END of LINE: Humanities Last Stand - part 3 (43 page)

“Yes Jackal,”

“Jump us back NOW! Have the Healer report to this ship's bridge immediately upon our arrival!”

“Jumping in 3, 2, 1, JUMP!”

The three Destroyer class ships appeared off the bow of Leviathan mere seconds after the order to jump had been given. Still locked together they gently
rocked as they rapidly bled off their speed to settle at even station just yards away from the much larger ship. The jump drives that Phillie had found and
added to Defiance's propulsion systems worked perfectly even with the added mass of the two pirate Destroyers.

“Bring us inside as fast as you can and get that Healer up here fast! Jon is in trouble!” Jarrieal yelled through the com. “Security, we'll need a prisoner
detail, we have five on this ship and three on the other one. We also need a clean up detail. There are dead pirates all over both vessels. Some are
messier than others, so make sure they can handle the sight of blood. Defiance, make ready to go on a special mission.”

“Jarriael?” Phillie's worried voice commed, “Is Jon hurt?”

“No love.” Jarrieal assured her. “He just pushed himself too far again. The fool doesn't know what it means to 'take it easy'! We may have to tie him down
to make him rest! Sometimes I could really kick his ass!”

“I'm coming over there.” she told her mate.

Once all three ships had been brought inside Leviathan and their pressures matched, Phillie made her way up the ladder leading to the pirate ship where her
mate and her heart-brother still waited onboard. She had to argue with the clean up crews who were reluctant to have her see the piles of dead body parts.
At last they let her pass and she made her way through the carnage that was clearly the work of Jon Connell and that amazing Umin sword that he carried. Why couldn't
the male just use a pistol like normal people did?

Every bit of anger she had built up at her friend's foolish behavior during the battle for the ships drained from her tiny body when she walked onto the
bridge and saw the Healer working on Jon and her mate sitting at one of the command consoles watching the Healer work. She went over to Jarrieal and
wrapped her arms around him. Her strong warrior mate was shaking as the tears freely ran down his face. “What is it Jar?” she quietly asked.

“We almost lost him Phil. He saved my life not so long ago and I let him come over here alone. Did you see the mountain of bodies he stacked up on his way
to this bridge? There's another one behind the computer banks. When he finally called for me to come to him, he passed out almost as soon as I got here!
What if he'd done that while the battle was still being fought?” Jarrieal was badly shaken. Phillie could only hold him and weep her own tears for the two
males she loved the most in her life.

“He didn't fall in battle Jar.” Phillie told him. “He waited until he knew he was safe with you by his side. He knows, as do I, that as long as you are
with him he will always be safe.”

Jarrieal pulled Phillie into his lap and held her tightly to his chest. “I love you little one,” he murmured in her ear before kissing her. “Did you see
the two presents we brought for you?”

“Why two? I only asked for one,” she wondered out loud.

“Jon said to bring you both ships, so we did. You'll have to ask him why he brought two of them.”

The Healer gave Jon an injection in his neck and then walked over to where Jarrieal sat with Phillie still in his lap. “He'll be fine. Exhaustion and pain
knocked him out. The male thinks he's made of stronger stuff than he really is. I've given him a sedative that will keep him knocked out for a full day. He
needs rest more than anything.”

“Healer, we have to have him up and ready for a special cargo mission. These new jump drives don't give us the luxury of extended travel times anymore.
Once we issue the commands into the computers we stop being in one place and show up at another.” Jarrieal explained with a snap of his fingers.

“He will be down for a full day. I insist and the drugs I've given him will make that happen. Whatever this mission is can wait a day. After that, he'll
need to use either the wheelchair or the frames for a month. If he continues to ignore my warnings I will order him put back in a tube until I think he is
fully healed. I'm leaving now to take care of people who listen when I tell them something.” the Healer smiled at the pair. “Like any of the fools on these
ships ever listens to me. If you must go on this mission, put him in his bed and keep watch for a day. When he wakes he'll be hungry. Feed him, stuff him
into the frames and then go on your mission.”

“I'll make sure he behaves Healer.” Phillie told the healer who nodded his head and left the pirate ship's bridge. “If you are serious about taking this
mission, we need to move Jon over to Defiance.”

“It sounded serious, Phil. Something the cargo Captain said got under Jon's skin this time.” Jarrieal told her. “Jon's last orders to me were to make
Defiance ready to go. He's not going to like it if he wakes up and we aren't near Hiliost 5. Since we have a full day to work with, I'm going down to the
surface and check out this Jake's Tavern before we let Jon walk in there on his frames!”

True to the Healer's words, Jon woke up in his bed onboard Defiance as hungry as a mountain bear after a long winter. He found both his wheelchair and
those dreaded eckto-frames sitting beside his bed. Sliding into the chair, he rolled himself into the cleansing chamber and showered before dressing and
heading off in search of something to eat. The stabbing pain in his back forced him into the wheelchair after taking just a few steps.

He was just about to dig into his favorite bacon and egg meal when Jar and Phillie walked into the mess room. “Hey Boss. Feeling better?”

“Yes. Thank you both. I'm sorry for scaring everybody. I didn't realize how far I'd pushed until it was all over.” Jon apologized.

“We'll forgive you this time, but you should know that the crews on every ship you own have forbidden you from going on any more raids until you're fully
recovered. We will decide when that is, not you! The only reason we're letting you go down to the surface on this one is because Jar has already checked
the place out and says there is nothing that he and the others can't handle. You should know that we arrived in the Hiliost system while you were asleep.”
Phillie told him.

“Here is how this is going to be done Jon, and there will be no arguments or we turn this ship back to Leviathan and stick your butt in a
tube. Jar and your flight crew onboard Jar’s attack shuttle will take you to the surface. We brought the one from the Lev with us for this job because it
can jump. We’ve also learned that it can be cloaked to not show up on the scanners. Defiance is in far orbit right now around the Hiliost system out beyond
the most distant planet. She's not going in any closer. If this is an ambush, she can jump in, but unless we need her, she stays out here where the system
defenses can't find her. Jar will jump in and take you down to the planet. Then he and Jelio will escort you to this Jake's Tavern to meet this Agent. We
picked those two because they can act like just any other couple of spacers having drinks together, but in reality they will be there as your body guards
in case of trouble.

You
WILL
be wearing your frames! Those are not an option. The Healer demands that you wear them, so you're wearing them. You want to go
be all scary with your swords and cape, fine. Just remember, Jar and Jelio do any fighting. Anything goes down, you get back to the shuttle. That's your
entire job this time. Go down, see what this cargo is that is so important only you can haul it on a fully operational Warship and get back here safe! Do
you understand me Jon Connell?” Phillie demanded.

“I'll try Phillie, but I will not allow Jar or Jelio to be hurt trying to protect me!” Jon told her emphatically. “Especially Jelio. She's a female for the
Goddess sake! You really think I'll stand by and let anything happen to her?”

“I told you Phil.” Jar interjected. “The guy is incapable of standing by and letting others be the heroes. Somebody starts a fight and he'll be right in
the middle of it.”

“Then its up to you to make sure no one starts any fights.” she informed her mate through squinted eyes.

“Yes my lady.” Jar told her with a curt bow before turning to look at Jon, “I just love it when she gets all serious and stuff.” Then turning serious
himself he told Jon, “You are coming because the call was for you to come. If we could find out about this mission without you, we would and your stubborn
ass would be staying safe on Defiance out here at the edge of the system.”

“OK, you win. I'll be a good youngling and stay out of trouble. You two are worse than my auntie Gala!” Jon exclaimed.

“Finish your meal and Jar will help you get into your frames. Then you can go off on your next adventure.” Phillie stood, gently touched Jon's face, gave
Jar a kiss, and left the mess.

“OK, time for you to tell me why we ignored every request we got for you to come here and now suddenly we had to come?” Jar asked.

“If I told you, you'd think I was losing my mind.” Jon muttered.

“You lost your mind cycles ago. That hasn’t changed my opinions about you in the least. So let’s hear it. Why now?” Jackal insisted.

“It was something in that last message, ' running out of time and space'. My uncle used to say our family would survive until all life had run out of time
and space! He used to tell me that whenever I'd get feeling sorry for myself being the last of the human race. I don't know why Jar, but when I heard those
words I knew I had to come. It was as if my uncle was calling for me from the beyond. That's all I can tell you, it’s all I know myself.” Jon realized that
he was almost begging his friend to understand his need to see this through.

“Well then, finish your meal and we'll get you ready to go see what this is all about.” Jar told him as he laid an arm on Jon's shoulder. “I'm a firm
believer in things like overwhelming gut feelings. Do what your heart-sister asks though. You and I are all the family she has. It would kill her if
anything happened to either of us.”

As the appointed hour drew closer, Jar landed the attack shuttle at the space port on Hiliost 5. Jarrieal and Jelio both knew where the tavern was because
they had visited the place the night before. Pretending to be just another couple of rim runners out for a few drinks, they had gone in, sat at the bar
where they could carry on small talk while carefully watching the patrons come and go all evening. The place served a really good meal and even had the better beers from all the worlds.

Hiliost 5 was a mostly desert planet with few oceans and only one large forest. It sat at the boundary between the outer rim worlds and the inner central planets. It held little except a huge spaceport that serviced ships from all over. Like any such place, there were the support facilities for the ships that came calling, a couple of places to rent rooms either long term or just for an hour or two and everything in between plus a lucrative lumber mill still being fed exotic woods from the local forests that were sold to builders on all of the inhabited planets. The lumber coming from here made up the majority of Trans Corp's legal cargo.

Of the three bars on the planet, Jake's was the cleanest, so at least it had that going for it. The other two were not only filthy, they were hives of
illegal commerce where the local prostitutes and criminals gathered to pry the credits from unsuspecting customers or where some of the braver pirates came
to relax whenever their ships were being repaired by local engineers who didn’t care whose credits the took.

However, there was one tall thin female working the crowd at Jake’s who had a grace and stoic beauty about her that said she did not belong on this dusty
back end world. Jarrieal could tell she had the blue skin of a mind sensing witch underneath the makeup she used to try to cover who she really was. He had
decided that she must have been hired to “feel out” the customers in advance and to weed out the troublemakers until she had come to stand between him and
Jelio. She made it a point to touch them both when she whispered, “Tell him he will not be attacked in this establishment. Outside is anybodies guess
though.” Then with a smile she walked away from them and directly into the back where the bar had its office and storage areas.

That had happened last night when the pair had dressed as mechanics in stained coveralls with the names Frank and Francine over the left breast pockets to check out Jake's. Tonight they had Jon with them and both wore their uniforms without their new armor. Jon was wearing his silver and black family colors, the Dragon's Breath Swords that could erupt with flaming plasma along their blades when Jon held them in just the right way and the black cape that covered his eckto-frames with the hood that hid his face. Aside from Jarrieal and Jelio who entered the tavern first, Jon also had a ten-man escort of grubs who had volunteered to tag along as added security for the mission. They had slowly
filtered into the tavern dressed as simple spacers for the last half hour and were now seated around the room trying their best to blend their muscular frames in with the other customers.

When the imposing figure that was Jon Connell walked into the tavern, all eyes turned to him and watched as he made his way to a table at the rear and sat
alone. Two males stood and left as if Jon's very presence were causing them to have second thoughts on where to eat that night. Two more stood as if to
make their way over to his table but were stopped in their tracks when the bartender shouted out for them to sit back down and leave the new visitor alone.

“You don't want anything to do with that one, younglings. Just from the looks of him, you'd be dead before you said hello and I don't want to have a mess
in here that I'll have to clean up later.” The two brave bullies sat back down. When Jon looked at the bartender he saw the male place his fist to his
heart and ever so slightly bowed his head in the token of respect known only to the Royals or to those who have served in the Peacekeepers. Jon silently
returned the bartender's show of respect and then the waitress came to take his order.