END of LINE: Humanities Last Stand - part 3 (12 page)

“Lieutenant Connell. Sir your orders have been changed. We need you to report for flight training early. You are to report to Lexon II Orbital Station for
transfer to the pilot's training facility as soon as is possible given the required travel times involved. Transport has been arranged on the BBITCo FTL
vessel, Pluto, arriving at Haven by 1300 today. You are allowed one small travel bag for any personal items and/or civilian clothing not to exceed standard
luggage size for a small travel bag. You'll be issued new uniforms and all other required items once you arrive at your training company. Sorry about
cutting your leave short like this Lieutenant. That is all. Peacekeeper Command Headquarters out.”

“I'm so sorry about this Rina.” Jon apologized as he carefully placed the cloth on the counter top and then set the entire basket with their picnic
supplies back in the food keeper. When he turned, Satrina had already run up the stairs to the sleeping chamber.

When he reached the top stair he found her already packing a small travel bag for him. “Rina, what are you doing?” he inquired.

“I understand duty my Giant.” Rina told him as she scurried about busily packing his bag. “There is no need for you to apologize. Remember, I was raised in
a place were duty always comes first. We both have duties we must attend to before we can really ever do as we please and spend our hours in each others
happy embraces.”

“You don't have to pack my bag.” he told her as she continued to work, comparing some items and seeking out others.

“This is also now my duty. As your mate if you go and something has been forgotten it is a mark against me as your wife.” she assured him. “Now shall I
pack two sets of formal tunics, or just one?” she asked turning to display the two large tunics in her small hands.

“Where they will be sending me, I probably won't need either of those. Peacekeeper training camps are not places where they have very many Royal visits or
parties for the elite. Besides, even if they do have such a thing, they will expect me to wear my dress uniform. Its one of those things the military
demands. You stop being you and become part of a unit and the unit all dresses alike. Civilian clothing is only allowed when you earn a pass to go off base
for a day or two. Without you there, I'd have no reason to ever leave the base.” Jon told her.

She went over and put the tunics back in the closet and had just turned back towards the bed when Jon scooped her into his arms, lifted her up and hungrily kissed her while she wrapped her arms around him and demanded more and more from the kiss until her essence once again flowed over his tongue. She never seemed to be able to get enough of her giant as she
greedily sucked his tongue ever deeper into her mouth. When they broke the kiss she held him even tighter and whispered into his ear, “Be safe my Giant.
Should anything happen to you I would surely die from the pain of losing you.” Then as if to put added strength behind her words, she playfully nipped at
his ear in that special way that had become very meaningful between the two of them during their time together. Jon responded as he always did. He kissed
her neck in the one spot he had found where her heartbeat could be felt. That always seemed to fill her with desire.

“Just don't forget that you accepted my claim.” he kidded her. “I'll be as careful as even the most rookie pilot in the corp.”

She pulled back just enough to hit him with her fist on the chest, “You will do no such thing Jon Connell! You will fly any ship they give you with all the
skill you have in you. I have done my research and I know that you will be the most experienced pilot in training. Fly like someone who knows what they are
doing, not like just another newling who has never controlled a ship.” Then she laid her head on his shoulder and told him, “Just come home to me alive and
well my Giant.”

Jon gently rubbed her back while he promised, “I'll be fine. I promise. All I'll get is a shuttle and I was flying those with my uncle when I was still a
boy. I might even be able to teach them about flying those things. I'd have to extend my contract to ever get one of the bigger ships to pilot. I have no
plans of extending. I'll serve my time; earn my discharge, then come home and run my ...
Our
company. I have no desire to become the next heroic
Jon Connell
who runs off destroying alien menaces, saving entire galactic civilizations and reuniting lost peoples. The only member of the Royal
House I'm worried about keeping safe is you. I wouldn't know King Le'puix if I fell over him in the dark.” That brought the giggles from her that he had
hoped it would and he released her to gently slide down his body to stand in front of him.

“I'm sure that if you did fall over my father in the dark, his guards would be certain to introduce him to you. Maybe not at a fancy Royal Assembly like
Reunion Day, but you'd be introduced indeed.” she laughed. Jon loved it when she laughed. If he could make it happen she would laugh openly at least once
each day for the rest of her life.

“Well, now I'm the one on a schedule and I have to do some very boring company business before I leave. You can either stay and watch me sit brooding over
financial ledgers or head out and enjoy your day. No reason both of us has to be stuck here.

“Do you want me to leave?” Satrina asked with a touch of hurt in her voice.

“No. I want you to stay forever. I just don't want to ruin what's left of your holiday by making you sit around watching me work. Its boring stuff. Along
the lines of that 'Go stand over there and look pretty' business you already told me you hated.” Jon reassured her with a smile.

Pouting like a small child, she looked up at him until he felt the weight of her disappointment and he reached down to pull her close. “Rina, I never want
you to feel unwanted around me. Over these last few days you have become more to me than any other living being. I need you to always remember that.” Jon
whispered to her “Whether its because of your Lexonian female essence or just because being near you brings me so much happiness, I don't care. No matter
what the future holds, I will always want you close to me.”

At that point she smiled up at him and quickly kissed him. “The essence is only our way of marking our chosen and putting our scent on him. Almost like
Talga put his scent on us to let other tigers know that we belong to him. Its a Lexon female's way of telling other females that a male is already chosen.
It has no power to make a male choose one female over another. Its effects last for cycles on the male, but if he rejects the female who marked him,
another female can remove her mark with a single kiss. There are more reasons for Sanctuary than just those who mourn a death. Many there are rejected
mates trying to remove the taste of a bad choice. Just as you tell me I hold a certain sweetness for you when we kiss, so too your kisses taste just as
sweet to me combined with the slightly salt taste of a healthy male. I am told that with time, the taste travels over the entire body of both mates so that
no matter where they kiss, they get the taste. That can't happen until they have fully mated though, so don't go trying to find out if my feet taste sweet,
at least not yet” she smiled one of her biggest and brightest smiles.

“Then I shall look forward to the experience.” Jon laughed with her as she let herself out of the house. He waited until he heard her hover craft leaving
before he went back down to the den.

Jon knew he loved Satrina deeply. Love was one thing, trust was something totally different. Real love could only be given, trust had to be earned. Jon
never trusted anyone. When he had come home to find his aunt gone and after he realized that she had left without telling him she was going to go first,
that put even the one person he had freely given his trust to on the list of those who needed to earn any trust he gave her in the future. Satrina had
shown him Love, but his trust; even she would have to earn that every day.

Sitting at the desk he had always considered to be his uncle's, Jon tapped into the main COM console and contacted the Pluto. He busied himself with some
of the other company files that needed his attention while he waited for the three hours it would take for the message to reach the ship while in the slip from Lexon Station.

“Pluto here, go ahead.” the comm announced right on time.

“Pluto, this is Jon Connell. When are you scheduled to arrive at the Haven station?” Jon asked the COM officer on duty.

“Scheduling has us arriving on station at 13:00 tomorrow, but Wrenches has been tinkering with the engines again and we'll be there about an hour before
then.”

“How is Phillmma working out?” Jon asked.

“Great sir. She's got this old tub purring like a kitten and she even fixed the food processor down in the crew's mess. The glop that comes out of it now
actually has some flavor. Oh, sorry sir, of course no BBITCo ship is really a tub, but well you know, these FTL boats are getting older. I should shut up
now.”

“I understand crewman, and I agree, those old ships are way past their prime. I'm working on getting us some new ones within the next year. Hang in there
and do a good job. Maybe I'll find enough to get a ship with a real food processor onboard. Have you got a military travel voucher in your list of return
cargo?” Jon chuckled.

“Yes sir, we're to transport a Lieutenant Connell to Lexon Orbital. One small travel, no other personal baggage. Is that you sir?”

“Yes crewman. Please ask the Captain to have me assigned to regular crews quarters. No fancy stateroom for me this trip.” Jon told the man.

“We couldn't give you the stateroom anyways sir. We're on a Royal commission and the stateroom has been booked for over a month.”

“That's fine crewman. Connell out.”

Turning his attention back to getting the work finished, Jon couldn't help but to think, “So, the Pluto had booked the stateroom over a month ago.” That
was before Jon had used it to travel home for his leave time. That meant that either the Princess had known exactly what day she would be leaving or they
really did treat her like some pretty ornament to be seen and ignored. He'd have to learn who had booked the flight and when it was booked. Like he
figured, love could be given, trust had to be earned. If he didn't like what he learned about her travel arrangements that would be one mark against the
Crown Princess.

Taking his personal tablet and uploading the latest BBITCo financials to look over on the trip to Lexon II, Jon took the added time to readjust the house
security system to lock the den and the vault room behind it holding the Umin relics so they both would only open for him. That's one less thing anyone
could come in here and tamper with. It wasn't that he didn't love her, right now he didn't trust her. He'd given her permission to bring her brother to the
house in his absence. There was no telling what kind of problems her brother could cause if he found some of the stuff hidden in that room, never mind the
one behind the wall. The entire record of how the original
Jon Connell
had saved the Royals from multiple attempts on their lives was recorded
right here in this room. Not to mention just how he had carried out the King's sentence of death on the Regent. For all Jon knew, the evil man's body was
still floating around that moon near the first planet where Jon Connell had thrown him out of an airlock.

Back on the main level, he prepared a fresh bowl of milk for Talga and set it outside the backdoor. He went upstairs and tried to relax as his mind worked
on the files he'd copied to take with him in the morning. He worked late into the night before uploading everything to the company servers and finally
laying down to catch a few hours sleep.

He woke up hungry again! He didn't bother dressing after his shower this morning. Instead he went straight to the kitchen and prepared his breakfast, and
then he opened the first of several more files to be worked on before leaving Haven. It was hard for him to concentrate on any of his work with visions of
Satrina invading his mind every second. When the time came for him to leave, he changed into his dress uniform, complete with his medals, sash and sword,
before picking up his travel bag, and locking up the house. With everything as secure as he could make it, he went out to his 2 seater hover craft, fired
up the motors, and took off for the spaceport to catch a shuttle up to the orbiting station and from there board the Pluto when she arrived.

Claudia had agreed to come up to the house to give Talga fresh milk. He'd given her an expense account to draw from to purchase the milk. Talga already knew Claudia, so she was the most logical person to make sure the massive cat was taken care of properly. He only had to stop at the diner and let her know that he'd be leaving sooner than expected.

Jon watched through the stations viewing port as the Pluto slowly maneuvered into position for the connection to be made with the space station. She was a
full half hour earlier than he'd been told she would be. Wrenches again Jon figured. At this rate, the oldest FTL ship in his small fleet would be setting
records that even the newest Security Force ships could not match. As soon as the hatches opened, Jon walked over to the ship and up to the command center
looking for the Captain.

“Hello Captain Claudi.” Jon greeted the Commander with an outstretched hand. “How have things been now that we got some housecleaning done back at
corporate?”

“Like night and day sir. Our ship is running like a dream, no more shakes and rattles when we slam her into and out of the slipways. Saves us a pile of
time on approach and exits. Our cargoes always come out right which keeps the customers happy, we've even managed to twist a few more cycles out of the old
gal's lifters to make our runs faster thanks to getting loaded and unloaded quicker..”

“Has Wrenches upgraded all the ships?” Jon asked.

“No sir. So far its just been this one. She says that she doesn't want to tamper with the others until she can take the time to test fly them herself. She
says every ship has its own personality. I never heard of a ship with a personality before, but if she keeps making me look as good as she has, I won't
argue with her.” the Captain told him with a huge grin. "Hiring her was the best thing to happen for this ship in a very long time."