END of LINE: Humanities Last Stand - part 3 (60 page)

Before he realized the full extent of what the King had just done Jon said, ”I accept your claim Sire. May the Goddess strike me down if I ever forget my
duty is first to my wife, then to the throne and lastly, but never least importantly, the people you have given into my hands.” He followed that speech by
bowing his head and keeping it bowed.

With the flaming sword still held high over his head, King Le'puix continued as he brought the sword down to touch lightly to Jon's back as the warrior
knelt, “Arise then Admiral-General Jon Connell, Warrior, Dragon Flier, and Prince of the realm.”

Jon stood and smiled when the King handed him his sword with the hushed admonishment, “Turn that thing off before it hurts someone!” Jon turned and held
out his hand to Satrina who came over to stand beside him where together they faced the crowd. Jon wrapped his free arm around her tiny form and held the
still flaming sword so that it appeared later that evening as a protective barrier to any who would try to harm either of them. Suddenly a loud roar could
be heard from the side of the stage and Talga came out of hiding to walk across the stage and sit beside Satrina before letting out another loud roar. For
her part, Satrina reached over and scratched the big cat’s ears, which made him purr loudly and nuzzle against her. It was as if they were making the
statement that the three of them would always protect each other. At least that is how some of the more romantic female announcers on the news channels
told the tale. Then there was one reporter who still was astounded that a wild animal was allowed to roam freely on a ship full of civilized people. That
cat had ruined his most expensive belt!

“MY KING!” Prince Zeprik called out. “I would make my own claim on this day of claims.” He announced as he pulled Jelio's hand up for all to see. She wore
the Prince's own signet ring on her fourth finger. It signified that he had taken the female warrior as his bride. “As is the custom among her people, I
claim her. Here before you all stands my mate. Warrior Jelio III, once valued member of General-Admiral Jon Connell's flight team, now and forever more my
mate and Lexon II's future Queen!” As the mated couple smiled at the gathered crowd, the people began to cheer loudly and the applause became deafening in
the room. Even the king joined in the applause signifying his agreement with his son’s choice of a mate and welcoming her into the Royal family.

With their part in the proceedings finished, Jon, Satrina, Talga, and Jon's personal guard walked back through the crowd and out of the room to be
surrounded by reporters waiting for them outside in the corridor. They ignored most of the reporters questions until one female asked, “What are your plans
for the rim now Prince Connell?”

Stopping to search for her in the crowd, Jon finally saw that it was not a reporter who had asked the question. It was Phillie standing in the middle of a
large group of reporters with Jackal at her side. Jon didn't miss a single one of her tricks or the sound of her voice, as he smiled at his long time
friend.

“To be honest, I'll need to take some time to consider what the rim needs most. It’s been under the heels of criminals and thugs for far too long. So my
first duty will be to clean up that mess and rid the planets of the criminals.” Jon told the group. “While seeing to that, I hope to let the good people
tell me what they need most. I'll be calling for a gathering of leaders from each planet to sit together and decide what is best. If such a thing is
possible I’d like to have meetings once each cycle with the planets sending representatives to discuss what needs to be done. I do not like, nor do I trust
politicians. I never have. I hope to create something new for our people.” Then he glanced over to Satrina who was looking up at him in complete agreement
before continuing down the corridor toward the crew only section and away from the cameras and the questions being hurled at him wanting the details of his
plans.

Once behind the sealed hatch and away from the prying eyes of the public, Satrina knelt down to give Talga a tight hug. “You were magnificent today my
beautiful Talga. Thank you for being my protector. Run off and play now, I have need of my husband.” Standing to wrap her arms around her giant, Satrina
melted into him. “You know, that was a very spectacular official public announcement of a mating, my Lord Prince.”

“It certainly wasn't what I expected. I was expecting a one-line thing in the news. 'The King announced today that his beautiful daughter has mated with
some back world giant who nobody has ever heard of'.” Jon half joked.

“Well they have certainly heard of you now. Come my back world giant, catch me if you can!” She excitedly challenged him as she ran toward their stateroom
laughing the entire way. For his part, Jon let her win the race and once inside their stateroom he even let her have her way with him.

Despite her own promise to herself not to open her womb until the King was back on Lexon II, she opened herself to his seed that day and while it was still too soon to
tell, not one, but two new lives had begun. She would bear her giant twins. The male would be tall, strong and handsome, like his father. The female would
be tiny, filled with love, and very beautiful, like her mother.

Back in the areas that had been declared to be Public areas for the occasion, people roamed the corridors, enjoyed the food that had been specially
prepared by Jinkly, and marveled at the sheer size of Leviathan. Some corridors were as wide as entire passenger liners! In fact, many noted that an entire
liner could be parked in some of them with room left for several shuttles. As it turned out, these weren't corridors, but hanger bays where indeed
passenger liners could be easily berthed inside the ship.

The news reports had almost as many questions for the Prince's new mate as they had for the Prince. It was only when Zeprik saw that his mate was beginning
to get upset that he ordered them to stop. Guiding Jelio back to their quarters he pulled her down to kiss her. “You did very well with those reporters my
beautiful Warrior.”

“If one of them asked me just one more time about how we managed to make love with you being so much shorter than I am, I would have been forced to strip
off our tunics and show them!” Jelio told her Prince.

“Nothing is stopping you from doing exactly that right now.” Zeprik suggested with a glint in his eyes. Jelico agreed and proceeded to remove their tunics
and make love to her mate for the next few hours.

The members of the Royal Houses who had remained loyal to the King, and select members from each of the news networks, enjoyed the privilege of a guided
tour of the ship, including interviews with members of the crew who wished to be interviewed starting with the command bridge and ending at the engineering
section.

Phillie was frightened as she hurriedly tried to dress to meet with the people who would be touring her sections today. With every passing minute she
became more and more frustrated as she tried to brush her long silky hair only to have it refuse to behave. Finally she threw her brush on the counter and
screamed.

“What's wrong Furball?” Jarrieal asked as he stepped into their bathing chamber and wrapped her in his arms.

“I can't do this.” she sniffled through her tears. “I'm no good around people. They make me too nervous.”

“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.