END of LINE: Humanities Last Stand - part 3 (42 page)

Jon slowly shook the sleep from his brain and hid his eyes from the bright lights in the Medical bay on Leviathan. He'd experienced this before. The last
time was when he had been removed from the healing tubes on Lexon II after the battle of Canari Prime. This was different. His muscles weren't weak and his
back, while still painful did not send the fiery stabs of pain straight into his brain.

“Ah, you're awake.” Healer Hukor said. “You gave us all a scare Admiral.”

“What happened?” Jon asked.

“I'm not sure. A pirate ship exploded and we found you and your fancy ship floating in space all jumbled up with the wreckage.” The Healer ran his scanner
over Jon's body then frowned. “You've done some real damage this time Admiral. You'll need your chair or the frames for a while. Lucky for you, that Umin
armor kept you alive.” As he turned to leave he looked back at Jon and just snickered. Then opening the curtains he said, “He's all yours.”

Phillie exploded into the room. She was all over him checking his legs, arms, head, and neck lastly looking him straight in the eyes. “So help me Jon
Connell! If you ever do anything like that again!” Then she threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. “You made me cry, damn you.” she sobbed.

“I'm sorry little sister.” Jon told her as he stroked her long hair. “I wasn't expecting the ship to blow itself up like that. In the long history of
space, no ship has ever done something like that. No living being would set foot on one if it could.”

“I know Jon, we've already gone over the recordings your ship and armor made.” Phillie sniffled. “You could not have known. I'm just thankful that Jar
wasn't with you when it killed itself. As good as all the new armor is, it would never have kept him alive the way yours did.”

“Did you bring me a clean tunic?” Jon asked.

“Yes, and clean leggings, and your wheelchair.” Phillie told him. “The Healer wants you in that chair for at least a day.”

Jon quickly dressed and when he tried to walk out of his area, the pain in his back nearly made him fall. Lucky for him he managed to get himself seated in
the chair before Phillie or the Healer saw him struggling.

Two days later another distress call came in. A loaded cargo vessel outbound from Helued system was under attack by pirates using a military surplus
Destroyer class vessel. The larger cargo vessel was running and managing to keep out of their range, but their slipdrives were damaged. They needed help.

Jon moved several shuttles over to Defiance including his own Dragon Ship and jumped to the coords where he found himself facing not one, but two Destroyer
class vessels chasing the cargo ship.

“OK troops, Phillie needs one of these ships to be able to fly for a little experiment she has in mind. We can blow the other to the Goddess and be done
with it. Shuttle Captains, launch and insert your grubs on the starboard Destroyer. Defiance, blow the port ship out of the space ways. Cancel that. Let's
take both ships. Defiance, disable your ship, grubs, split up between both ships. Leave them both flyable if we can” Jon ordered then he hurried down to
join the attacking shuttles. He stepped into his armor then strapped himself into his ship, started its engines and drove it out of the hanger bay into
space.

No sooner than he cleared the bay, he found himself in the middle of a fierce battle. Both pirate Destroyer class vessels had turned and were now attacking
Defiance. From the looks of the battle, the attack on the freighter was only a ploy to lure Jon's Destroyer into the fight. Plasma cannons ripped space
with their electric blue bolts and torpedoes exploded harmlessly on the Umin armor shell Phillie had installed on Defiance. The new ship's armor prevented the pirates from
inflicting any damage on his ship’s hull. With his shuttle cloaked, Jon flew over to one of the pirate vessels and began firing on its weapons to disable them. Soon he found himself
the target as the pirates realized what he was doing. Shooting at him might have worked if he wasn't flying with the nanoid enhancements in his brain
telling the Dragon Ship's controls when to jerk to the left, right, up or down to avoid incoming fire as another part of his mind directed his own plasma
bolts and rockets to blast away at the pirate ship. To someone watching the struggle from a distance it appeared as a display of brilliant blue and red
beams clustered at one tiny ship and the returning blue and red streaks coming from the smaller vessel as it “pulled the teeth” from its larger opponent.
The much smaller Dragon ship skipped around the pirate's Destroyer taking out its weapons one at a time. It had no worries at all about the return fire it
was taking from both pirate vessels now as they both left off trying to attack the Defiance and turned their attention to the small vessel that was
crippling their attack systems. For Jon's part, his mind link with the Umin Dragon Ship gave him the added advantage of being able to move faster, react
more efficiently and attack relentlessly, all simply by thinking about what he should do next. Unlike the pirates who had to think about where to aim, then
when to fire, for Jon, it all happened together as if he were gliding around a dance floor with a beautiful female in his arms. This dance was the dance of
death for the pirates and the female was his Dragon Ship as it responded to his every thought and the most gentle of touches to its controls. Toying with the pirate vessels, Jon would allow his ship to be picked up on his opponents scanners just long enough to fire another shot before recloaking and moving to blast another of the pirate's cannons.

With the pirates weapons silenced, and his troops onboard both ships, Jon locked the helmet down on his Umin Battle Armor and picked one of the pirate
vessels to board for himself. “This is Dragon” he commed. “I'm coming onboard the port side ship. I'll head to the command bridge.” He found a convenient
air lock, brought his Dragon Ship into position and locked his ship to the pirate vessel just as it started to make a run for a near by slipway. It took a
few seconds for the air lock to cycle so Jon could enter the vessel, but once he was inside he drew his sword and made his way forward.

Jon easily cut down any who tried to stand in his way as any plasma bolts fired at him bounced harmlessly off his Umin armor. It was as if he were an angry
God that had come to take his vengeance out on any who would attack the weak and helpless. Pirates seemed to keep coming at him as he continued on to the
command bridge. The layout of this Destroyer was an exact twin for Defiance so Jon knew where he was going as he stepped over the dead bodies he had sliced
and cut as they tried in vain to stop him from reaching the control center of the ship. Finally reaching the command bridge he walked in on a fierce
firefight as his own troops fired at the pirates who had taken cover across the room behind a bank of computers.

“ENOUGH!” Jon called out. “We are in control of this ship's engines and I have killed all of your crew who were sent to delay my arrival. This ship is now
forfeit and considered salvage under the laws of piracy! Come out with your hands in the air and your weapons down. I give my word; you shall be allowed to
live. Continue this attempt to prevent our takeover of the vessel and you shall all die here and now by my hand.”

“Who are you to be making demands on my ship?” a voice called out from where the pirates had made their final stand.

“You know me as the Butcher.” Jon called back. “Must I be forced to show you how I earned the name?” Jon had quietly moved to within a few feet of the
hidden pirates and planned to kill any who stepped from their cover to continue the fight. When one of them emerged with his plasma pistol extended in
front of him, Jon snapped into action by first raising his sword and cutting the man's arm off at the elbow before taking one step to thrust the sword
through the pirate's black heart. Then as Jon pushed the limp body of the dead pirate off his flaming blade and back toward his still hidden comrades Jon
made one last strike with his sword to sever the man's head from his body before he called out, “That's one! How many more will die this day?”

From behind the bank of computers the gasps of the remaining pirates could be plainly heard, “Goddess! He cut Kelkio to shreds in less than a breath!! WE
SURRENDER!” Then two pistols and a rifle were thrown out before two ragged looking males walked out with their hands held over there heads. “Please sir,
don't butcher us like that!” one of them begged.

“Who is your Captain?” Jon demanded.

“You just cut him up.” One of the pirates told him. “That's him laying in pieces with a hole in his heart, his arm out there somewhere, and his head over
there.” The male pointed to the head Jon had just removed.

Jon commed his teams “Report!”

“Team 1 reporting, we have control of Engineering. The engines have been taken offline, but they are still functioning as you asked. We're still dealing
with some pirates but the ship is in our control. Sir”

“Team 2 reporting, this ship is ours sir. All pirate forces have been killed or captured. We can fly her anywhere you want.”

“Well done teams.” Jon commed. “Did we loose anyone?” Both teams reported that they had suffered no losses, but they did have some who needed the attention
of the Healers.

“Get our injured back on Defiance.” Jon ordered. “I'll alert them to your approach.

Dragon to Defiance.”

“Go Dragon.”

“Shuttles will be returning with injured. Have the Healers standing by to receive them.” Jon ordered. “Then bring the ship in close and make ready to jump
with these two ships in tow.”

Jon's legs were on the verge of buckling under him. He had put too much stress on them again. Luckily he was able to walk to the commander's chair and sit
before he fell.

He had just gotten himself seated when the com blared out, “Defiance, this is cargo vessel Lomi. Thank you for the assist. Its common law out here to drop
slip for ships in distress, but lately the pirates are using that to lure in ships. They're not satisfied with attacking us before we reach port anymore. I
can see you're part of that new security force that opened out here. That banner on your bow is rather distinctive; I've never seen one like it before.
Anyway, how much do we owe you?”

“Lomi, it is our pleasure to help. Besides, our Flight Engineer wanted these pirate's ships for some kind of experiment she's planning.” Defiance's Captain
told the cargo vessel's Captain without the need for Jon to say a word. “Today our services are free, just remember, you owe us a favor. Defiance out.”

“Wait, Defiance, we have an urgent message for your Boss. Don't tell me he isn't there, I saw that Dragon Ship. He's the only one out here who would fly
one of those ships. According to the legends, they are tuned to only fly for those who use them for good. Evil men can never fly them. Tell the Butcher
that he is needed along with his ship and crew for a special mission. He must accept this mission or some very important people will be killed. He must
meet the agent at Jake's Tavern on Hiliost 5 as soon as he can get there. The agent will be expecting him at 1900 hours local time. The message says it’s
vital that he come. Something about running out of time and space.”

Turning his attention back to the pair of pirates in front of him, Jon ordered three of his team to take them away and lock them up. “Shoot them if they
give you any trouble. If they speak a single word, shoot their Asses. If they do anything but follow your orders, shoot their Asses. If they sneeze, shoot
their Asses!”

“Will do sir. Let's go you two. I know exactly where to put you so you can't cause any trouble.” Marching the two pirates past the hacked up bodies of
their friends caused the pirates to rethink any plans they might have had for escape. If seeing their own Captain, the strongest and most fierce among
them, cut to pieces before their eyes wasn't enough, every male sent to stop the advancing warrior who flew the legendary Dragon ship had failed and their
cut up bodies proved that no one could stop the huge warrior once he made his mind up to do something, he would do it!

Jon knew he needed help. His legs were beginning to go numb from the exertion and he was starting to feel the pain in his back again. “JARRIEAL!” Jon
called across his COM badge. “Come up to the bridge please.”

“On my way Dragon.” Jarrieal could tell by the sound of Jon's voice that his friend needed him there now, so he wasted no time in giving his team their
orders before taking off at a run. Along the way, the number of bodies he found that had been hacked apart by what could only have been Jon’s Dragon Sword
astounded him. The blade made the cleanest cuts he'd ever seen only to seal the wounds so blood loss was kept to a minimum. He found bodies cut in two,
with no spilled internal organs, no pools of blood, nothing to say that a battle had taken place except dead men with dismembered limbs and heads laying on
the floor several feet away from their bodies. “Goddess Jon, what have you done?' Jarrieal thought as he passed what must have once been over twenty living
pirates, now reduced to an assortment of body parts lying on the decks.

Stepping onto the bridge, Jarrieal did not see Jon at first. His eyes were too busy looking over the walls charred from plasma bolts and the dead pirates
that told of a vicious firefight that had taken place on the bridge. Just knowing that none of their own had been lost in this fight was miracle enough,
but to then find Jon in one piece, sitting in the ship's command chair, seemingly uninjured after the battle He must have fought to get here was
overwhelming!

Walking up to his friend's side Jarriael said, “I'm here Admiral.”

“I need your help, brother.” Jon said, fighting back the pain that was spreading up his spine. “Will you help me to my ship? I must make Defiance ready to
leave as soon as we get these pirate ships back for your mate. You know how she loves to get new toys.” Jon smiled up at Jarriael and then lost
consciousness.

“Defiance!” Jarrieal commed, “Have you got the grapples fixed on these ships yet?”