by John Short
When she came through the hatch she asked him, “What's wrong Boss?”
“Nothing is wrong Phillie. I've found something I think you might be interested in.” Jon handed her the data disk with the Leviathan's technical specs and watched as she lit up like a child with a new toy as she scanned the data.
“Is this really out there?” she asked in amazement.
“I believe it’s sitting somewhere close to the coords I gave to nav. We have to account for space drift, but yes it should be there.” Jon told her. “If we can find her, how would you like to be in charge of Flight Engineering on her?” Jon asked.
“According to these specs she's huge! I'd need a full team of specialists just to get her flying again.”
“According to some of the other data, she can be run by one person provided that person has the right genetic markers.” Jon told her. “I'll get you whatever you need Phillie. Just tell me what you want. If you think she's too much, I'll find someone else, but I really want you handling my ship's systems. I don't trust anyone else. Please say you'll do it Phillie. I really need to know your still on my side. That you haven't turned against me too.”
“Jon, you still don't understand do you?” Phillie said softly. “I'll always be with you. I love you like a brother. I'm mad as anything at you right now, but that will pass. I may not always approve of what you do and I will always argue with you when I think you are wrong, but isn't that what a sister does?”
“I don't know Phillie. I've never had a sister before and I'm so worried that I'm leading you into getting hurt.” Jon said. “I think it would kill me if anything happened to you. Part of me wants to move you to one of the ships that will never go into the fight I'm getting ready to start, but another part can't bear to think of you not being close to me. Everybody I've ever loved has left me or died.”
“I know you will never put me in the way of anything that can do any serious damage.” she told him, then she went to him and gave him a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. “Humm' still sweet.” she kidded him as she smiled and said, “I'll do it Jon. I'll figure out this ship and if she is still able to fly I'll help you fly her.” Looking at the data again she added, “We'll make her the most feared vessel ever to fly against these pirate turds. You just watch. Together we can do anything!”
“Thank you my friend. I love you too little sister.” Jon told her affectionately.
Jon's meal arrived right as Phillie was leaving and he offered her some, but she told him she had work to get back to and that she needed to go over the data disks he'd just given her. She had a lot to learn in the few short days before they reached the Leviathan's last known coords. Jon ate in silence thinking of the reason Phillie could sense the sweetness on his cheek. Maybe that sweetness would fade away over time. He understood why the Lexonian Queen had to stay with her own kind. He just wished he'd never met her that day at the Lodge. Then none of this would have happened and he'd still be happily flying cargo shuttles in Haven system. His already damaged heart would not have been shattered by the words of the Regent and he could one day earn enough to buy a regular FTL cargo hauler, not a small Navy of Warships. He might still have met Phillie and her tall blue friend; he just would not have been marked and claimed by another female when he did. What had made him think that the future Queen would want a freak of nature like him as her mate?
Phillie walked out of Jon's quarters and ran directly into Jarrieal. “Watch where you're going little furball.” he said with a smile.
Phillie looked up at him with tears in her eyes.
“Did Jon hurt you again?” he asked.
“No you silly. He just gave me a present.”
“Admiral, your flight team is asking if you would like to join them today in the exercise room.” the Com officer interrupted his thoughts when his badge called out.
Jon looked across the room at the eckto-frames and frowned. “Tell them I'll be there in a little while. I need to change and strap myself into the frames first.” He had all but given up hope that he'd ever be able to walk again without the painful devices. Sparring with his team while wearing them had become a daily routine. He had to teach himself to accept the pain and still fight as fiercely as possible. The pirates he would be facing would not give him any breaks in battle because he was a cripple.
On Lexon II somewhere in the King's Palace...
“He really told you that he was not sending me messages?” Satrina asked her uncle, the King's Regent. The sorrow in her voice plainly shown on her face as well.
“He went to Haven to make some arrangements with that company he owns and when I asked to speak to him he refused me and told me to tell you that he wished you happiness, but not to expect him to message you.” the Regent lied to her.
“I just don't understand. I thought he loved me.” Satrina cried. “I gave him of my essence and he accepted it gladly”
“I'm sorry your Highness. Perhaps it doesn't bind a human as surely as it does a Lexonian.”
“Why would he bestow his house colors on me and grant me full access to his historical family home if he did not mean to honor the claim we made to each other?” she asked, still searching for a reason why her giant had rejected her.
“Perhaps as some kind of honor payment for taking you there. No one knows what is going on in his mind Princess. The Healers say that sometimes the strain of combat does strange things to warrior's minds. They come home changed and never go back to who they were before they went into battle. They never know what effect putting males and females into battle has on their minds or how it will manifest itself. Some of them come home and are fine; others suffer from something called survivor's guilt and are never fully well again. I think this is what happened to this Jon Connell. He lost your brother in the Battle of Canari and when they turned him into a hero, the male lost his mind. No one can learn the details of his meeting with his company commanders either. What we do know is that he swore to them that he was never returning to Haven and only coming to Lexon Station when he could not find what he needed wherever he was going.” The Regent was now telling her the truth. None of his spies could find out where Jon Connell was going or what he planned to do once he got there. However, the company had made his departure from Haven space and his decision never to return, public knowledge when they were asked why Jon had parked another Warship in the skies over Haven. Of course it had been the Regent's spies at the news networks who had asked because no one else seemed to care what kind of ships he used to deliver the goods everyone needed or wanted. Just so long as the supplies flowed, no one cared who or what brought them. The Regent wondered how the people would react when he took over the throne and imposed heavy taxes on all shipments going to or coming from Lexon II.
“Did you go to his home in the forest?” she asked.
“Yes child. I found the door open, the security system shutdown, and everything was gone except the furniture.” the Regent told her. “The rooms you spoke of on the lower level had been cleared of everything including all the paintings and family pictures. I did find a stock of the wines you enjoy. There was also one room that was locked and not even the Palace locksmith could open it.”
“Did you find Talga? Can you bring him here?”
“The tiger you told me about? No. It was nowhere in sight. We did find tiger tracks in front of the house that disappeared at what looked like a shuttle landing area, but the animal was gone. Connell may have taken the beast with him.” The Regent had taken a Locksmith and a game hunter to visit Jon's house with the intentions of breaking in to steal the valuable Umin treasures in the lower level and kill the tiger for its valuable fur. Satrina had all but summonded the Royal Yacht to make the trip to Haven and Connell's mountain home herself until the Regent had said that he would go while she stayed here in case her father needed her. Neither the tiger nor the Umin treasures could be found. The lower levels had been cleaned out even what appeared to have been a hidden vault. If there had ever been anything t
here, it was gone now. The hunter had tracked the animal for two days, but all except those tracks in front were old sign.
"Princess, it may be best if you were to consider this human as just a passing fancy and move on. A young male has just come from Haven to visit one of the lower Royals. His name is Quekko. He is one of the Royals himself and has come looking for Employment on one of the central planets. His position as comptroller for one of Haven's corporations was recently terminated. If something should happen to your father, the duties of the Kingdom will fall on your shoulders. This fellow would make an excellant mate and your offsprinng would have royal blood as well."
"No. If my father dies and I must assume the throne, there will be time enough to select a royal mate." Satrina told her uncle. "Until that time, I will honor my vow to Jon or I will return to sancturary."
After a full two months of slip space travel, the Defiance broke out of slip and entered empty space near a red dwarf star. “Start running scans.” Jon ordered.
“Sir, there is something a long ways off.” the officer responsible for scanning the system reported. “It looks like a cluster of debris around a blood star. One piece is reading the same measurements as the thing you said to look for, but it’s hard to be sure from here.”
“Nav, plot a course closer to the debris. Coms start transmitting the pass code.” Jon ordered. The coded description in the Connell ledger suddenly made perfect sense. The ledger said Leviathan was set in orbit at blood star! Blood star wasn't the name of a place, it was a code phrase for a red colored star!
“Yes sir!” came replies from both stations simultaneously. Defiance, her sub-light drives screaming to give every ounce of power they had, flew across the expanse of empty space between where it had left the slipway and where the debris field appeared on her scans. During the entire five day trip, coms repeatedly transmitted the code that Jon had given to them just that morning. It had been found in the log of the original Jon Connell's last flight onboard the Leviathan. It was that log which made the ship a real thing for his family and not simply the planet killing beast of legend. The log read,
13758; 45093; 824390 from Haven
“Just in case Leviathan is ever needed, I programmed in a pass code phrase to allow access. The phrase is a portion of the Bible's Song of Solomon, King James Version. Make sure it is in love and with a broken heart that you unlock her secrets. She is a sleeping beast now. Take care when you awaken her. Broadcast the following as you approach and the ship's defenses will allow you to enter her landing bays.”
'I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies. Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners. Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me. 6:3,4,5.'
The closer they came to the debris field, the more the scans came back showing one very large ship floating in the center of the remains of hundreds of smaller ones. Suddenly lights started to come on all over the massive ship and Defiance received a message.
'I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.'
Suddenly the bow of the ship in the distance was flooded with bright white light and a red, white, and blue banner could be clearly seen. It was rectangular with red and white stripes over most of it and a blue rectangle in the upper left corner. There were fifty stars clearly shown in the blue field. Whoever had applied it had made it appear as though it were being tossed by a strong wind.
Jon commed for Phillie, “Wrenches, come up to the bridge right now!”
“On my way Boss.” came her reply and she dropped what she was doing and rushed out of Engineering up the elevator to the bridge. Wondering what had Jon so excited. She hoped that her recent modifications had not caused any control issues. She had felt the ship as it shuddered coming out of the slip, but that had been normal especially after slipping for so long at one time. Entering the slip pulled the forward parts of the ship faster than the aft sections and when exiting, the forward sections slowed before the rear sections, all ships experienced this and some shaking was normal.
Walking onto the bridge she saw the image on the screen in front of her and when she gasped Jon looked back at her and smiled. “Come here little sister.” he calmly told her and she stepped up to stand next to his chair. When he reached out his hand she placed her smaller hand in his. He gently squeezed. “There she is sis. Do you like her?”
Still in awe of the immense ship on the forward screen, Phillie stood in shocked disbelief as she tried to speak. “Jon, its beautiful. I've never seen such a ship. It looks like a massive dragon just laying out there waiting for someone to get too close before it attacks. Are you sure its safe to get near it?”
“I don't know. We sent it the pass code and it responded but I must admit I do not know this Song of Solomon or the Bible it comes from. We may have just activated its defenses and are about to be killed when it opens fire on us.”
“There is a religious book called the Holy Bible that I found among the files you gave to me. The writing is very hard to understand and it often seems to contradict itself, but I think it was meant to cause people to think about what they were doing much the same as our book of the Goddess.” she told him. “The Song you spoke of was written as a love letter between a King and his Queen. It is very beautiful to think that you humans knew such love in your past.”
“Don't judge all humans by what you know of me Phillie. I remember that my human parents had a great love for their family and those who later became their employees. When given a chance humans are able to have very strong feelings for those they love.” Jon sadly told her and let her hand drop. “So, shall we go in and find out if Leviathan loves us and if we can love her back?”
“Oh YES, JON! We've come all this way, we must at least try.” Phillie exclaimed.
“Nav, you heard our Chief of Flight Engineering. Take us in, be careful of the debris.” Jon ordered. “First thing we do once we get onboard is clean up this mess. If that ship can still fly, I don't want to scratch the paint getting it away from all that wreckage. Phillie, I'll want a complete analysis of the debris to figure out who found the ship and lost their lives trying to get near her.”
“Sure thing Boss.” she fired back at him. “Boss, can I stay here and watch as we get closer? If I'm about to die, I'd like to at least see it coming.”
“Sure, but find yourself a seat. I want everyone strapped in now and be ready for an emergency slip in case we're attacked.” Jon ordered then he opened the ship wide coms, “ATTENTION! We are about to enter what could be hostile space. Everyone find a seat and strap in until I give the OK! ALL HANDS TO THEIR BATTLE STATIONS!”
Defiance moved through the debris field very slowly until it finally passed the last of what had become a cloud of orbiting ship's parts around Leviathan. Nav had decided to attempt to land on the top most surface and try for an EVA crossing when a huge hanger door opened and the coms rang out with a metallic voice, “Approaching Lexonian Destroyer, please slow to docking speed and enter bay four using lateral thrust only. Welcome back Jon Connell.” Everyone on the bridge turned to stare at Jon in open-mouthed dismay. Only the pilot who was busy watching where he was flying Defiance noticed the huge bay doors opening along the other ship's flank.
“Don't look at me that way, I've never been here before!” Jon exclaimed.
“Respectfully sir,” the Bridge Commander said, “that ship seems to think you have. I would suggest that you let it continue to think that way until we are safely onboard and in control of its systems.”
“I concur Commander.” Jon said. “I most certainly concur.”
Carefully maneuvering the Defiance, the pilot brought her inside the Leviathan's largest landing bay and allowed the docking collar to connect with the main hatch as giant arms clamped around her hull holding her in place.
The screens showed that this one bay could not only hold Defiance, but also any one of the other ships in Jon's small fleet. “We've completed docking Sir” the pilot told Jon. “This is one big ship sir. I've never seen anything this huge before!”
“I don't think any of us have Lieutenant.” Jon admitted. “This is more like an orbiting station than a ship.”
“Sir, the pressure outside in the bay has mated our own. We can open the ship at any time.” Environmental told him. “I think its even safe to just walk on our own hull as long as we're inside this bay.”
“Wrenches, interested in taking a stroll with me?” Jon asked Phillie.
“You could not keep me away!” She answered excitedly. “Imagine, an actual ship built by the Umins! I wonder what secrets she has in store for us.”
“Help me get into my wheelchair someone, please, and see if you can find my cat. He'll want to explore the ship too.” Jon smiled at the thought of letting Talga run loose on the Umin Warship.
Forty five days later...
Jon was overwhelmed at the sheer size of the ship. Everything was huge! The landing bay where Defiance was parked could easily hold one of his Carriers along with his Destroyer, with the other ones stored in other landing bays around the ship leaving still more bays open. Then he was led forward to find several flights of cargo shuttles and attack shuttles, not to mention over twenty fighter ships. Each of them was armed and ready for combat. All he needed were pilots to fly them. He'd have Jarrieal start making inquiries and see if any of the guys from his old Peacekeeper units knew of good fighter pilots looking for jobs. Jon wasn't going to let these beautiful little ships sit on the deck when they could be fighting. Phillie would need help getting everything working! Better get her looking for good Engineers. She had shown him the engineering section and she was so busy bouncing around the room he had only heard about half of what she had told him. The one thing he did hear was her telling him of an advanced drive system. This massive ship did not travel the slipways. It somehow jumped from place to place in the blink of an eye!