END of LINE: Humanities Last Stand - part 3 (29 page)

Kelesro came to visit him before she left to return to her position at Jamie's Place. This time when she touched him she was terrified by what she saw. His
heart had been broken and heavy scars were holding it tightly in their grasp. She had expected to find some heart scarring, he had lost his good friend,
but what scared her was the state of Jon's soul. The once open and loving person she had come to like was now clouded over and his soul had turned a dark
gray. This male was no longer looking to be loved. He was looking for his own death. He didn't care who he had to take with him. The Jon Connell they all
thought they knew was gone! His real self was buried so deep inside that Kel feared no one could ever bring back the male they all loved. Jon Connell had
become death! “Find peace my friend.” she pleaded with him before she kissed his cheek then turned to leave. She walked away with tears streaming down her lovely face until she
reached the bar.

“What's wrong Kel?” Jasmini asked when she went directly back to the office.

“We've lost Jon.” Kelesro openly wept. Something very rearely done by the people of her race. “His soul has turned. He'll need a miracle now.”

“Phil is with him.” the girl offered. “She'll know what to do. She loves him like a brother. She can reach him, you'll see.”

“Only if he lets her child. Only if he lets her.” Kelesro cried.

Helios had managed to sneak back into his armor and rejoin his unit the day of the big battle on Canari Prime. Right now he was peacefully enjoying his late
meal in a Peacekeeper ship's mess. He'd hidden the stolen credits in a cave near the farm where he had stolen the vehicle and to top everything off, he had
made sure that his father's name was never connected to Canari by killing his uncle and setting fire to the bar. He'd also gotten in several good shots
from distance at the human freak that had made his life miserable since that day he'd insulted the human's heart-mother. How was he supposed to know a
Lexie had raised the freak? Anyway, all he had to do now was wait a few more months until he was out of the Peacekeepers. Then he could go back to Canari,
collect all those credits and set himself up in the smuggling business. The same drugs his father and uncle had used on his mother were still in high
demand on the black market around the inner worlds and that farm had been one of the biggest producers of the drug. Some males still needed to drug females
to make them interested. He knew because apparently he was one of those who could never find a willing female without the drug or a month's pay for her
services at a pleasure house.

His luck was running really good since the Canari operation. Not only was the Crown Prince killed in the heat of battle, something that the Regent paid him
a great many credits for making happen, but also all of the troops on that mission had been given their choice of duty stations. He had picked an easy
assignment onboard a Peacekeeper cutter patrolling the inner planets. It meant an easy berth and plenty of leave time planteside. Lots of opportunities to
have some fun with the locals, like in raping a few young females, beating up a few smaller punks, and stealing a few credits. Not to mention cheating at
cards every night. Helios King was finally coming into his own place in his father's criminal organization. Once he was discharged from the Peacekeepers
his life would be one of easy profits bought on the labor of his slaves! The only bad to come from the entire mission was that Jon Connell had survived.
Somehow the freak was still breathing. Oh well, as badly injured as the news told everyone that he was, Jon Connell would never again be a problem.

He'd contacted Phillie earlier to find out if she had followed his instructions and if Defiance was waiting for him at Lexon station. When she assured him that she had brought the destroyer to the station the day before he arranged for a shuttle to take him off planet. Jon carefully walked from the shuttle docking area around the tubeway to where the Defiance was docked and waiting for him, his new cloak fluttering behind him as he walked. The hood covered his face enough so that even those people he passed closest to could not see him clearly enough to make a positive identification. He appeared to be some kind of strange deadly apparition to the people who saw him as he moved with slow deliberate strides. The people who normally crowded the orbiting station all moved to clear a path for him. Just the sight of his taller and broader than usual build combined with the black cape that clearly displayed the ranking of an eighth degree Master Swordsman while hiding his face so well and the evidence of the twin swords he now wore at his waist gave people a
terrible need to move out of this being's path. Many thought that Death walked among them, searching for its next victim. Those people would have been
right if they thought he would kill them as soon as ask them to move, so they moved on their own as quickly as they could.

Wrenches followed him closely pushing a wheelchair in case he decided to use it. So far he'd only allowed himself to be pushed in it while leaving the Med
Lab. Now it was being used to carry the extra capes Jon had the tailor make for him. He stood as tall as ever even with his custom made eckto-frame legs
supporting his body. “Wrenches, I'd like you to try and make these things quieter when we get to the ship. I sound like a tank for the Goddess' sake! I
couldn't sneak up on a deaf enemy wearing these things!”

“The chair is nice and quiet Boss. The Healer said you should use the chair more than you do.” Phillie told him. She had already spoken with her friend,
Kelesro while she waited for Jon to arrive at the station, and knew the state of Jon's soul. What she didn't know was how it had happened. Why had her friend lost his last hope? She did not know how to help him find it again, but by the Goddess she knew she had to try! Jon Connell had given her a life she was proud of again, she owed him everything.
Somehow she would bring him back from the darkness that was stealing away his soul and with it his goodness.

“I'm not going to use that chair in public Phillie.” Jon told her roughly. “I'd rather sound like a tank than be seen in that thing in a crowd.”

“Have it your way Boss.” Phillie replied. “Just remember what the Healer told you. Don't push it too much or you could end up with permanent damage to your
spine. Then you'll never heal.”

“Don't try to be my mother Phillie. I don't need a mother anymore.” Jon snapped at her. “I need a flight engineer who obeys my orders, not one who
questions my every move.”

“Sorry Boss.” she quietly told him. She knew the great pain he suffered in his body. She alone had seen the intense effort it had taken for him to stand
and walk just a few steps in the mechanical framework that kept him upright. No being should be in that much pain just to stand! She wanted to cry but knew
she had to be strong, for him.

Soon enough they approached the hatch that would take them to the Defiance but there was a crowd of reporters with their cameras gathered around. Zarrieal
was standing guard at the hatch preventing them from forcing their way into the ship by threatening them with his side arm. “If you people don't clear the
walkway, I'll start shooting!” he bellowed and several reporters cleared a path which Jon wasted no time taking and getting onboard as quickly as he could.
He ignored the reporters called out questions and demands for answers as he passed. One of the females in the crowd touched his arm. She pressed a small
object into his hand and quietly told him, “I'm sorry for the loss of your friend giant.” When he turned to look at her, she smiled up at him and
continued; “I lost someone close to me on Canari too. My employer has questions, but I understand you're desire to avoid the news. Please, find your peace
giant.” Then she bowed to him and backed away.

Jon returned her bow and then went through to the bridge of the Defiance where he finally collapsed in the commander's chair. “Someone help me get out of
these things!” he called out pointing to the eckto-frames. Phillie ran to his side and began removing the straps that held the frames in place tightly
around his legs and body.

Later that night the vid-news channels all played the story of the raid on Canari Prime again and this time they all added the scene of Jon's cloaked
arrival at Defiance. None of them knew for sure if the strange being who had entered the ship just before it left the dock was indeed Jon Connell, but all
of them suspected that it was despite the fact that his cloak had hidden his face. They had gotten a shot of one of his finely carved sword pummels and the
reporters had decided the only person to have been known to use such swords was the 'Butcher of Canari Prime'. One channel had even videoed the female who
had touched him and spoken. She was clearly heard to call him a giant and her wish for him to find peace after the loss of a friend. Everyone knew that Jon
Connell was often referred to as a giant by the people of his home world. No one knew who she was but from her size and the exotic beauty of her features
they were sure she was a pure Lexonian. They had also heard her tell the stranger that she had lost someone at Canari Prime herself. Of course now they all
wanted to know who she was and whom she might have lost in the raid, so they began searching the records of all the Peacekeepers who had been killed during
that raid. They found only three possible names other than the Prince himself.

The female left the place where she had been sent by her “employers” to wait and try to speak with Jon Connell. She hurried along the tube-way until she
came to a small door that led into a quiet meditation chamber. Going to the back of the chamber where she had hidden her mourning robes she quickly put
them on over the simple tunic she had worn to the hatchway. She was just finishing putting the robe in place and straightening it when someone entered the
chamber.

“Are you ready to leave sister?” the new arrival asked. This slightly taller female was also wearing the black robes of a mourner.

“Yes.” she replied. “I could only say a few words to him. There is so much pain in him right now; I don't think he could have heard me anyway. I gave him
the stone the High One asked me to give him.”

“And what of your pain?” the new comer asked. “We all know that you have now lost not only a husband but also your beloved son.”

“I will mourn my son when we return to Sanctuary. In truth I lost him cycles ago when my husband rejected me for another female and kept my son from me all
these cycles.”

“We are all mourning with you sister.”

“I know and thank you all” the first female said. “Now we must return. The High One will want to know what I found.” Together they left the meditation
chamber and went straight to a waiting shuttle that would rush them both out to a waiting FTL ship. From there they would travel to the secret planet on
which the Lexonian Sanctuary had been established many cycles ago.

Looking over to the Nav station Jon ordered, “Plot us a course back to Canari.” Then he ordered the pilot to make their best time to the planet. When he
was told it would take them three days, Jon forced himself to get out of the command chair and into the wheelchair. “I'll be in my stateroom.” he told the
bridge crew before wheeling himself off the bridge and through the corridor to his quarters. Once there he studied the small stone that the female at the
boarding tube had pressed into his hand and an idea began to form in his mind. Jon began to arrange the few personal items he owned that had all been
brought to Defiance from Mercury. Among them were several framed photos that he placed on shelves. There was the picture of his parents holding the infant
Jon Connell and smiling brightly. Then another of them standing proudly with a young child standing between them. All three with huge smiles lighting up
their loving faces. Jon did not remember when either of these had been taken, as he was too young when it happened. His aunt had told him they were
memories of their visits to the house when he was still a child and before his parents had been killed in a monorail crash. Then there was the photo of a
slightly older Jon Connell standing between his aunt and uncle. This Jon Connell's smile wasn't as bright as those from his younger times, but it was still
a happy smile. Then the picture of a much older Jon standing with his uncle as the two of them now towered over his much smaller Lexonian aunt who now
stood between them with her own face beaming and the love for both of these huge males evident on it. Again, the smiles were on everyone's face, but like
the other, Jon's smile had grown weaker with the passing cycles. He remembered when this photo had been taken. It was his birthday celebration and also the
day he had earned his FTL certs. Not a single one of his classmates had accepted his aunt's invitation to the party she had planed. The only ones to come
were his aunt and uncle along with a few close friends of theirs from BBITCo.. Jon remembered that at the time there had been some secret between his
heart-parents and their friends that none of them ever talked about.

A tear came to his eye when he looked at the next photo. It was one of himself and the Prince standing in their combat armor beside one of their training
shuttles. Both males had big smiles on their faces as they looked at the camera with their arms on each other’s shoulders. Only he knew the secret of how
the picture had been staged to make Zeprik seem to be as tall as Jon. They had made Zeprik stand on a crate! Then came the photo of his entire flight crew
and all of Zeprik's grubs. This one had been staged also and the Prince's smiling face could be seen looking out from the last row where again he'd stood on a crate to add to his height and bring him even with the others.

Finally Jon placed the photo of his mate on a shelf of its own with her bright emerald green eyes flashing out at him and a huge loving smile on her face.
He had the same photo on his tablet showing at all times when he wasn't using it for some purpose like reading and sending messages to the company or one
of his ship's Captains. Or the many, many messages he had composed and sent to Satrina everyday since he had left on rim patrol but never received any
replies from her. He still sent them after he awoke in the med labs on Lexon II. He had gotten desperate to see her once when the pain of his recovery had
become overwhelming and his message had begged her to visit him. She had not come to visit, nor had she replied to tell him why she could not come. He
refused to believe that she was refusing to see him, but maybe she didn't want to be seen in public with a crippled warrior who had failed to save her
brother's life. After all, she was still the beautiful Crown Princess and now with her brother dead because of his failure, she was the only living heir to
the throne. He placed a different photo of her dressed in his house colors on his desk along with the small stone he’d been given by that unknown female at
the station and turned his wheelchair to head out and inspect what had been done to the Defiance in his absence.