END of LINE: Humanities Last Stand - part 3 (48 page)

“Hello Healer,” Jon announced to the empty room. “Healer Hukor?” he called out louder. Jon was about to leave when a very dirty Healer finally stuck his
head out of the crawl space between two of the tubes.

“Welcome to Medical Jon Connell. I was just reading something and dropped my tablet between these tubes.” Brushing the dirt from his white tunic he
continued. “I’ve found some very interesting files about your human ancestors in the medical records. Have you come to let me try to fix your back?”

“I can come back if you're busy.”

“No, this ship has the healthiest crew I've ever seen. Not so much as an upset stomach in the lot of them. Come, let's get you into this one.” He offered
pointing to a tube that was at his own waist height. “I think it’s at the right height for you to get into without much help.” The Healer made a few
adjustments that he had not made the first time Jon had been placed in the tube and then told him, “You'll sleep through this. There should be no dreams as
your body is basically shutting down while the tubes work. Just relax and let it happen sir. When we meet again, you'll be a new male.”

“You try to make me drink any of that junk you handed me the last time and I'm going to make sure you wear it over your head.” Jon told him as the tube
closed him in. The lights dimmed and gentle music began to play. This was new; his last experience had nothing like soft lights and gentle music. He could
learn to like this.

“I think we're ready to give it a try.” Phillie told Jar, who was standing by in a jump capable shuttle. “I have dialed in the coords and will execute jump
in 3, 2, 1 Jumping NOW!” The captured pirate ship disappeared from where it was floating in space beside Leviathan and reappeared several steps away.
“Looks like the short range test was a success, now for the long range test. Get ready to come get me if I call you Jar.”

“I'll always come for you my sweat Wrenches.”

“JUMP!” Phillie called out and was gone.

“Wrenches. Wrenches, come in? Wrenches where did you go?” Jarrieal called out with worry beginning to rear up inside him. He'd lost a wife to the service
and the arms of another male. He did not want to lose Phillmma too, especially not in some experiment to turn a slipdrive into a jump drive. “Furball! Where
have you gone my beautiful mate!” he called out not caring that the entire crew was listening.

With a blinding flash, the pirate ship reappeared floating right on top of him with just a gentle wobble as it bled off speed. “What did I tell you about
calling me Furball in public you big hard headed Libirian Warrior?” Phillie commed. “Did you just call me your mate over an open com channel?”

“Goddess female. You scared me! Where did you go?” Jarrieal asked. “Yes I called you my mate! By the Goddess Phillmma, you already knew that!”

“I went to Haven, just wanted to hear them scream one more time when a Warship appeared over their planet. It was fun, I'll take you with me next time.”
Phillie wasn't really angry at her big male. The guy was really a warmhearted youngling inside and she loved him all the more for it. “Leviathan, reel us
in please, I've got some things to check out, but I think once we fix her guns, this one will be ready to get back into action.”

“We'll get you Wrenches. Shut down your engines, we have you. Jar, you coming in or do you want to try and beat her time to Haven and back?” the Lev's COM
officer asked with a smile in his voice.

“I'm coming around. I'll land in my usual place.”

“Wrenches?”

Phillie's concentration was broken when Bar-rat called. Because she was one of the Commanding Officers onboard Jon's ships, she always tried to present a
professional attitude, but to be interrupted in the middle of making love with her mate was beyond annoying! “What do you want now Bar-rat?” Phillie asked.
She was still majorly upset about having both Jon's heart mother and his mate onboard.

“I need to speak with you again” Tiaz commed. She really did need to convince Phillie to give her a new name but as angry as the furry little female had
been the last time she had seen her, Tiaz didn't want to ask for one yet.

“What could we possibly have to talk about?” Phillie demanded. “All I want to hear from you is how much longer until we can be rid of all three of you.”

“I must speak to only you. In person. Not on coms. Please Phillie, it is necessary to the truth we both seek.”

“I'm busy bringing in a new ship.” She lied. It wasn't a full lie, Jar had joined her onboard the captured Destroyer and things had gone the way they often
did whenever the pair were alone. “Meet me in the mess in an hour. I might have had time to bathe by then.”

Satrina chuckled. “You must never upset Phillie. She is a terror when she is upset. I learned that in person. She once stood in defiance of two of my Royal
Guards.”

“Why must she insist on calling me by that terrible name?” Tiaz asked desperately.

“You'll have to earn a new name Tiaz” Satrina told her. “Once someone gives you a name on a ship, it sticks with you until you earn a new one. She used to
call Jon sweet-cheeks and he hated it until she saw how cleanly he used a plasma cutter on the hull of the ship we were in. She said she'd only seen a
butcher slicing fine cuts of meat make cuts so smooth. That is how Jon became known as Butcher. She renamed him. I'm just happy that I have not yet earned
her anger. She once made the word Princess sound like something vile!”

“That’s why she was so upset when we first came on board. I never knew that she had given him that name or the reason behind it. I was guilty of believing that the news vids had given him the name after the Canari raid. If she keeps me locked up in this room, how am I to earn a new name?” Tiaz asked almost in tears now at the thought of the name being with her for life. “Judging from her reaction when you came onboard, I think she is very angry with you right now just for being here. I will try to smooth that part with her. That much of our truth I can share with her now.
We need more before we can share more.”

Tiaz had waited in the mess room for over an hour and Phillie still had not come. Perhaps the small Engineer would not meet with her today at all. Tiaz was
on her third cup of the delicious Lexon tea and was about to find the nearest relief chamber when the doors to the mess swung open and Phillie came in
walking beside a huge Libirian Warrior.

“Bar-rat, you’ve met Jackal, my mate when he brought you to our ship. Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of my mate from now on. Unlike
some people on this boat, my mate and I do not keep secrets from each other. I've already told him exactly who our two passengers are. Oh yes, and he knows
what you can do, so no touching!” Finished with the introductions, both sat at the table with her.

“Pleased to meet you Bar-rat.” Jarrieal said. “I'm one of Jon's trusted teammates so you better be telling us truth or he'll put you off the ship as soon
as he finds someplace safe to put you. One thing you should know about our Admiral, he cannot abide lies or a liar! So I have started with our first truth.
What's yours?”

“Are all of Jon Connell's crew as mean as you two?” Tiaz asked.

“What are you talking about? We're the most pleasant out of the bunch.” Jar said. “But everyone on this ship, except for three female passengers, only want
the best for our Admiral.”

“You said you needed to talk to me Bar-rat, what's so important?”

“You reacted in such an angry manner when the novice came aboard. I wanted to know why?”

“You mean you don't know who she is? She is the reason Jon is how he is now!” Phillie exploded out at Tiaz until Jarrieal reached out and calmed her with
his gentle touch.

“All I know for sure is the order was told she is in mourning for a mate who rejected her. We were asked to escort her to Sanctuary.” Tiaz figured she
could get away with a small lie if it would bring her closer to the truth she sought.

“You're not serious?” Jarrieal asked.

“Yes, I am very serious.”

“So you expect me to believe you are nothing more than one tiny Lexon mourner, escorting another one to some mysterious place called Sanctuary that no one
really knows where is and a tall blue Mind Witch who speaks for them. Oh, and who just happen to be on someone's hit list of wanted people so they get shot
at leaving a planet and then we get a message to make sure your novice is drugged properly before we deliver her some place we are expected to already know
about. That's what you really expect us to believe? Oh yeah, I almost forgot, those two mourners just happen to be my friend's mother and his mate!”
Jarrieal snapped.”

“Don't forget Bar-rat. I know who our passengers really are, and so does my mate. Like I said, we don't have secrets between us.” Phillie paused in her
tirade. “The only reason Jon doesn't know is because we both agreed not to tell him. He finds out that lying Princess is on his ship and I don't know what
he'll do. I’ve seen what he can do when he’s angry and I don't want to have to clean up Princess parts!” Phillie forced out from between her clenched
teeth. “One wrong step and I'll have you on a shuttle going nowhere so fast it will turn your blue skin pink!”

“Neither do I. I've seen what that male can do with that thing he calls the Dragon's Breath and while there is very little blood, its still not pretty. He
makes two or three swings and the next thing you know you’re in pieces all over the deck.” Jarrieal told her.

“I've seen the remains of at least twenty enemies who tried to stop him once. So be very careful what you tell us next. Why did Satrina reject Jon?”

“WHAT?!?!?! No Phillie, that's wrong. It was Jon who rejected her. She has shown me hundreds of messages that she sent to him and he never answered any of
them!”

“Wait, something is very wrong, because I can tell you that I personally saw Jon message her each and everyday he was on tour, sometimes more than once a
day. He would gobble up the news vids hoping to see that his mating to the Princess had been made public news and his heart sank lower each day it didn't
come. When he was in so much pain he could barely breathe he begged her to visit him in medical back on Lexon II. She never came. Between her never
messaging him and then the death of Zeprik, which he still blames himself for, he has lost hope. It finally drove him to waking this ghost ship from the
distant past.” Jar told Tiaz with Phillie nodding her agreement to his every word. “Take it from someone who has stood by his side in battle, that male is
hopelessly in love with his Princess. He believes in his heart that she has turned her back on him and each day that goes by takes another piece of his
soul and seals it somewhere no one will be able to reach.”

“Why should we believe you Bar-rat? We don't know you and my mate was shot at just for giving you passage in his shuttle.” Phillie wanted to know. “For
what both of you are saying to be true, there has to be someone at the Palace blocking their messages. Why? Why would anyone go against established
Lexonian customs and laws to deny mates being together? Even the King could do nothing more than cast out a child who mated with someone he did not approve
of. He could not prevent the mating.”

“I think their messages were blocked now also.” Tiaz thoughtfully agreed. “If Jon messaged her and she messaged him it had to be so. Just as you believe
what you know about Jon to be truth beyond any question, I also know about those who enter into mourning. As you know Phillie, my kind's touch exposes lies
and evil in the heart. I have found neither in either the High One or the novice. Even while your Admiral's heart has been locked behind walls so high and
tight it’s turning his soul dark, he is still filled with truth in his every thought. I learned that much when I first touched him on Hiliost 5. This is
the work of an evil mind. The Princess' heart is pure and filled with remorse and confusion. She cannot understand why “Her Giant” has rejected her. Now
that she is so close she wants to run into his arms! It is all we can do to keep her in check. His aunt and I both agree with you Phillie, there is still
much truth to be found before Jon will allow himself to love her. Truth that we must find if either of them are to be happy again.”

“Go back to your quarters Skinny, “Jarrieal told her. “Jon has established a group on this ship who have one task, to find the truth and expose it to the
light of day. Phil and I will have them see if they can find anything on the Palace computers.”

“Have I earned a new name that easily?” Tiaz asked.

“We'll have to see if the truth you've told is indeed truth, but the name suits you better than Bar-rat. A true bar-rat would have wanted to be paid for
her truth, not freely given it.” Phillie remarked as she stood and Jarrieal followed her from the mess room. Out in the corridor Jarrieal bent down and
whispered to Phillie, “Do you believe her?”

“Back on Lexon station, my best friend was a Blue Witch, she told me once that they never lie. So for now, until the computer guys say different, yes I'll
take a chance on her.” Phillie whispered. “Now take me to our quarters and give me a bath. I suddenly feel dirty just from being near her.”

“Hummm, you know I enjoy bathing you.” he told her lustfully as she grabbed his hand and pulled him down the corridor towards their rooms. Later that
night, her womb opened to his seed and the first of what would become many younglings born to the crew of the Leviathan, and the rest of Jon Connell's
fleet, began to grow in her.

Jon found himself standing at the entrance to the Umin cave back on Haven. He knew this was not possible because he knew that he was onboard a spaceship
several light cycles away from Haven. He also knew that his body was in a Umin devise in the hope that it could repair the damage to his spine. Yet here he
stood in front of a pair of doors that had twin dragons carved in them and on each dragon was a male with a flaming sword. Between the dragons was a small
object that could somehow expand to engulf both dragons and their fliers. Why am I here? he wondered. The doors opened and Jon walked through only to find
a long hallway with paintings along each wall. They showed beautiful landscapes, armored warriors, beautiful females, and the last painting seemed to
change before his eyes. He knew each of them because his ancestor had taken them from the cave and brought them to the house. Jon had loaded them onto the
shuttle and brought them with him when he left the house on Haven. Finally he came to the painting he had looked at many times. It began as a painting of a
tall handsome male dressed in silver and black armor, holding a flaming sword in one hand while his other was wrapped around the beautiful female at his
side. Behind them stood a gleaming city of gold. Next the painting showed his ancestor with his mate and the youngling they raised together. The youngling
was Jon's great, great grandfather. Finally the painting became Jon and Satrina with Talga sitting next to them. In one hand Jon held a flaming sword while
his other arm was pulling Satrina tightly to his side and she had her hands resting on his chest. She was wearing the Connell House colors and had chosen
the most beautiful gown of them all. She looked like the Queen that she was destined to be. The look of absolute love on her face brought tears to his eyes
even though he knew he was sleeping in a tube in the Med Lab on Leviathan. It was exactly as it had been the day it changed when he had given Satrina his
house colors. Still it had changed because Jon now wore a black cape with gold braiding on the edges and a hood that covered his face. Instead of the look
of innocence that he had before, now the image showed his face as a mask of rage and pain. He was the Death to her life. The darkness to her light. The
hate to her love. Jon suddenly realized that the look on Satrina's face was not one of love, it was one of a person pleading for someone to return to the
innocence that once was. “I'M NOT THE ONE WHO TURNED AWAY! SHE REJECTED ME!” he screamed out in the dream.