END of LINE: Humanities Last Stand - part 3 (52 page)

“We only stunned him sir. He was trying to get another weapon.”

“Take him to the same room as his offspring and throw him in.” Jon ordered. “Let's see what they'll have to talk about once he wakes up.”

“What should we do with his arm?” one of the men asked.

“He won't be needing it anymore. Dispose of it with the trash.” Jon told him.

Several hours later, Jon was sitting alone in the Umin control room at one of the stations that controlled the planet killer weapon. This had become one of
his hiding spots on the huge ship. When he felt the need to be alone, he often came here. Talga more often than not soon joined him and sat beside him to
be petted.

It would be so very easy to transfer everyone to one of the other ships in his growing fleet of vessels then fly Leviathan to Haven first and then to Lexon
II and blow both planets out of existence. He would destroy Haven first for turning him into the lonely adult he'd become and Lexon II for being home to
the Royal House that had stolen away his one love. The last planet on his list would be Canari Prime. That was the place that had killed his friend Zeprik
and was the largest producer of the illegal lustor drug. The very drug that was used to change Lexonian females from innocent daughters to sex starved
pleasure females.

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

Jon had come to almost know that voice. Each time he allowed himself to have thoughts of using the terrible weapons hidden inside this ship, that voice had
come to him, always warning him to forgive rather than give into his desire for revenge. Every time he dreamed, the voice came to warn him. It was as
though the ship itself were telling him that it must never be used for personal gain or horrible things would happen. Over the last several sleep periods,
Jon had given up trying to rest. Constant dreams of battles and of lost companions crowding the rest from his mind.

Lately there had been another voice in his dreams. It was the voice of his dead friend, Prince Zeprik, begging Jon to come and save him. Each time he heard
his friend's voice, Jon had awoken with tears running down his face and sobs causing his chest to heave. “I tried to save you Rik. I promise you, I tried!”
Jon called out to the empty room as for the first time in over a cycle tears ran freely from his eyes even though he was fully awake.

“There you are!” an excited Phillie said as she came into the Umin control room. “We've been all over this ship looking for you! Jar and I were worried
sick that you'd over done it again and fallen someplace.”

“I'm fine little sister. Thank you for worrying about me.” Jon honestly told her. Phillie had not only been a good friend but Jon had learned to understand
that she really did love him like her own brother, something he was very thankful for. “I come here when I need to get away and think.”

“What has you thinking this time that you need to hide yourself away in a place like this?” she asked, as she waved her arm around to point at the ominous
room designed for only one thing, the utter destruction of a planet and all life on it.

“Phillie, what would you say if I told you I was thinking of getting everyone off this ship and hiding it again where it can't be found for another two
hundred cycles? The power in this room alone is a great temptation. Too much for any one person to have. I may be the last person alive who carries the
genes to operate it, but what's to say someone in the future doesn't figure out someway around that and bring it back for evil. This ship has served it
purpose. It's time for it to be put to rest far away from evil males.”

“I could construct a remote so you could program it to go someplace only you know about. That way, one of your descendants in the future could find it if
it's ever needed again. Just like you found it when you needed it.” Phillie offered.

“Phillie, I've come to realize that I will never have any offspring. I'm the last of the Connell line. The one female I will ever love as my mate, the one
I would freely give my seed, has rejected me.” Jon sadly confessed. “Anyway, I could put everyone to work on the Destroyers and the Carriers, maybe even
buy a few more ships. How would you like to be in charge of twenty or more ships? With what we already know about the King family, TransCo is history.
Either I claim the rights to its vessels on grounds of the current owner's crimes or they get sold at auction. Then have Leviathan make her last trip,
maybe fly her into a sun and burn her up so she can never be used again.”

“There is still too much we can learn from this old ship. The healing tubes in medical could save millions if we could figure out how they work. Engine
construction is another thing. Yes, I managed to modify our slip drives, but to actually build a jump drive from the basics is far beyond our abilities.
Leviathan is far too valuable to waste Jon.” Phillie explained. “If these weapons are all you're worried about, let me figure out how to take them apart
and melt down the pieces so no one can copy the design.”

“Can that even be done?” Jon asked her.

“It must be. You can see how everything was molded, so the metal was a liquid once. Even those two tigers that stand guard over this room.” Phillie assured
him. “Give me some time and I'll figure out how to do it again. That way we'll pull out the really bad stuff and keep the things we can put to a peaceful
use.” Phillie almost begged. She had grown to love this ship and think of it as her home. She did not want to lose it. “Besides, I read in the data that
only a certain group of Lexonian females could fire this weapon. So unless you find a way to turn yourself into many, all of them female and find a ring
called the Sun Stone, the weapon can never be used.”

“Alright Phillie, I'll let you have your toy.” Jon smiled at her and she slapped him on the arm. “Its your toy. I'm just its mechanic!” she laughed. “Come
on, the computer guys have some things to show you. You have really opened up a can of it this time Jon Connell.”

“Maybe I should use that as my call sign... Can Opener calling Wrenches, are you clean? Should we call Jackal?” he kidded her.

Phillie punched him in the arm, but she giggled at the same time.

Sitting at a long conference table in one of the rooms located on the same level as the Data Center, Jon watched the video that had been prepared of the
father and son who had caused so much trouble among the planets for cycles.

“Boy, why didn't you make it to the meeting place on time?” Boss King asked his son.

“I was busy at the farm, why didn't you stop the High One from leaving Hiliost 5.” the son asked. “Besides the transport you arranged had orders to wait if
my Destroyer wasn't there.”

“That wasn't my fault. Somehow they got their message through to the Butcher and he came for them. My people on the planet could not prevent him from
taking them. Can you believe the nerve of that guy? He walks into a bar on a planet where I own nearly every night-club and pleasure house in town except
that exact one, and walks out with the two females I've been paid to stop!

I sent six of my fastest ships to stop them in space. Two of them were fully armed fighters with trained pilots. Most of my men got blown up before the shuttle they were in just disappeared. Then three more shuttles were attacked. This time from behind! I saw the data from the surviving ships and they all matched. The shuttle just blinked out of space like that.” Boss King said with a snap of his fingers. “It appeared again out on the far edge of the system where another ship picked it up and it too blinked once and was gone! I've never seen a ship enter the slip so fast before.”

“Well, don't worry about it. I took care of it. There is no way she survived the bombs. That new weapon is really nice, sit back and destroy an entire city
without using any real energy. It's better than all of your suicide ships put together. That's what has me worried. If they got video of my ship bombing
the Sanctuary, I'm toast. If that happens Father, I'm going to take you and U'Lanto down with me. I know enough to have you both put to death.”

“Don't worry about it boy. U'Lanto promised he would cover us. You're too young to remember, but back when you was just a bawling brat, your uncle and I
did a job for him when we blew the tracks and caused that monorail to crash on Haven. That time we killed the Queen. U'Lanto came through for us on that
one. Nobody questions him, not even the King.

This is nothing compared to causing the death of the Queen. This whole affair will be swept away in a month at most and we'll be promoted into the upper
houses with a nice home on Lexon II, not that hole we have now on Haven. We'll have all the young females we can drug up and use in anyway we like. Just
like we used to do with your mother.” the elder King laughed. “It sure would have been nice to get our target drugged and in our bed just once though. She
was a real looker, but then you always liked the really young ones didn't you boy?”

Jon switched off the video and rested his head in his hands. After all these cycles to find out his parents had been killed during the murder of a Royal
was a shocker, far beyond the other things he already knew about the two King males he had detained on his ship. This mysterious U'Lanto was somehow
involved in both the murder of the Queen and having his friend the Crown Prince murdered in the Canari raid. It became too much for him to contain. Feeling
his pain well up inside him, he threw his head back and roared like his pet tiger before slamming his fists down on the table and cracking the heavy wooden
top!

Standing just outside the door to the conference room, Phillie looked at the three females that she had brought up to speak to Jon. They had all agreed
that now was the time to show Jon all the truths they had uncovered and hope he could hear them. If he turned his back on these truths, he might not
believe the two most important truths. That's when they heard his roar and the sound of him cracking the tabletop when he hit it come through the heavy
door. Phillie actually shuttered and the others jumped. “I've never heard him that upset before. Something on the vid must have seriously set him off. You
still want to try this?” she asked, looking between the females as they all nodded. “OK. Here's Jar now with the rest of Jon's flight crew. If anybody can
calm him down, they can.”

Jarrieal opened the door and went in first, the others following with Phillie closing and locking the door behind her as she entered last. They all stood
in shocked silence at the sight of their leader sitting at the table holding his head in his hands and at the image of the fierce dragon that floated in
the air behind him. Everyone stood silently around the table until Jon looked up and acknowledged them. “What brings you all here?”

“Looks like you're redoing the furniture. Never seen a crack that big in one of the heavy tables before.” Mopie said.

The tall blue female spoke up. “Admiral Connell, first allow me to introduce myself to you properly. I am called Tiaz. I have been the companion and public
voice for the Order of Mourners for many cycles. I am also their truth seeker.” After a slight bow she continued. “I have been made aware of several truths
that I wish to share with you today.”

“I'm not sure I can stand much more truth today, Tiaz. I just learned that a greedy male who is now in my custody killed my parents. I also learned that
the other one bombed Sanctuary, killing who knows how many innocent mourners, to cover up his own failure! I am trying to avoid ripping them to bits with
my bare hands!” Jon was visibly shaken and stood so tense that he actually shook slightly like one of his violin strings when it was plucked. The dragon
behind him seemed to glow even brighter as his anger built to a fever pitch.

“Jon calm down and listen to her.” Jarrieal told him. “Its important.”

“Listen to what Jar? To what a colossal failure I am? My parents, and my friend, all dead because I was not able to protect them.”

“You had no control over what happened to your parents Jon, and you tried to save Zeprik. We all know that. By the Goddess' dress, we had to shoot you with
a sedative to even get near you and you had a broken back at the time!” Mopie told him. “There was a pile of bodies around you that was taller than I am! I
thought poor Phillie was going to die from heartache when she finally had to let them use that trank gun on you to get you and Prik on medical stretchers.”

“Alright, but I'm not promising to behave once I hear it.” Looking across at Tiaz and fixing her with a hard stare that could freeze air, Jon tossed his
sword onto the broken table before indicating that she should continue.

“I must ask you a question first Jon Connell, and I ask your permission to touch you when you answer.”

“Why?”

“My kind can sense when a person lies to us with a simple touch. I want only the truth to be spoken here today.” Tiaz explained.

Jon looked at Phillie. Knowing that he had allowed her blue friend at Lexon Station touch him at least twice. Seeing the tears in Phillie's eyes he said,
“Very well.” He held out his hand to Tiaz and she came around the broken table to grasp it.

”Did you just now break this table?”

“Yes. I'll be in trouble for it. It was a favorite of one of my section leaders.”

“Are you aware that a huge dragon protects your back and that we can all see it clearly when you are angered?” she asked.

“No that I did not know. Jarrieal, Phillie, can you both see it?” he asked and everyone in the room nodded that they could.

“You messaged your mate everyday until the day I am told that you last visited Haven. Why did you stop?”

“That was the day we held a memorial service for a friend. The Lexonian Regent came to me and explained that my mate had seen her duty to the Crown and
would not return any messages. He asked me to stop sending them.” Jon told Tiaz who tightened her grip on his hand before turning to the two mourners and
saying, “He speaks the truth. He was told to stop by the King's Regent.”