END of LINE: Humanities Last Stand - part 3 (7 page)

Those are all good things. Are you prepared for the bad?” When Phillmma nodded that she was, Kelesro continued. “He has suffered great loss. Both of his
parents died when he was very young. Then his uncle died and now the only female that ever showed him love has gone off to Sanctuary. All that is fully
recorded in his official records. Still, for him the loss goes much deeper. He is the last surviving member of his race. When his day comes, human beings
will cease to exist in the universe. All that will be left are the offspring of Human/Lexonian mates. Even those will thin and fade away as the inhabitants
of Haven move out into the stars. This also weighs heavily on his soul.

He has been made to believe that he is somehow unwanted because of his physical differences from the rest of us. His height and build are examples of how
most humans once grew. They were a strong proud race that truly knew what it was to love with their entire being. I saw that in his racial memories buried
deeply within his mind where even he doesn't know how to reach. He will find that pride again, but for him to understand love, I mean really understand it
in his soul, will take a miracle. Everyone whom he has ever loved has left him in someway and he feels the loss deeper than even I can find. As a result he
holds his own heart so tightly that it will take more than a single female to soften his grip on his feelings. It will take a miracle from our beloved
Goddess. But he cannot ask for or even openly accept her help because of how much he feels the hurt of his loss. He may secretly blame her for that loss.

He trusts no one. Every time he has placed his trust in someone who was not part of his family, they used it against him and he ended up paying the price.
If he offers anyone a position of trust, they had better be ready to earn it everyday. Because even after a lifetime, he may still be just waiting for that
person to use his trust wrongly. If that ever happens, he will turn on the person he wanted to trust as fast as the lighting flashes across the night skies
with just as much power and vengeance, perhaps more. He carries a strange genetic code I've only seen once before and I've tested many humans in my three
hundred cycles of life so far. I've only seen it one other time in my youth, in a human Dragon Warrior during the time of his great ancestor and namesake.
That male questioned his own worth until a well known Warrior tested him.” Kelesro remembered that fight in vivid detail even all these cycles later. A
confused human warrior had doubted his own worth after the loss of a leg in battle until another warrior tested him and showed him the true meaning of
courage. “I believe he may be part Umin, but he isn't aware of that part of himself yet. That other one had lost a leg in battle and doubted his own worth.
This one of yours may never find his true self or his real value to the rest of us.

He is trapped inside himself. He may never find the way out. If he does, he will accomplish a great many wonderful things. If he doesn't, sadly his life
will never see happiness.” Kelesro ended giving her report to Phillie and sat back in her chair. “So your turn now little one. What has you so excited?”

“I may have given myself more than I thought.” Phillie told her friend suddenly sobered. “He offered me the job of Flight Engineer on the Pluto. He just
learned that he now owns BBITCo. And he wants me to lead his flight engineering section on not just one ship, but on two more right now and possibly
another once his Peacekeeper contract has expired.” Stopping to take a breath she then went on, “He told me he needed to find people he could trust. I told
him I would earn his trust however I needed to make sure his ships were ready for anything.” Sobbing she went on, “He is bringing the entire crew of the
Pluto here tonight for late meal and asked me to join them. I need to find two more really good flight engineers before then, and I must pack up my shop
and move my gear to the Pluto, then notify the Station Master that my shop will be available for lease to another, all before morning, and check the ship
before we enter the slipway. By the Goddess Kel, I may have already failed him.” Having spilled her list of things that needed to be done, Phillmma openly
wept.

“No my dear sweet friend. You haven't failed him yet. You just haven't looked beyond yourself.” Kelesro softly told her friend as she laid her hands on the
smaller female's shoulders to gently calm her. Quickly connecting with the child-like mind of Phillmma, Kelesro was able to offer comfort and confidence to
her friend. “Time enough for doing things on your own later. Right now, get yourself out there and start looking for those Engineers. I think if you can at
least tell him that you have spoken to a few people he will be satisfied with your efforts. Don't you worry about the rest, I'll have Gabby come and he and
I can pack your shop and have everything moved to Pluto before mealtime. Later, you and I can have a fun time packing your belongings at the apartment.
Then we'll have to go shopping in one of the better shops to get you some proper clothes to wear when he needs you to present reports on the conditions of
his ships in front of his other Commanders.”

“OH GODDESS NO! Kel, you know how frightened I am of dealing with those corporate types.”

“Would you still be afraid of them knowing that the giant who owned the company was standing behind you for support?”

Smiling again Phillmma declared, “With Jon Connell behind me I can do anything!”

“See the effect that one human male has on you after just one shared meal? Just imagine how others will react to him! Phillie you must promise me that you
will help me pray to the Goddess for him every day. He can bring such peace to our troubled worlds if he will only just try to find himself.”

“I promise my dearest friend. Whatever stupid female marked him better make her claim soon though or he is mine!” Phillmma laughed. “I have calls to make!”

And so it was that Jon Connell's remake of BBITCo began with such a simple thing as giving new hope to only one small unknown female.

After a week and a half of meetings with bankers and the department heads of BBITCo, Jon decided he needed to take some time for himself. This owning a
company thing was not an easy job. Thankfully he'd known Chief Commander Edwards for many cycles. His uncle Bill had introduced them way back when Jon was
traveling with his uncle on school breaks. The product of a human father and Lexonian mother, the man was only a few inches shorter than Jon and had been
given a stern upbringing with a mixture of the best both races had to offer. Jon felt he could trust the man to continue to run things while he was away in
the service.

The Comptroller had been a totally different issue. When Jon told his Chief Commander about what he had learned from the Captain of the Pluto, that none of
the FLT ships had Flight Engineers and about the surprise inspections with cargo missing along with some unexplained shipments coming in undocumented,
Commander Edwards starting demanding answers and when he didn't get the ones he wanted to hear, he dismissed the man on the spot. Turned out the
Comptroller was a low ranking member of the Lexonian Royal's Household. The son of one of the lesser servants at the Summer Palace. He had done a good job
in hiding his tracks for the last few cycles. He'd fired the Engineers on all three FTL ships hoping to cover up their loss with more scheduled maintenance
stops. Then he transferred their salaries into a hidden bank account for himself while changing names on the company roster to make it look like Engineers
were still flying with each ship. He'd also estimated the amount he'd saved on parts no longer being changed out while on missions and taken half of that
amount while reporting the other half as savings in the maintenance reports. The Company was able to have all of his accounts at the bank frozen, including
his savings, and all the records turned over to the law enforcement. The money that he had stolen was recovered from the bank and given to the families of
the people the criminal male had fired. Edwards offered the men jobs but they had all taken slots on ships with other companies and were locked into
contracts. All said that they would love to come back once their contracts expired. It was looking like the company might need more FTL ships soon anyway
even without Jon's dreams of enlarging the business.

Jon's appointment of Phillmma as Chief Flight Engineer over all three FTL ships was approved, as were her recommendations for replacement Flight Engineers.
So far that was working out nicely and the FTL ships were all making much better times on their runs. Apparently she had designed and implemented some
minor changes to the slip drives that not only made them run faster, it also cut down on fuel consumption. Phillie had accomplished all that impressive
work in under a week after taking the job. Her changes had already cut the slip time in half on every run! Needless to say, Edwards was very impressed with
the small furry female. He had never believed that story about her hitting her commander in a drunken fit while in FTL anyway. As far as he was concerned,
hiring Phillmma was the best thing the company had done since acquiring the FTL cargo ships from Cook's Brewery.

Replacing the comptroller had proven a little more difficult until Jon put through a call to their former comptroller and asked him for a recommendation.
Jon had met him several times and the guy liked “Little Jonnie”, that freckled little kid Billy would bring out all the time. Turned out the guy had a
nephew who had just graduated from the University on Lexon II with a business degree in finance and was due home in a week. Edwards put a call in to the
kid and offered him the job. “I like being able to train new people to do the job right.” he had remarked with a huge smile when the boy accepted the
offer. Turned out Edwards knew and liked the boy. His uncle had been bringing the kid to work with him for cycles and teaching him the ropes starting when
the kid was only ten. Just like young Jon, he had grown up in the business. Now they would both settle into their proper places in the Corporation.

As for the stolen and/or undocumented cargo, that was reported to the law enforcement office and an investigation was underway. The accused criminal's
right to FTL travel had been revoked so he could not flee the planet until they finished. Yes it would cause a Royal stink at the Summer Palace and put
BBITCo under the microscope for several months, but Edwards was willing to pay the price to punish the perpetrator of the crime. He still might be able to
sneak away on a different company's ship if he disguised himself as a settler heading out to the rim world colonies, but once word got out to the other
captains, no one would be willing to let the man near their docking berths. He wasn't going anywhere unless the King sent the Royal Yacht to pick the man off
the planet. Only the FTL ships were involved, so it was business as usual for the system shuttles. Those were pulling in a good profit everyday just as
they always had going back to the early colony days when Frank Campbell and his wife Francine had started that end of the company with the original Jon
Connell as their biggest investor.

The bank had merely been a matter of going over a few family financial matters, like making sure things like tax leans and utility payments were made on
the house and surrounding 120 acres of forested mountain property. Then came changing the name on all the accounts while making sure that money was
channeled into his aunt's account to insure she had whatever she needed. Jon also took out a line of credit for himself to use while he was off planet
rather than relying only on his military pay. You never knew when he might need to actually own another house on a distant planet. It just would not be
proper to invite a guest in for an important business luncheon only to have them meet you at the mess hall on a Peacekeeper base that was mostly a bunch of
dirty tents or roofed over holes in the ground.

Jon decided that if he did not “steal a few days for himself” he would end up working through his entire leave time. When he woke up this morning he was
starving. Not so unusual in itself. He seemed to constantly be hungry these days, but today was more like a craving. He simply had to have those delicious
waffles made only at the diner in town. He jumped out of bed and went in to take a shower when suddenly there came a low growl from out on the deck.
Pulling back the curtains, he saw a huge solid black saber-tooth tiger sitting there looking back at him.

“Get down from there Talga!” Jon shouted. “You know better than to jump up on the deck. What would auntie say if she saw you? BAD kitty!” Jon frowned as he
went downstairs to tend to the cat. He had not been home in months and no one seemed to know exactly when aunt Gala had left for Sanctuary. Even the video
she had left for Jon explaining why she had to go didn't tell him when she went, only where. The cat was probably going mad thinking it had been abandoned.
Taking out the fresh milk he had bought last night, he poured the entire gallon into a bowl and placed it outside before calling the animal to him. He'd
need to hire someone to come out once a week and give the cat fresh milk.

Happily purring, Talga paced over to Jon. Big cats do not simply walk, they pace, pounce, run or jump. The Tiger forcefully bumped into him hard enough to
knock him down. Then it gently held him down with its front paw as it licked his face. It was very happy to see its human again.

“Alright Talga. Go drink your milk and let me get a shower. I'm going into town for food and will be back. Then we can play at the water if you like.” Jon
told the cat as he roughly scratched behind its ears.

With the animal taken care of, Jon grabbed a quick shower and then got dressed in his black leggings and silver tunic with the black edging. He didn't
remember when he had started wearing his family colors everyday, but he decided that he actually liked them now that he could get out of his military
uniform. Taking the stairs two at a time, he ran outside to the pad and took the top off of the sporty little 2 seat hover car. Within seconds, he had the
motors fired and the small craft was almost bucking under him to be airborne and flying after sitting so long on the pad. He kept the craft low to the
ground while he followed the twisting road that wound its way from the town of Jonsville all the way up to the Lodge and the Royal's Summer Palace just
past that.