END of LINE: Humanities Last Stand - part 3

by John Short

  “I can not believe that you'd let a bunch of news reporters upset you so much.” He gently said and kissed the top of her head. He picked up her brush and began to brush her hair. “Would you like me to go with you?”

  “If this was just reporters being nosy I could handle them. I'd just tell them to leave and then swing a wrench at them until they left. Jon asked me to be nice to them.” she sniffled.

  “I know. I wasn't very happy when he had me showing them our attack shuttles either, and once they saw that Dragon ship of Jon's, I had a terrible time keeping them away from it.”

  “Did you have to hit any of them?” Phillie asked. She had relaxed into her mate’s arms and now leaned back so that his strong chest supported her. No matter what was going on or how upset she was, being encased in her mate's embrace always soothed her down deep to her soul.

  “Almost. One guy kept trying to get inside Jon's ship. It seems that the ship decides who it will allow to touch it. Everyone of the reporters got a nasty surprise when they tried to enter that hatch.”

  “What did you do?” she asked him.

  “Nothing. Jon's cat was sleeping in the ship and when the guy snuck inside, the cat chased him out in a hurry! Anybody who even touched the ship was given a mild reminder when the ship shot them with an electric current!” Jarrieal laughed. “Maybe you should see if Talga will come down to Engineering and stay with you today. Let him handle the reporters.”

  Turning inside his arms, Phillie smiled up at her massive warrior. “That's just mean,” she scolded before reaching up to kiss him. One kiss lead to another, and that lead to the two of them forgetting about news reporters and guided tours for a little while. Time spent locked in each other’s love filled cries of ecstasy took the place of scheduled meetings with reporters. In the end, both Jarrieal and Talga accompanied Phillie in Engineering and she managed to stay relaxed while answering the reporter’s questions and showing them around the section. She even managed to make them laugh at her jokes.

  For those who had abandoned their loyalties to the King and sided with the Regent, but had not been sentenced to death, their positions where forfeit along with all of their ill gotten profits. Members of the Royal Guard removed them from their residents' in the Palace and told them to find honest work to support themselves. Exceptions were made for their innocent younglings. Any who had small ones under aged five were allowed to stay on as Palace servants. Instead of a life of pleasure and comfort, they would now be working to earn their keep while living in servant's quarters. The promise was given to their offspring that if the parents demonstrated that they had returned to being loyal members of the King's household, the offspring would be returned to their standing at the Palace on the day they reached adulthood. Crown Prince Zeprik had agreed and put his own seal on the decree beside that of his father in case, by the time a youngling had grown, Zeprik held the throne rather than his father.

  Late on the second day, during last meal, the King announced that he was going to provide what ever was needed to rebuild Sanctuary, once another uncharted planet suitable for it was found and that his sister Crown Princess Galaxiey would be placed in charge of the selection of the planet, and rebuilding the structures needed. To her would fall all of the responsibilities as its High One. Jon was given the assignment to find the planet and to make sure it met Gala's needs. The King also decreed that Gala's name was to be reinstated in the Palace archive and her history added to the history of the Lexonian Royal line. She was to be granted immediate access to the King at anytime she wished to message or to visit the Palaces on both Lexon II or Haven.

  The party was in full swing when Jon and Satrina joined the crowd again. Leviathan had been host to parties evey night after the trial was over. Tonight would be the last before the King returned to the surface. They walked up to the King, bowed and then took their places on his left side, with Satrina sitting beside her father and Jon standing behind her chair. Leaning down to whisper in her ear Jon said, “I hope we don't have to do this very often at the Palace. As tall as your chair must be, I could walk you in, then sneak out and go have a beer with my team.”

  “There will be no sneaking away tonight my giant husband, not with what I have planned for us later.” her brilliant smile lighting up the room. He could never resist her smile, so he kissed her lips and took his place behind her. The following day that kiss would be on the front page of every tablet news vid in the known galaxy! It had taken over two hundred cycles, but today Queen Petalia's vision had at last become a reality. House Connell had become one with the Royal House of the Lexonian King.

  Both Jon and Satrina were given sashes in the Royal scarlet, with gold braiding on the edges, to wear along with their own house colors. The very same colors as were to be found on Jon's Dragon ship and one tiny dragon that flew the skies of Haven.

  Three days after everyone had left Leviathan and things were getting back to normal, young Carney approached Jon to report his findings on a special project he'd been given. “Excuse me sir. I have searched every bit of the data we have and there is very little that I can tell you about the female in that picture you found among your ancestor's belongings.” he explained. “According to the logs of a General Saunders, her name was Sara and she worked for your ancestor while he was still on planet Earth under the name Judy Olsen. Her work helped to gather the supplies needed for the humans to escape the destruction of their planet. However, all the records say that she did not survive the planet's destruction. There seems to have been some concern about your ancestor because she didn't go with them when they left. Later a Umin ship was found that had been defeated in battle whose commander was said to look exactly like her.” Pausing for a second he continued. "She bears a striking resemblance to the descriptions of the Goddess that abound among the people."

  “Thank you for checking that for me.” Jon told the youngster. “I guess we'll never really know about her unless we search every record here on the ship and back on Haven in the Library. Even then we may not find much. My ancestor was very secretive about his personal life.”

  Gala was often seen at the Summer Palace and at the “A” frame house on Haven. Jon even took Satrina to the house by the lake only because she loved the house and wanted to spend some of their off times enjoying the small private beach. He always made it a point to book passage on the passenger liner that made the trip from Lexon II to Haven rather than showing up with one of his ex-military ships. Even though all the troublemakers had been rounded up and sentenced to long terms on the prison planet and his Nova class carriers were still making regular runs to Haven. It somehow added to the spirit of holiday to travel in the first class cabin of a passenger liner.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Three cycles later, the rim worlds were mostly cleaned out of the criminal elements that had held them down for so long. As the Representative of the King, Jon had a great deal of authority, which he used with a heavy hand against the crime bosses. He and his troopers had battled with them and driven them deeper and deeper out on the rim.

  Beginning with Canari Jon's troops went in force to wage a ground war against the ones still at the Lustor Drug farm. After getting all the slave labor safely away, he had Defiance and the other Destroyers pound the place into nothing but a moonscape of craters from space, using the city killing weapons the pirates themselves had installed on the Destroyers.

  The land was quickly returned to farming and given to the good people of Canari who planted food crops. They planted enough to support their own needs and had plenty for export. Soon the wines produced at the farm were in great demand across the galaxy. The one time slaves who had been brought to work the Lustor fields became the leading force behind turning the planet around from its former days of being a hidden den for criminals, into a major force for good among the rim worlds. The illegal weapons factories were quickly shut down with the exception of the factory that produced the ammo for the city killer bombs. Jon had replaced the criminal e
lement working there with honest, hard working craftsmen who not only kept his ships loaded with the kenetic poles used by the cannons, but also with sheets of super strong metals that were used to build submarine boats to explore the oceans of several planets. As for every one of the original criminal enterprises around the planet; they were all closed down and the buildings leveled to make way for new, modern factories that produced some of the finest material to be had for ladies gowns.

  Galaxiey, High One of the Order of the Mourners was treated like the Crown Princess she always had been by everyone in the Leviathan's crew and she spent her time working with the data teams to find a new world where Sanctuary could be rebuilt. The Engineering crews had gone over Boss King's yacht and completely refitted it with anything she had asked for, including converting its engines into jump drives that would allow it to simply move from place to place in seconds rather than days or even weeks.

  Jon had been forced to promote young Carney to the position of Data Master when his current Master announced that he would be leaving the ship and staying with Tiaz on Sanctuary. Young Carney had shown Jon where the hidden archives were located on the ship that told the entire story of the vessel from the first day its engines came to life. This secret treasure trove of information contained all the true facts about the ship and its Umin creators. Not to mention the humans who later used it to escape the death of their home world and even the full account of the first Jon Connell and how his side of the Connell family had come into existence as the result of the desires of a grieving father to have something of his dead daughter with him. Had it not been for an accident on the seas of Haven that took the life of Jill Saunder’s father, over two hundred cycles ago, Jon may never have known of his true heritage at all.

  Tiaz had decided to remain as the public voice and truth seeker for the mourners and as her mate, the Data-Master was going with her. As it turned out, Major Neloie was a pretty good pilot who adapted to the newly refitted yacht quickly. He would become Galaxiey's pilot. Never again would a novice mourner need to rely on a private carrier to provide passage from wherever she might be to reach the safety of Sanctuary. Gala would simply send the yacht to pick the female up. Instead of delays of weeks in which the woman had to fear someone using drugs to convert her into a sex starved pleasure female, mourners now found themselves making the call, being picked up, often on the same day, and delivered safely by the next. The yacht had the ability to take off and land at any location on any planet including the middle of a town or city.

  This day Jon and his teams had just wiped out the last known stronghold of the pirates. His data teams had located the existence of a refuge far out away from the other planets on another of the uncharted worlds that littered the rim. They had been receiving their orders from one of the wealthy business owners on an inner world and as Jon was cleaning out the pirates, Zeprik and Jelio had led their own teams to capture the pirate leader in his factory. The factory was claimed by the Crown and was promptly put back to work making the same farming machines it always had. This time the workers were put in charge with all the profits going to them and their families except for a small tariff to be sent to the planet's shelters for the needy. Profits soared! The factory expanded and soon many of the needy found jobs working at the plant making the best farming equipment in the quadrant! What had once been a poor planet where the people barely got by because one of the richest in the quadrant!

  Together the Crown Prince and Jon's ex-teammate had banded together as much more than mates. They had forged a force of highly trained specialists who were working to end corruption on the inner planets. Their Data Masters were only rivaled by those still serving the 'Stars and Stripes Security Company' out on the rim. The assault troops were hired directly after their contracts expired with the Peacekeepers and only the best received offers. With the choice of either a position with the Prince, or with Jon waiting at the end of their contracts, many new troopers worked extra hard to make the grade. As a result, the Peacekeeper Corps became the most highly respected military to ever exist in the universe.

  Once Defiance was secured inside Leviathan after the last raid against a nest of pirates still hiding on one of the farthest of the mining worlds, and the bay pressurized to match the two ships, Jon opened the main hatch and was suddenly attacked by four small younglings. “We got you! You aren't so tuff you big bad Dragon!” Laughing voices told him as the children grabbed his legs and hugged him tightly.

  Jon squatted down to look the little ones in the eye and said, “Have you never heard of The Butcher?”

  “Yep, mommy says she gave you that name uncle Jon” a pretty female covered in light blonde fur told him, “but she said you used to be her sweet cheeks before that. Are your cheeks really sweet?” she asked.

  “I don't know little one. Why don't you give your uncle a kiss and see?” Jon asked, turning his head for her to kiss his check.

  She brushed her lips across his cheek in an innocent child's kiss. “You taste like Auntie Trina!” the young female exclaimed.

  “That's because mommy is always rubbing herself on him, just like Talga does.” a much smaller version of Satrina knowingly stated. “Poppa, when can we visit the great one?”

  “Do you mean your grandmother Gala?” Jon asked.

  “Yes. Grandmother Gala. I thought she was the great one now.”

  “No love, she is the High One of the Sanctuary. We'll have to talk to mommy first to see if you can take time from your studies.” Jon explained. “I would like to visit her myself.”

  “Then we'll have to make the time.” Satrina proclaimed with one of her huge smiles as she gazed loving at her mate gently talking with the younglings while still wearing his battle armor.

  “THERE YOU ALL ARE!” came Phillie's angry cry as she came up to the group. “I swear, I turn my back for one instant and you four are gone! It’s getting so a person can't even use the relief chamber on this ship!” Phillie never really got angry at the younglings, but she liked to pretend she did just to keep them in line and under control. The truth was she loved each of them equally even though only two of them were hers and Jarrieals'.

  “Tell him Burton.” the furry male said, giving the taller male a light punch in his arm. “You promised to tell him this time.”

  “Yes, you promised to tell if we captured him.” Clara told her brother. “Well, we did our part. He's been captured!”

  “Tell me what son?” Jon asked.

  “Well sir, we went exploring in the back of the ship and we found a hidden room.” Jon's young son told him. Immediately Jon's thoughts turned to the planet killing weapon's control room located at the back of the ship.

  “Did you get inside this hidden room?” Jon asked.

  “No poppa. Burton was too little to reach the panel that opens the door.” his daughter told him. “But you're not.”

  “We want to see what's in there uncle Jon.” Phillie's male child told him “Clara said maybe you'd help us.” Satrina had named their daughter for Jon's deceased mother whom he had never really gotten to know and his son was named for his father just as Jon had requested during the first days of their mating. She thought it was a fitting way to honor the two people most responsible for her mate being a part of her life.

  “There are some things there that are not for small ones. Did this door you found have two dragons on it?” Jon asked.

  “Yes father,” Burton admitted, “and two dragons are guarding it. It’s OK though because they are made from stone. They are not real dragons. Talga was there with us.”

  This was a different door and not the one leading to the Umin planet killer. “Yes uncle Jon,” Phillie added. “We are all curious about what is hidden back there and why Talga would come to keep the younglings away from it even though none of us can get it open anyway.” She had already visited the doors before Jon and her mate arrived and was indeed curious about what was behind them.

  “Well, let me get out of this armor and take
a shower first.” Jon agreed. “But I'm very hungry, maybe I can eat something before I join in this long journey to the back of my ship. Would that be OK young ones?” Each of the children nodded but Jilykie, Phillie's daughter waggled her tiny finger at him in a perfect imitation of her mother, right down to having one tiny fist on her hip, and exclaimed,

  “Just don't be all day about it!” Jon looked up at his wife and his friend to see both females with their hands over their mouths, trying to conceal their own laughter at his predicament. Here he was, leader of the most feared armed force on the rim, at the mercy of four tiny younglings who had long ago captured his heart.

  Jon had washed, changed and eaten when he allowed the younglings to lead the way to the hidden room that they had found. Jarrieal walked quietly beside him, while Phillie and Satrina brought up the rear as they talked about the children and all the mischief they managed to get into on the ship. Their giggles and laughter filled the corridors. Jarriel also knew about the hidden rooms at the back of the ship and was just as worried as Jon about bringing the younglings to this area.

  “Its just up ahead father” Burton told them all over his shoulder as he pointed ahead of them. “You go around that corner and its right there.” he said as he and the other children fell back to walk with their mothers.

  Jon followed the directions given to him by his young male child and found not only the hidden room with a pair of large doors with twin Dragons carved on them, each with riders on their backs holding flaming swords over their heads, but also a pair of huge Dragons carved from brilliant stone the likes of which had not been found on any of the planets. These Dragons could only have been made using the ancient tools of the Umins. No known planet had this stone, or a means to shape it. One Dragon was a sparkling silver and the other a deep midnight black. The colors came from within the stone itself and were not some kind of finish that had been applied after the carver had completely his or her work.