END of LINE: Humanities Last Stand - part 3 (30 page)

His first stop was the mess hall where he literally ran into Jinkly, rolling over the poor male's foot. He was one of the previous owners of the Defiance.
“Hello there Jon Connell.” he said after he stopped hopping on one foot because Jon had run over his other one. Instead of a business suit, the male was
wearing the white uniform of a ship's cook.

“Jinkly? What are you doing here dressed as a cook?” Jon asked.

“When I gave my report to TransCo. they got very upset that you had legally claimed salvage on Defiance and that I had honored your claim. They bought me
out. I needed a job and your new ship needed a cook. Apparently I'm a better cook than I am a board member.” His foot was still sore from Jon rolling over
it, but he managed to put his weight on it and said, “Personally I think more than one TransCo. board member is involved with the pirates. Before they
could lock me out of the data banks I found that a number of our ships had made regular runs out to Canari that were not on any official flight logs. Now
at least three of those ships have gone missing, but the corporation still hasn't reported them. Plus I found out that they have purchased more of these
Destroyers and added them to the fleet. They have three that I found.”

“That's interesting” Jon absently told him. “Seeing as how you're our cook now, any chance of getting some bacon and eggs? The food at the Med Labs was
awful.”

“Sure, grab yourself a table and I'll bring that right out for you.” Jinkly told him before limping away.

After enjoying the meal, Jon wheeled himself to an elevator and headed for the Engineering section. He needed to apologize to Phillie for being angry with
her. It wasn't her fault that his body was hurting him so much or that his own pride had prevented him from using the chair at the station.

Rolling into the engine section he called out, “Wrenches! Are you down here?”

“Right here Boss. Can I help you?” came her reply from somewhere under one of the computer stations.

“Ahh, what are you doing under there?” he asked.

“Just checking on the coolant mix. I've been getting some strange readings on the screens.” Phillie called up. “Looks like it’s just a bad sender. Should
have it replaced here in a few minutes.

“What did you do with the males who used to work in this section? There was a male here who claimed to be related to you.”

“While you were in med lab, I had all three of them transferred to Mercury.” she told him, still laying on her back under the computers. “Three Flight
Engineers on one ship is never a good thing especially when one of them treats me like a youngling, but they all seem to get along, so I didn't break them
up. I just sent them over as a unit with a full set of schematics on the changes I made to Mercury's systems. They'll keep her flying. No worries.”

She slowly climbed out and stood in front of him brushing her messy hands on her stained coveralls. “I really need to go wash this stuff off. It’s a real
bother to get out of my fur once it dries. Did you need anything?” she asked.

“Phillie, I am sorry for snapping at you back on the station.” Jon told her. “None of this is your fault.” he said while waving at the wheelchair and his
ruined legs.

“Its OK Boss. You were right. You don't need a mother anymore. I don't think you want a friend either. So if it’s alright with you, I'll just keep
following your orders so I won't lose the best job I've ever had.” Phillie hated herself for being so abrupt with Jon, but what was said was said and she
could not take it back now. Maybe one day he could understand how much he had hurt her when he got angry with her for simply trying to ease his pain, or
now that she was angry with him, how it tore her heart into pieces at the loss of the closeness she had once felt for this crazy human male, but that day
was far off in the future. “Can I go get cleaned up, sir?”

“Yes, Wrenches. Go wash up. Please make sure you have a look at those frames before we reach Canari. I'll be needing them again once we arrive.” Jon sadly
told her as he turned and wheeled himself back to his quarters, quietly accepting that something had changed between them. He stayed in his quarters except
for the few meals he took in the mess hall when everyone else was gone leaving the room empty except for him for the remainder of the slip to Canari.

Four full weeks later they exited the slipway and began the trip into the inner orbits of planets, Phillmma brought Jon his eckto-frames. She had just finished working on
them. “I think you'll like them now. I changed the hinges from simple rods to bearings. They are silent now.” she told him as she left the frames in his
stateroom and returned to her duties in Engineering. Tears flooded her eyes whenever she looked at Jon and saw the darkness that was stealing his soul.

Jon never looked up from the star charts he was studying when Phillie came in. A part of him was aware that she had brought those hated frames, but he
didn't remember any of what she had said. He was too busy trying to find an exact location on the charts. It was something he'd found in his father's old
notes. There was a reference to The Beast being at a far away location and able to defend itself against anyone who came too close. It was supposed to have been hidden out near Blood Star, but no such place existed on any of the charts Jon had available. Nothing looked “right” about any of the charts he had studied since the raid on the pirates of Canari Prime. He would need to make one last trip to Haven. There were still many items that his ancestors had hidden in the house that Jon needed to collect before he could finally fly away from Haven forever. First he had to visit the scene of his friend's murder. Jon had learned much while he was in Med Lab. The two criminals that he had first found had been ordered to kill the Prince. Zeprik's death was not a causality of war, it was an assassination! Jon had yet to find the person who had ordered the kill, but he one day would find him
or her and crush the life out of them with his own bare hands!

He struggled to put on the eckto-frames and get himself upright. He nearly fell twice during his attempts but after much effort he finally managed to strap
them in place around his body and stand himself up. He belted his swords around his waist and covered himself with his cape. Now he was ready to return to
the command bridge.

“I'll need the shuttle to take me to the surface” Jon announced. “Have Jarrieal meet me in the hanger bay.”

“Yes sir” the Commander said. “We'll be in orbit in a few more minutes. It looks like another ship is already there. Readings indicate that it is a
Destroyer class ship, almost exactly like this one.”

“Let's not get caught with our guns cool.” Jon warned. “Better get them ready to defend the ship if you have to.”

“Aye sir” the Commander agreed and sent the order to tactical to get the guns online in case they had to fight their way out of the system.

“Please send word down when you're ready to launch the shuttle. I should not be down there too long.” Jon informed the Commander “I'm looking for a couple
of small rocks and then I'll be back up here with new orders.” He then turned and left the command bridge before taking an elevator down to the flight deck
three floors below. Once there he met Jarrieal and together they boarded one of the four new attack shuttles that Jon had purchased and outfitted himself
for the Mercury but were now permanently assigned to Defiance. These birds carried more than missiles. Each of them also had a plasma cannon mounted on
each stubby wing.

They got the notification that the ship had entered Canari's orbital zone and that the bridge was opening the bay doors.

“Where is the other Destroyer?” Jon asked.

“It took off and has already entered the slip, sir.” the bridge told him. “She shouldn't give you any trouble.”

Jon had Jarrieal do the flying because the eckto-frames made it impossible for him to operate the flight controls. “One of these days I'll be able to walk
without these things.” Jon told him, “Until then I'm going to need you to fly me to a lot of places. Some of them aren't so nice. Make sure you are always
carrying your sword and a gun.”

“I got both with me.” Jarrieal assured him.” Why are we going back to that place?” he asked.

“Someone handed me a small stone back at Lexon Station. It made me remember I had read that there was a custom among one group of humans back on old Earth
where they put small stones on the graves of loved ones. It was a statement that the dead person had not been forgotten. I don’t know why the female gave
me that stone. I guess she wanted me to remember someone because she told me that she had lost someone in the battle here.” Jon explained. “I've been
studying the customs of my people and have learned that the people once called Earthlings had a lot of really good things going for them even though their
planet seemed to always be at war with itself. According to one ancient author who escaped the disaster, on the very day that the planet was destroyed
there were no less than five wars going on. Even on the day that everyone on the planet died, those warriors were too busy fighting each other to notice
their world blowing up around them.” Jon took a moment to gather his thoughts before he said, “Following one of the old human customs, I plan on putting a
stone from the spot where Prince Zeprik died on his grave back on Haven. I will never forget that I lost my closest friend that day.”

“Why bother?” Jarrieal asked. “Someone will come along and either take it for themselves or throw it away as just another rock.”

“Perhaps, but I will know and that is all that I need. I've finished caring what others do or don't do. From this day forward I'll do whatever I want and
to the ocean depths with everyone else’s desires.” Jon stated flatly. “You and the others must decide. I'm going to hunt down every pirate ship I can find
and blow it out of space. I may even use that terrible weapon the pirates mounted on my ship to blow them off any planet where I find them. You all must
make up your minds to either stay and fight with me to rid the skies of these vermin or to go home to grow old with your grandchildren bouncing on your
laps.”

“I already have. I'll follow your lead into the fires of hell if that is your wish. All of your team feels the same way, even the grubs.” Jarrieal told
Jon. “None of us fully understand the depths of your pain at the lost of Prik, but we all know that you're good in a fight and won't do anything dumb like
get us all killed at the same time. Hold on, I'm putting us down next to the spot where we found you and Prik.”

“You know he really hated it when you guys called him that.” Jon quietly told his team's copilot.

“Yeah we all knew it. Most of us knew who he really was too, but we never said anything.” Jarrieal told Jon. “He was a really great guy though, once you
got that dam Royal stick out of his ass.”

“Yeah. He would have made a great King.” Jon mussed.

“We're here Captain.” Jarrieal told him as the shuttle settled softly on the ground and the rear ramp extended.

“I shouldn't be too long.” Jon informed Jarrieal as he got himself out of the copilot's chair and started for the exit. When he stepped out of the shuttle
and set foot on the site where his friend had been killed, he suddenly went rigid and just stood there staring at the spot. Jon flashed back to that day in
his mind. He saw the two assassins attacking Zeprik and Zeprik trying to get his rifle out of its special sleeve across his back. The way he had fallen
made the rifle lock itself in place and was preventing him from using it. Jon saw the assassins firing bolt after bolt of hot plasma into the body of the
Prince! He saw himself come upon them and instantly react by killing both assassins using only the two swords he now constantly wore by his sides. It was
as if he were seeing it all again for the first time and actually watching himself killing anything that came near him and his fallen friend. He remembered
now how he had lost all conscience thought. He had just killed anything that came near. Then Wrenches had come and he had attacked even her. How could he
have not known that she would only come to help him? How could he have attacked his friend? Had he attacked any other friends he'd forgotten about? Then he
felt the physical pain that came with the months of recovery and the constant pain he now felt in his arms, legs and back. All of which bore the scars of
that battle as a constant reminder to him of the uselessness of his struggles to save his friend. Then he remembered his friend's last words to him. “Jon,
take care of my sister.” he had said and then he had died.

“Hey Captain, You OK?” Jarrieal asked as he came up behind Jon.

“What?”

“You was just standing there all stiff like some statue with your eyes all funny looking. Like you was lost somewhere.” Jarrieal told him.

“Its nothing” Jon lied. “Let's find a couple of rocks and get out of here. There was a jeweler in town if I remember what I read in the reports correctly. I think that if he is still
there he might be able to help me with something.” Taking a few steps Jon found the exact stones he was looking for. The ground was still stained with
Zeprik's blood where he had died that day and the stones Jon picked had that blood on them, as well. He selected two stones that were about an inch in
diameter and was turning to leave when he saw a small piece of metal lying on the ground. Picking it up he saw that it was not metal but rather a foil
backed piece of paper. On the paper was printed, “I need the Prince dead. Find a way to make that happen and you will be rewarded.” It was signed U'Lanto.
Jon had no idea who this person was, but now he knew who he was searching for. Here in his hand was proof that the Prince had been singled out and that he wasn't just another causality of war. Now he knew who he had to kill. He would find and kill this person and anyone who got in his way of doing it!

“Lets head on into the town over that hill” Jon pointed out a small rise to Jarrieal and turned to enter the shuttle. The pair had just reached the ramp
when a ground car came up in a cloud of dust and skidded to a stop. A tough looking male got out and demanded to know who they thought they were to come
here and land a shuttle on private property.