffles and coffee.” Jon told her.

  “So that was why you were driving so fast?” Satrina asked, but with a big grin and a teasing look in her eyes.

  “I'm not usually that reckless. I promise.” Jon offered. “Today was sort of a special occasion. I've been stuck in business meetings for the last couple of weeks and still have more that I need to attend. It seems that I have inherited a shipping company that has over one hundred shuttles operating in this system and three FTL vessels making slipway runs between all the planets in the other systems as well. There is a lot I have to learn about running a company that large even if it is still small by most of the other company's standards. Today I cleared my schedule and plan on spending it out on my lake. Just fishing and taking it easy. No training exercises, no business meetings, just me, the boat I made with my uncle and the lake.”

  “You own a lake?” Satrina asked just slightly surprised. She did not know people could own entire lakes.

  “Well, I own all of the land around the lake, so that makes the lake mine also. The house and the property have been in my family going back to the original colony. Its been passed down to the eldest Connell ever since. When I die the whole place becomes a state owned nature preserve so that no mater how developed Haven becomes, there will always be at least one hundred and twenty acres of natural forest.”

  “You won't pass it to your offspring?” Satrina asked.

  “If I ever have one, then yes. It would go to him.” Jon sadly told her.

  “Well folks.” The waitress interrupted, “Have we decided yet?”

  Yes Claudia, Satrina would like some of your wonderful Lexon tea and I would like my usual, waffles with your homemade honey and a cup of coffee.” Jon told her, returning the menus to her.

  “Coming right up.”

  “Thank you.” Jon smiled at the waitress before turning back to Satrina, “Claudia is the descendant of one of the original colonists. Somewhere back there her ancestors owned this very diner we are sitting in. The story I was taught is that this place is an exact copy of an eatery the original colonists owned on their home world.”

  “You live in Jon Connell's original home?” Satrina asked.

  “Well, its had to have a lot of repairs and maintenance work done over the cycles, but its still the same basic building. Just with those things that needed fixing, fixed.” Jon chuckled. “I think the cook top might be the original and maybe the sinks, but everything else has been replaced and documented for history to record.”

  “It is said that Jon Connell kept his mate safe from all evil in that house by locking it with some kind of magic.” Satrina said.

  “The story told in my family is that he somehow constructed a vision of the house in her mind and locked her soul inside the vision to keep her safe from the pleasure house owners who wanted to use her as a pleasure female. When the people who tried to use her failed in their attempts to alter her soul, they dropped her in the forest to die. That's when he somehow had his half wild tigers guide her through the forest to the real house where the cats guarded her along with two other cats who had come to mate with his and never left again. What has always seemed strange to me was, according to t
he family legends, he did all this while the other Lexon colonists were rescuing him over near Lexon II. When he brought those colonists back here and trade began between our planets, that was a day of celebration. It’s why we still celebrate Connell's Day and you guys have Reunion Day. Anyway Jon and Leadora lived their lives together and raised three offspring in that house. My aunt says that isn't the real story either. Whatever actually happened must be recorded somewhere, but people like their legends better when they sound grand rather than actually being the truth.” Jon had told her the usual series of half truths that his family had always told to outsiders. The truth was even stranger still, filled with secret training rooms and a massive Umin ship that required Lexonian females to operate. Not to mention some mystical mountain in the south where the original Jon Connell and his men had their Dragon Ships modified to attack an ancient enemy called the Horde.

  As the food arrived and Jon wasted no time digging into his meal, Satrina asked Jon one last question about his ancestor. “Wasn't his mate a pure Lexonian female? How is it then possible that you are here as a pure human?”

  “He had a mate before Leadora. His first mate was human. She died while bringing our people to our world. It’s a very sad story really. There is a tribute to her in our library just across the street and through the park. She was also a pilot and apparently she alerted their ship about some terrible danger before she was killed. Because of her sacrifice, the ship was able to escape the danger. That Jon Connell was also a flier. On Earth, our home world, he had been in a serious crash during a combat mission and his body was scared over most of his back and part of his chest. His scars repulsed human females and he was very careful never to let them show. Jill was able to love him despite the deformities.”