by John Short
“I'd like to see Captain Claudi again myself.” Jon admitted as he opened yet another of the Connell family treasures “PHILLIE! Look at this!” He exclaimed as he handed Phillie a large three-ringed binder filled with notes and hand made sketches of Leviathan's engines. “I think someone already started to figure out how the engines work!” Jon saw the look of excitement in his friend's eyes. Phillie had to be the only female he knew whom ships engines excited.
“Jon, this is a, if they knew about this back then... Jon, they did it! They modified a slipdrive and changed it into a jump drive!” Phillie was ecstatic at the prospects these notes gave her. “If this really works I can make all of our ships jumpers! We'll never have to slip again! I wonder why they never built any of these modified engines.”
“What do you need to test it?” he asked her.
“I need a functioning slipdrive and a ship at least the size of Defiance for a test. Anything smaller and the test won't tell us much. It has to be Defiance or one of the Novas. Something that big or bigger.”
“How about if I see if we can steal you a pirate ship? Minus the pirates of course.” Jon offered.
“As long as it is still flying. You have a habit of blowing them up.” she kidded with him.
Jon had been looking through the other items in the box and found the picture of yet another human female who was smiling out at him. The female was very beautiful with her long blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. The look in her eyes was inviting to say the least. He recognized what he now knew to be the house that his ancestor had built on his home world. Someone had written the name Sara on the back of the picture. Jon searched his memories and could not remember the name in anything his family knew about their famous ancestor. “I think I've found a secret Phillie.” Jon slowly told her. Passing the picture to Phillie, he said, “Apparently my ancestor had a relationship prior to leaving Earth. Take a look at this picture.”
As soon as she saw the photo Phillies mouth dropped open and she exclaimed, “This is a perfect picture of the Goddess!” Opening her table and scrolling to a picture that she had held onto from her youth she passed both the picture of the beautiful Earth woman and the likeness of the Goddess of the universe over to Jon. “How could your ancestor have known that he was taking a picture of the Goddess?”
“I've never seen this picture or been told anything about a female named Sara.” Jon told her. “I'll have to search through the records of my ancestor to find out who this female was and how she fits into the story of his life.”
Six weeks later
One by one, each of Jon's converted Nova class carriers arrived with newly hired crew members and supplies for Leviathan. Each carrier received Phillie's changes to their slipdrives and a full load of salvage from Leviathan's resting place for the return trip. All that remained now of the salvaged ships were the parts Phillie determined she could use right here on Leviathan. The BBITFLTCo. ships all remained slipdrive vessels for safety. Until she had gotten her hands on a ship to test her theories about converting a slipdrive to a jumpdrive, she would not be modifying any of the cargo ships. Her research had told her that some guy named Frank, who had broken the secret of the jump drives, had died before building one which was why the FTL ships still flew through slip space. The first Jon Connell had taken all the notes on the engines and kept them hidden with the rest of the Connell family legacy to keep a promise made to his friend Frank.
Included in another box were diagrams and specifications for making the vehicles that the humans had brought from Earth able to run on the power crystals. The first human settlers had been forced to find a replacement for liquid fuel to run their vehicles. All the heavy transports, private transports, and farming machines received one of the custom converters for over a hundred cycles until replacements came from the manufacturing worlds to replace the worn out equipment in a trade deal worked out by the King's Heads of State at the time.
Captain Claudi had accepted Jon's invitation to tour Leviathan and was just about to leave to head back into Lexon II where the salvage could be sold when he turned to Jon and said, “Its been good to see you and Phillie again Jon. Haven is still in an uproar over you showing up with Defiance. There are people back there who just won't let it pass. You better not ever let them know about this monster.”
“You'll never have to worry about that Claudi.” Jon assured him. “I have no plans to ever go near the Haven system ever again unless the pirates start attacking our company shuttles. Then, I'll jump in and protect what is ours. Maybe by then we'll have all of our cargo ships converted to jump drives anyway. I could care less about the other company's boats.”
“Don't be too hard on the others Jon. You know how a lot depends on business politics. You’ve made it a habit to ignore the demands of the people and the other Corporate Heads. Instead you only listen to your own people. Actually that’s a good thing, but the Haven run is too easy a trip and pays too well for us to just write it off. By us I mean your company.”
“I know Claudi.” Jon told his Captain and friend. “Safe journeys. With Phillie's modifications to the guns on Pluto you should be able to defend against any of the pirates who might be foolish enough to try something against you. I told the others and now I'm telling you. You have permission to blast that scum to comic dust if you need to.”
“I know Jon. We've already had the chance to use those guns. Bastards lured us out of the slip with a distress call. We blasted them into cosmic dust as you said. By the way, I almost forgot. We received a special contract request for you recently.” Claudi began to tell him.
“Let me guess. Someone wants Defiance to meet with an Agent at Jake's Tavern on Hiliost 5 any day I can at 1900 hours.” Jon told him.
“Yeah, so I guess you've already heard. Are you going?”
“Still thinking about it. Who even knows that I own that ship? I've never listed it under my name as a ship that's even thinking about hauling cargo.” Jon commented. When I claimed it I used the company name. How can anyone know about my personal attachment it it?
“Whoever it is, the request sounded legitimate and it was sent directly to just a few select ships. Not the regular cargo request paths.” Claudi explained. “All of your other cargo ships got it as did some of the other rim runners. They know you're out here and not at any of the inner planets. They also seem to know that Defiance is a heavily armed Star Burst Destroyer class ship, not one of your Nova class Carriers. Whoever is making the request has been very selective in who gets the message. Everyone of them are good people that I've known for as many cycles as I've been captaining ships for BBITCo. Maybe the person who wants to meet you saw you boarding Defiance when you were released from Medical and discharged from the Peacekeepers. That little march of yours through Lexon Orbital was in the news vids for weeks after you left the station.”
“Alright, I'll consider the request. I just wish I knew more about who wanted me. I've made lots of enemies out here among the pirates. Last thing I want to do is fly my strongest ship into an ambush. I'm surely not taking Leviathan.”
“I have no doubts that you'll do the right thing Jon. You're just like your uncle. That man seemed to always know what was right.” Claudi smiled and shook Jon's hand in a classically human way. That was something Jon's uncle had taught each of the FTL pilots over the cycles. “I need to get back onboard Pluto. Take care of yourself youngling.” Claudi said as he slapped Jon on the shoulder before he turned and walked through the boarding tube to Pluto which was just finishing up loading salvage and prepping to leave.
Several days after the Pluto had returned to its regular runs, Leviathan intercepted a plea for help from a farming planet out on the far reaches of the rim. It came just as Jon was preparing to bring Defiance into the belly of the ship after another rescue.
“This is Dogver 6. We're under attack by a large force. We're almost out of ammo. If you can hear us, please help.”
“Nav, what's our status?” Jon asked.
“Let's go.” Jon told the officer in charge of jumping the ship. “Leviathan, jump in, but stay out at the edge of the system. Then send the fighters and shuttles in. Discharge ground troops and lets see if we can help these folks.”
“Jumping now sir!” replied Leviathan's coms and the massive ship disappeared from space less than a second after Defiance made its jump. Defiance had jumped away first, but arrived last.
The space around Dogver 6 appeared to be peaceful as Jon drove Defiance closer to the farming colony. He ordered her to stand off and make a series of long range scans while orbiting the planet.
“We got something sir!” Nav called out. “Scans show a medium sized Cutter, older model, in orbit over the planet's capitol. It’s shooting some kind of heavy metal weapon at the surface. Its being guarded by no less than four more ships. We're also picking up a battle on the ground.”
“Stay back from it. If that's what I think it is, it could destroy us if we get too close.” Jon warned. “I'm going out.” Jon left the bridge and went directly to his Dragon Ship. Once there, he stepped into the special Umin battle armor that Phillie had taught him to use before using his mind to lift his ship out of Defiance's hanger and head for the Cutter that was firing on Dogver 6. There was something built into the Umin technology of both the Dragon Ship and this special armor that would hide his presence from any scanners seeking life forms. Jon had no idea what that was or even why the Umin's had developed it, but if the ship that was dropping weapons from space was one of the automated vessels that they had encountered while still in the Peacekeepers, this armor might give him the extra edge he'd need to disable it. The last such automated ship had been designed to self-destruct if anyone without a special code got too close. It had cost the lives of three full flight crews and sixty grubs when its engines over loaded and blew, destroying not only itself, but three of the attack shuttles sent to board it.
Jon eased his ship between the four pirate vessels that surrounded the attacking ship. He left his Dragon floating just over the hull instead of actually touching it. Exiting through the side hatch so as not to have the ramp extend down and touch the ship, he used the armor's thrusters to “fly” over its surface in search of some way inside. The only entry seemed to be located on the bottom of the hull where the projectiles were coming from. It was almost as if the ship had been built from the inside out, complete with all of its ammo already stored inside with no visible way to reload more. This was a new design. The ship looked like just one more old style Cutter, but the more Jon examined the thing the more he realized that it was built much more recently. This ship could not be more than one cycle old. Also, the materials didn't seem to have been designed to last.
Jon's heart nearly stopped when he realized exactly what this ship was. This thing was a self-destructing bomb! The shielding at its bow would let it enter an atmosphere and survive the intense heat any atmospheric entry generated. Once this ship had expended all of its projectiles, it would likely turn itself into a massive bomb and slam through to destroy an entire city on the surface!
Flying as fast as he dared, Jon returned to his Dragon Ship and strapped himself into the pilot's chair. He carefully eased his ship away from the attacking vessel. He was determined to stop this thing. Once he was far enough away to feel safe about using the coms he called Defiance.
“Target that ship and blow it apart!” Jon ordered. “Its an automated killing system.” Jon took a shot at the now distant ship in an effort to disable its engines. He watched as the plasma left his ship and hit the attacker's engine. It was only a fraction of a second later that the attacking vessel exploded in a blinding flash that destroyed the four pirates ships flying in a tight formation with it. The shock wave from the blast rocked Jon's Dragon. His ship was hit so hard by the wave that despite being strapped in, he was tossed around in the pilot's chair and hit his head hard enough to knock him out. If that attacker had crashed on the surface, there would be nothing left of its intended target except a huge crater in the ground. It might have even been enough to trigger a massive change in a planet's climate if enough dust had been thrown into the atmosphere to block out the local sun's rays.
It took several minutes and Phillie's excited voice calling him over his coms to wake Jon from his unconscious state. “Dragon, ANSWER ME!” Phillie called out.
“I'm here Phillie.” Jon finally replied. “That thing sure packed a hard punch. Knocked me out for a minute, but all is good now. Thank that Goddess of yours that I was wearing the armor you showed me or I'd need the Med Labs.”
“Damn you Jon Connell! Why do you insist on scaring me like that?” she demanded.
“I was only trying to disable that thing's engine. Not set off a Super Nova.” Jon said in reply. “Where's Jackal?”
“He took the teams to the surface to check on survivors.” the regular COM officer informed Jon.
“Let him know I'm coming down too.” Jon told the officer before he sent the mental commands to the ship and it started its descent into the atmosphere.
Picking a landing spot near the other shuttles and setting down, Jon retracted the armor's helmet before lowering the rear ramp and stepping down from his ship. The ground around him had been churned up from the projectiles that were being fired from space. With the exception of three buildings, everything seemed to have survived. He saw most of the troopers shifting through the rubble on one of the buildings and walked over to join them.
“What have we got?” Jon asked one of his men.
“The pirates that were attacking the settlers are all dead sir. We came up behind them and caught them in a cross fire. Between the town's people and our guys they didn't last very long. Some of the settlers are injured, but their healers are taking care of them. Our guys came through without a scratch. The armor you issued us is a merical. None of the pirate's shots penitrated. No one from our teams was injured. The settlers told us this was their main hall.” The trooper explained. “They say that this was their Coms and cargo Coordinator's offices. Jackal is in there right now searching for the Cargo Master.”
Jon tried to call Jarrieal, “Jackal, this is Dragon. Can you hear me?”
When he received no reply he tried again, “Jackal, talk to me brother.”
When he still did not get a reply Jon decided to go and find his friend. Luckily the building had not taken a direct hit. Still the projectile had landed close enough to cause heavy damage. Some of the debris was hanging from the remains of the roof at a dangerous angle. Jon found out that if he touched anything it caused whole sections of the structure to fall. He carefully followed the only pathway through the ruins until he reached an area where the debris had fallen and was blocking his path. He tried calling out again,
“Jarrieal! Can you hear me?”
He heard his friend moaning as if in great pain. He didn't think, he just acted and began pulling the pile of debris out of his way so he could get deeper into the ruined building. While the Umin armor made him twice as strong as he normally was, it was still no match for some of the heavy beams that blocked his path.
Frustrated that he was taking so long to reach Jarrieal, Jon drew his sword, activated the plasma flames and began to swing the sword to slice cleanly through beams, flooring, furniture and any other thing that got in his way. All the time shouting out for Jarrieal to answer him. Wood, metal, plastic and glass all were simply slashed and parted to make room enough for him to pass through the twisted wreckage that used to be these people's main hall. Within just minutes Jon found one booted foot that appeared to be attached to a leg that was trapped under some debris.
“Somebody get in here!” Jon shouted over his coms and three Troopers came who helped him pull Jarrieal out from under the rubble that had fallen on him and soon joined him in working to free
his friend.
Once they had Jarrieal freed from the fallen wreckage and carried away from the bombed out building, Jon was able to better assess his friend's condition. Checking for broken bones, Jon found only a few nasty bruises. Jarrieal would be very sore for a while, but otherwise he would be fine. “That was a close one brother. What were you thinking by going in there?”
“I was trying to get to the Controller. He was like these people's leader.” Jarrieal told Jon.
“Yes, your Majesty.” A thin, greenish skinned, male who had come up quietly to stand beside Jon said. When Jon turned to look at him the male dropped to his knees and bowed his head low to the ground. “I thank you for coming to our aid, my Lord.”
“I'm not your Lord. Please stand.” Jon politely told the male.
“But you are the Dragon King. My people have studied the legends. We knew you would come.”
“Who are you?” Jon asked.
“I am Kikol, village Communicator. It is my place to speak with the ships that come to buy our crops and bring us much needed supplies.”
“Can you tell me what happened here?” Jon asked. Jarrieal had recovered enough to stand beside Jon and the thin male bowed to him.
“A ship arrived several moon cycles ago and demanded that we give them our prime farm land.” the thin man told Jon. “When we refused, their leader said that Lord King would not be pleased. Lord King is a terrible male with no honor in him. We needed the land to grow our food crops. He wanted it to grow the drug that drives females crazy.
Yesterday destruction began to fall from the sky. I was just able to call for help before the center was destroyed. I never expected that the Dragon King himself would come to our aid. Unfortunately the first bombs killed our Controller and we'll have to elect someone new to his post.”
“Can your people handle this mess or do you still need our help?” Jon asked.