END of LINE: Humanities Last Stand - part 3 (22 page)

On the forward viewer Jon watched as Satrina left his home and entered her vehicle after kissing him only to be followed by shots of Phillie arriving and
the two of them loading items into the shuttle. The final action was his demonstration of his sword work.

“The questions still remain” the announcer told the viewers, “Who are these mysterious females that seem to come and go at the Connell house and what are
those strange swords? The legends talk of the first
Jon Connell
and how he could wield the ancient Umin tech, surely this new Jon Connell cannot
have the same power.”

“Perhaps he is just trying to scare the people into allowing him to orbit our planet with his warship anytime he likes.” the female announcer said. “I've
heard that he was not treated well by his classmates. Something caused all of them to be frightened of him. Did he bully all of them into giving him his
way? Did you know that his crewmen call him the Butcher?”

“We'll certainly be watching this story closely Hekiani.” the male announcer told his female cohost and the viewers. “Next up, the sports with Jakiloh. But
now a quick word from our sponsors.”

“Don't worry about it Wrenches. By this time tomorrow the Princess will be halfway to Lexon II wearing my colors. The announcement of our mating should be
coming within a couple of days so that should shut them up or at least give them something else to talk about. Also, we'll be gone from their precious
planet in three hours. I've left word with headquarters to give their competitors an exclusive interview with the company command. After that, if they
don't want us here we never need to come back. Let them all sit out here and beg for supplies. BBITCo won't be bringing them any, but we'll continue to
make and win the bids to move the cargo anyway. I'll only need to bring Mercury in close enough to launch a shuttle so I can pick up some things at the
house and we'll never come back here again. Since we own better than 3/4 of the crystal mines, we can always pick up plenty of cargo running outbound from
here without going near the orbiting station. Prepare the ship for slip Wrenches. Here are the coords.” Jon handed her a data stick.

“Boss, these are for the between space.” she told him.

“I know that Phillie. We are to exit the slip at that location and wait for another ship to join us before proceeding on to Lexon II to pick up the rest of
our crew. As fast as this girl is, we should have no trouble making our time schedules. That's what was so secret that they sent a special Envoy to tell
me. Once we've loaded all military personnel we'll be told where to go next. I'll be in my stateroom if you need me.” Jon told her and left the bridge. It
was a short few steps to the hatchway leading to his quarters and the task of putting all the things he had brought from the surface away for the voyage.
He might only be a Captain in the Peacekeepers, but on this ship he was the Admiral since he owned more than one of the ex-war carriers in his own name
with BBITCo as just a small stakeholder in his personal corporation. The heads of BBITCo. had all agreed. Jon was now in command of an armada of functional
warships even if they had all been decommissioned and were being used to carry freight. They had signed over ownership of the entire FTL Interplanetary
operation to him. He’d be damned if he was going to give up his nice stateroom to some ratty Peacekeeper Major who would only turn it into his private
garbage dump and leave the mess for someone else to clean.

After changing from his dress whites into a set of utility uniforms, he carefully put up the Dragon Swords and armor with the rest of his military issued
uniforms. Then he went about finding the right places to put the photos of his parents, his aunt and uncle and his beautiful mate. He had several photos he
had taken during their time together. He had her sitting in his small wooden boat, playing with Talga, sitting on a towel at their beach. He even had one
of her sitting on their couch holding a glass of her favorite wine while wearing that beautiful smile he loved, and not much else. Then there was a picture
that he had taken of her on their second day together. The photo was a close up of her face. Her hair was hanging loosely around her face and she was
smiling directly into the camera lens. Jon found it to be one of the best photos of all the ones he'd taken of the two of them relaxing together near the
Crystal Lake. She looked out at him with nothing but love in those shining emerald green eyes with their tiny golden flecks. He had the same photo always
showing on his tablet to greet him whenever it came to life. If ever there was a Goddess she must be jealous of his Rina's natural beauty. No other female
could have ever been as beautiful before and none would be in the future. Of this Jon was certain.

Less than one hour after exiting the slip, Wrenches called him. “Butcher, you better come to the bridge. We've got some serious company coming.”

“On my way Wrenches, get the guns ready to fire if we need them.” Jon told her as he exited his stateroom.

Just a few strides later he burst onto the bridge and could see the mass of fighters and attack shuttles headed toward his ship on the view screen. “Coms,
broadcast on freq 3561 in the clear.” he commanded.

“Broadcasting now sir.” he was told.

“Approaching ships, this is the Mercury. Flag ship of BBITCo Inter-system FTL cargo transport group. Admiral Jon Connell commanding. State your intentions
or be blasted from space. This ship is fully armed and ready for combat. Approach at your own risk.”

“Admiral now is it? Damn Butcher, you wouldn't blow us all up, would you?” came the voice of Jon's Peacekeeper Copilot Jarrieal, call sign Jackel, the
6'-1”, muscle bound Libirrian warrior who had earned Jon's trust on more than one training mission. “Naw, he wouldn't dare blow up his whole crew. Who
would he get to pick him up when he falls over?”

“Not me. He blows me up and I refuse to pick his giant arse up.” came the sing song sound of Mopie, Jon's weapons and cargo master. “You going to open up
and let us come in or leave us sitting out here in the between?”

“Get the main bay doors open, it looks like we're a fully operational carrier again!” Jon told his bridge crew. “Prepare to receive ships.”

“Aye sir, except I don't know how to receive ships. I can open the bay doors though. Do you think those ships can receive themselves?”

“If they can't we'll leave them here.” Jon told his crewman. “Jackel, did you hear that? Can you organize the landings for the entire group?”

“No, but I'll wager Pabki can.” came the reply. Pabki, call sign Legs, because he had more than enough for several males, was Jon's navigator. He was an
expert at calculating ship movements. Within seconds he was transmitting instructions to the other shuttles and fighters guiding each to a safe landing in
the Mercury's hangar bays.

In less than thirty minutes all the ships had been loaded, stored away so that they could be launched again in rapid succession, and Mercury was back in
the slip headed for Lexon II to pick up the rest of her military personnel and several tons of cargo headed for the outer rim worlds. Jon held a conference
with his civilian crew to warn them that the ship had accepted a contract with the Peacekeepers and that anyone who wanted to get off should stay behind at
Lexon Station. They would be put in place on one of the other three new BBITCo FTL ships. To their credit and Jon's great pride in them, every one of
his crew decided to stay with Mercury.

“Somebody got to handle the regular deliveries while you and the Peacekeepers are off dealing with the pirates.” one crewman told him. “The way I see it
Sir,” another had said, “We all signed on knowing this was an armed ship heading out to the rim where it could come under attack anyway. Those folks out
there need the stuff we'll be taking them whether or not you military people are along for the ride.”

They no sooner docked at Lexon II Station than the Envoy left the ship and tons of cargo was loaded into Mercury's hold. Another Envoy arrived dressed in
civilian clothing with three large travel bags as if he were just a passenger seeking transport to the rim. He was directed to a small stateroom that had
just been vacated by the first Envoy. Taking his time, the Envoy changed from his civilian clothes into his Peacekeeper uniform and went in search of the
captain on the bridge. Surprised to find a man in the uniform of a Peacekeeper captain in charge of such a large ship, he handed Jon another data disk that
told him to take the Mercury to the coords listed and again wait to be contacted. To all appearances it seemed as if Mercury was merely what she claimed to
be, an ex-military Nova class carrier that had retained her guns and was taking needed supplies out to the rim worlds. No one even noticed the four flights
of attack shuttles and ten wings of fighters tucked away in her hangars. Eight shuttles and twenty fighters along with their crews were all safely hidden
onboard.

Four hours later, the station controller issued Mercury clearance to depart and slip to the rim via whatever route they wished. Jon followed the
instructions he'd been given on the data disk and soon they found themselves once again leaving the slipway somewhere in between systems in the vastness of
open space.

After five full days of waiting for something, anything, to happen, the flight commanders called for the crews to start running drills. So they all
practiced their takeoffs, recoveries, servicing and repeat takeoffs. The fighter crews had it down to under a minute, but the larger, slower shuttles took
considerably more time. Of course they had to take on more fuel and their rockets had to be loaded one at a time instead of five on each side using a
connecting rail. Then on day six, space began to swirl and a Peacekeeper armored transport entered real space as it came out of the slip beside the
Mercury. One of the fighter jocks nearly fired a missile at it before slamming his ship into its side and bouncing off with only minor damage to the
transport. The fighter jock had to eject before his ship exploded into billions of tiny bits just seconds after impact. The transport had come out of the
slip directly in its path as it left the launch tubes. The collision could not possibly be avoided.

“Mercury, this is transport Alpha. Ready to transfer troops. Prepare for EVA reception.” The bridge coms sounded just before the side of the transport
opened and troops started pouring out of its hull in pressure suits. Each one using small maneuvering backpacks and towing cargo bags filled with their few
possessions behind them. This maneuver had been taught during training however each trooper felt nervous at being exposed to space with only their suits to
protect them as they 'flew' between the ships. The last items to be sent over were larger containers carrying the weapons and other supplies needed by
ground troops for their up coming missions. Jon ordered the main bay doors opened to receive the troopers and a team sent out to rescue the stricken
fighter pilot.

“We receive your request and will comply Alpha. You wouldn't happen to have a new fighter to replace the one you broke by coming in so close and unexpected
would you?” Jon radioed, placing the blame for the lost fighter squarely on the transport.

“Negative Mercury. We'll have one sent to you as soon as we return to our usual duty posting. Sorry about the mix up. Alpha out.” The big transport began
to slowly turn away and head off into space only to quickly disappear as it reentered the slip.

“Wonderful,” Jon thought out loud. “We haven't even started our real missions yet and we're already down a fighter.”

“It won't be the last one we loose.” the Envoy told him. “At least we rescued the pilot this time. Command figures we'll loose about half of them before
this tour is over. They are planning to lose half the fighters and most of your shuttle teams. Its really hot where we're going.” The male told Jon as he
handed yet another data disk to him. “You are to make your normal deliveries. For as long as we last, we'll carry out the mercy missions as close to being
on schedule as possible. That disk has your planned route.” Turning he left the bridge.

Jon had Mercury back in the slipway within an hour. Their first stop was seven days out along a well traveled slip path and Jon spent the time with his
team. First everyone went over their shuttle from end to end. Jon even had Wrenches come up and check it out. As expected, she suggested several
modifications to the engines and the shields to make it faster and better protected from attacks. The military engineers were so impressed by her that soon
every shuttle in the small fleet had her modifications. For the first time since Jon had owned her, the Mercury had a fully functioning medical bay with
dedicated Healers and their assistants to care for the crewmembers. He had a full command crew on the bridge and while he still retained overall command of
the ship, he allowed the military to issue the everyday orders to their crews to keep her flying on schedule. He worked out a chain of command between his
civilian crew and their military brethren during any future battles and once all the minutia of getting a big ship through space and into a possible battle
had been worked out, he reported to the Med-bay.

“Connell reporting Healer Hukon. “ Jon told the hugely overweight green male.

“Ahh, Captain Connell, or is it Admiral? I find it hard to keep up with exactly who some people are on this ship. There is this furry blonde female that
insists she is a Captain, but she's not in our records anywhere.”

“Healer, let me try to help you. This is a civilian ship, despite the fact that it appears to be military. The ship is my personal cargo vessel that has
been contracted to the Peacekeepers for this one mission. My crew all have been assigned a rank similar to a military rank. As the Companies ranking Flight
Engineer, Captain Phillmma has charge of this vessel and three more just like her. Because of her responsibilities as Chief Flight Engineer and her FTL
pilot certification, she carries the Company rank of Captain. She can fly this ship as well as keep her engines running smoothly. As the owner of all four
ships with my own FTL pilot's certifications, my Company rank is Admiral. However while I am still just a shuttle pilot in the Peacekeepers my rank there
is only Captain.” Jon explained.