END of LINE: Humanities Last Stand - part 3 (41 page)

Once they had Jarrieal freed from the fallen wreckage and carried away from the bombed out building, Jon was able to better assess his friend's condition.
Checking for broken bones, Jon found only a few nasty bruises. Jarrieal would be very sore for a while, but otherwise he would be fine. “That was a close
one brother. What were you thinking by going in there?”

“I was trying to get to the Controller. He was like these people's leader.” Jarrieal told Jon.

“Yes, your Majesty.” A thin, greenish skinned, male who had come up quietly to stand beside Jon said. When Jon turned to look at him the male dropped to
his knees and bowed his head low to the ground. “I thank you for coming to our aid, my Lord.”

“I'm not your Lord. Please stand.” Jon politely told the male.

“But you are the Dragon King. My people have studied the legends. We knew you would come.”

“Who are you?” Jon asked.

“I am Kikol, village Communicator. It is my place to speak with the ships that come to buy our crops and bring us much needed supplies.”

“Can you tell me what happened here?” Jon asked. Jarrieal had recovered enough to stand beside Jon and the thin male bowed to him.

“A ship arrived several moon cycles ago and demanded that we give them our prime farm land.” the thin man told Jon. “When we refused, their leader said
that Lord King would not be pleased. Lord King is a terrible male with no honor in him. We needed the land to grow our food crops. He wanted it to grow the
drug that drives females crazy.

Yesterday destruction began to fall from the sky. I was just able to call for help before the center was destroyed. I never expected that the Dragon King
himself would come to our aid. Unfortunately the first bombs killed our Controller and we'll have to elect someone new to his post.”

“Can your people handle this mess or do you still need our help?” Jon asked.

“We will survive. Thank the Goddess our storage sheds were not harmed.”

“I'll have a few of my men help you clean this up, but I'm afraid we cannot stay here for long.” Jon explained. “We have brought the ship with your
supplies. I'll make sure you get everything your expecting.”

“I know. I heard you calling your ship before the center was hit. Do you really fly the Defiance?”

“Yes, that's my ship.”

“I have a message for you Sire.” the greenish man started to say before Jon held up his hands to stop him.

“Please stop calling me that. I am not a Dragon King and I'm certainly no King to you.”

“But the dragon that appears at your back says differently, my Lord. You have been called to a meeting at Jake's Tavern on Hiliost 5 any day you can be
there at 1900 hours local time. The message is for the Butcher, that's you. Your Dragon's Breath sword is famous even this far out from the center
planets.”

“Thank you Kikol.” Jon acknowledged. “Jar, are you OK to fly?”

“Yeah, I'll be fine. Just don't tell Phillie I got hurt. I'm going to have a hard enough time explaining these bruises once she sees them.” the warrior who
was almost as big as Jon pleaded.

“You're on your own with that one brother. Try keeping your clothes on for a change. Whatever you end up telling her, make sure you keep me out of the
story.” Jon smiled and slapped his friend on the back. “I'm heading back to the ship. Let me know when the clean up down here is finished. Make sure you
have that leg checked by the Healer. I know how you are about injuries.”

“I'm no worse than you my friend.” Jarrieal answered. “Why are you digging in a pile of rubble with your back in the shape its in?”

“I was trying to save your hard ass.” Jon smiled at his friend and together they both laughed. Jon stopped to talk with a few of his men and several of the
settlement's civilians on his way back to his Dragon Ship. He instructed his people to offer any help that they could in finding survivors. He found he was
mainly trying to make the settlers stop falling to their knees whenever he approached. Then a very old female approached him and said,

“The people have studied the legends of the Umin for all the cycles of our planet. They have seen the Dragon Ship you fly and the dragon that appears at
your back. Your men wear the house colors of the Dragon King. You speak and they obey. You have even risked your own life to save one of them.” she bowed
deeply before saying, “You are the Dragon King, my Lord. We have all waited hundreds of cycles for your return.”

“I am nobodies King my Lady.” Jon corrected her. “I am just a male who offers what help I can to the good people of the rim worlds. I would like to see all
of them set free from the evil males who keep them crushed under their boots.”

“What more can any good King want except to have his Queen at his side?” she asked before backing away and bowing again and again until she was out of
sight. Jon continued to his ship and put the old female's words out of his head. There was no way he was some mythical Umin Dragon King. As far as having a
Queen at his side, well, that would never happen!

Strapping in to his pilot's chair Jon carefully lifted his ship into the air and away from the settlement before pointing its nose straight up and blasting
into space. He followed the Defiance's locator beacons and found her patrolling on the other side of the planet from where they had destroyed the suicide
ship. She had another of the pirate vessels locked in combat and He watched as streams of deadly laser fire was exchanged between the ships.

“Dragon to Defiance, why are you playing with them? Just blast them out of the sky.” Jon commed over.

“It’s about time you answered!” Phillie's excited voice responded. “I was waiting for you because this one is different from the others. I thought you
might want to see it.”

“What's so different?” Jon questioned.

“Can you see those scanner beam generators on her hull?” Phillie asked. “I think this is the control ship for the other one that was bombing the planet.”

“You want me to take it?” Jon asked her.

“Where are the rest of the teams?” Phillie asked. Jackal had already contacted the ship, so she knew that her mate was safe even if the fool had gotten
himself hurt. Now all she had to worry about was her heart-brother doing something foolish.

“Busy. I'm heading in now.” Jon told her and cut the connection. He flew into position behind the pirate's vessel and sent missiles into each of its
engines, crippling the ship. He waited to see if it was also rigged to explode if attacked, but nothing happened. With the vessel now dead in space, Jon flew along the planet side of it and blasted away each gun emplacement before swinging around to the side facing Defiance and carefully taking out each cannon as it waited to reload between shots. With the ship's engines off line, and its cannon s destroyed, Jon brought his ship in close and he could finally see the scanner generators that Phillie had told him about. They stuck out on the
hull like bunted quills, literally covering every inch of the ship's surface. Jon did find one spot near the tail with enough room for him to land.

Closing the helmet on his Umin armor, Jon exited his ship and drew both of his swords, igniting the plasma blades. Making certain of his every step, he
moved to what looked to be a hatch. It was marked as an emergency air lock, so Jon cycled it and preceded into the aft section of the vessel. What he saw
inside had him rethinking everything he thought he knew about the operation of a ship in space.

He was standing in what had to be the largest Engineering section he'd ever seen on a ship of this size. Instead of a team of Engineers manning rows of
computers, Jon found only a massive mainframe computer connected to hundreds of mechanical arms set up around the room. Paying no attention to his
presence, the arms seemed to be working furiously to repair the ruined engines. Finding what he thought had to be the power connection for the computer, he
used his sword to neatly slice through the cable that was as thick as his leg and was rewarded by a shower of sparks as the lights went out on the
mainframe and the mechanical arms fell still on their mounting points.

Jon found the entryway into the rest of the ship and as he searched the vessel, he found none of the telltale signs of a crew anywhere. He had expected to
at least find living quarters and beings manning the guns, instead he found another mainframe computer. This one had Defiance targeted and was still
issuing commands for the laser cannons to fire on her despite the cannons having already been destroyed. Once more Jon searched for the power cable and cut
it cleanly through, putting an end to the ship's ability to shoot at anything.

Opening his coms he called up to Defiance, “Phillie? Can you ask Leviathan to come in and pick up this thing? I'm almost up to the command bridge and still
haven't found a crew onboard. It’s all being run by computers.”

Continuing his inspection of the ship, Jon found the bridge. As soon as he stepped through the entry he was hit by the blast from a heavy laser. Its beam
hitting him squarely in the chest. If not for the Umin armor that he was wearing Jon would have been killed by that one blast alone. “I've already set the
self-destruct Peacekeeper!” a hidden male called out. “You don't want any part of this. Boss King has claimed this planet and he will have it. Once this
ship dies he'll send others!”

“I've shut down two of the mainframes running this thing.” Jon called back. “Come out and lets talk. I'm not a Peacekeeper any more.”

“You ain't on the Bosses pay roll either. If you were you'd know better than to have attacked his death ships.” the voice replied and fired another blast
to punctuate his remark.

“Do you really want to die out here?” Jon asked.

“I'll die anyway! Boss King doesn't accept failure.”

Jon had slowly worked his way around to where he heard the voice coming from and when an arm reached out to blindly fire another shot, he quickly sliced it
off with his sword. The laser fired again as it hit the floor with a hand still grasping its trigger. “My next move will be to cut out your heart!” Jon yelled.

“HA! You're out of time!” the hidden male shouted and Jon heard the screech of an alarm somewhere on the ship that indicated it had only seconds left
before its reactors would explode. The next thing he knew, a blindingly white flash surrounded him as an explosion erupted around him! He was immediately
knocked unconscious. His last thoughts were about Satrina and her beautiful smile.

On the bridge of Defiance, Phillie fell to the floor. She had just seen Jon enter the pirate vessel. Once he had gone inside that ship, all communication
with him had been lost, so she did not know what he was doing. Then just a few minutes after he went inside, the enemy ship exploded! Pain gripped her
heart as she thought that the one male who'd had enough faith in her to give her a new life died with that ship. Her grief overwhelmed her and she openly
screamed out her pain and fell to her knees. “NO! JON! NO!” she screamed.

Jon stood in front of a pair of doors that had twin dragons carved in them and on each dragon was a male with a flaming sword. Between the dragons was a
small object that could somehow expand to engulf both dragons and their fliers. Why am I here? He wondered. The doors opened and Jon walked through only to
find a long hallway with paintings along each wall. They showed beautiful landscapes, armored warriors, beautiful females, and the last painting seemed to
change before his eyes. He knew each of them because his ancestor had taken them from the cave and brought them to the house. Jon had loaded them onto the
shuttle and brought them with him when he left the house on Haven. Finally he came to the painting he had looked at many times. It began as a painting of a
tall handsome male dressed in silver and black armor, holding a flaming sword in one hand while his other was wrapped around the beautiful female at his
side. Behind them stood a gleaming city of gold. Next the painting showed his ancestor with his mate and the youngling they raised together. The youngling
was Jon's great, great grandfather. Finally the painting became him and Satrina with Talga sitting next to them. In one hand Jon held a flaming sword while
his other arm was pulling Satrina tightly to his side and she had her hands resting on his chest. She was wearing the Connell House colors and had chosen
the most beautiful gown of them all. She looked like the Queen that she was destined to be. The look of absolute love on her face brought tears to his eyes
even though he knew he was sleeping in a tube in the Med Lab on Leviathan. It was exactly as it had been the day it changed when he had given Satrina his
house colors. Still it had changed again because what had been a blurred area above his mountain home now clearly showed the image of Leviathan surrounded
by stars. Jon now wore a black cape that was edged in gold with a hood that covered his face and instead of the look of innocence that he had before, now
the image showed his face as a mask of rage and pain. He was the Death to Satrina's life. The darkness to her light. The hate to her love. Jon suddenly
realized that the look on Satrina's face was not one of love, it was one of a person pleading for someone to return to the innocence that once was. “I'M
NOT THE ONE WHO TURNED AWAY! SHE REJECTED ME!” he screamed out in the dream.

“Take a care Warrior” an angry voice called to him. “The time comes when you must decide to forgive. If you cannot, my ship will betray you and you will be
he of the painting knowing only darkness and death when love is calling.”

Then the angry male voice was gone and Jon was left alone looking at the painting that had changed back to the Umin King and his beautiful Queen with their
golden city behind them. In the sky high above that part of the image that had always been just a blur slowly became sharper until Jon realized that the
painting was of a massive ship far out in space! The ship was the Galaxiey!

As the dream faded from his head Jon heard a female's gentle voice telling him, “Your future is in your own hands my chosen Warrior. One path leads to an
ever-lasting love. The other to misery.”