END of LINE: Humanities Last Stand - part 3

by John Short

  “Please ask my little sister to stay calm and have Leviathan come in at the outer rim of the system in 20 minutes.” Jon suggested before he ran from the bridge down to the hanger bay and up into his Dragon Ship, stopping only to step into the special Umin armor. “Hanger doors open” Jon sent using only his mind link to his ship. The ship relayed his command to the hanger controls and the doors began to slide down exposing the hanger to space. Once he cleared the Defiance's hanger, Jon powered his ship and flew toward the group of ships that he could now see far below him. Confident that his armor would mask his life signs, Jon activated the ships cloak. Phillie had shown him this little piece of Umin magic. With a simple thought, the entire vessel became totally transparent! It could not be picked up on scanners or with the naked eye.

  As he neared the cluster of ships, it became apparent that there had been no battles here. None of the ships showed any signs of having recently taken any hits from the pirates. As he flew between the ships, Jon began to pick up the com between them.

  “I don't think he's coming.” one of the ship's Captains said.

  “He always comes. Ships in distress are what he lives for! Now shut up and keep scanning for that Destroyer of his. It will have one of the Bosses city killers bolted to the bottom side. According to his kid, that over grown freak has all of the four except the one the kid is flying.”

  “How did he manage to get his hands on three of Boss Kings best boats?” a different pirate Captain asked.

  “Heck if I know. He just got them. The Boss wants his ass dead. Now shut up and keep scanning. If we can catch him coming out of the slip we'll have a few seconds to hammer him before his defenses can find targets.”

  This was not a ship in trouble, Jon realized. This was an ambush! He decided to have some fun. Bringing his Dragon Ship around to fly straight into one of the pirate's vessels, Jon fired several shots from his forward plasma cannons that ripped one of the ships apart before it even knew he was attacking.

  Jon concentrated on the largest ships of the group and went in for an attack. He lined his own ship up with what appeared to be the command bridge of a huge cargo vessel that floated at the center of the group and opened fire. This ship tried to return fire, but lacking any positive target, only managed to damage other ships in its own flotilla. One of them exploded while the other spiraled away seemingly out of control.

  “Billo! What the heck are you shooting at?” one of the pirates wanted to know.

  “Something is attacking me! You guys were warned not to start anything until Connell showed up!”

  Jon flew in for another attack on the large ship. Three more well placed hits and the ship broke up with parts flying off in different directions. The remaining pirates began to fire their lasers wildly into space and Jon decided it was time to leave. Keeping an eye on his rear scanners, he watched as two more of the ships exploded as laser blasts from their pirate friends destroyed each of them.

  Once he had cleared the area where the pirates were still shooting at each other, Jon commed up to Defiance using his tight beam com link. “I'm on my way back Defiance. This was no rescue it was an ambush. Those ships were waiting for us to show up so they could try to destroy us.”

  “Yes Sir, we heard them.” His COM Officer replied. “Hanger door is open and we're waiting for your return.”

  “Once I'm back onboard, take us home Captain.” Jon ordered as he guided his Dragon into the hanger and settled it in its berth.

  Suddenly the view port was lit up with a blazing white light that replaced the darkness of Gala and Satrina's quarters. When they both had sprung out of bed and ran to the view port, they could clearly see the Defiance sitting beside their port.

  “How can his ship do that?” Satrina asked.

  “I'm not sure child. My mate used to speak of a different kind of engine that the Umins used.” Gala tried to explain. “He didn't know how it worked, but it was very different from the slipways. It let their ships go from place to place in mere seconds. He often lamented that our ships could not fly like the Umins did.”

  Once Defiance had been brought inside and the pressures equalized, Jon stepped down and was speaking with the maintenance crews about the ship's performance when Phillie and Jarriel approached him. Phillie punched Jon as hard as she could in the stomach while Jarrieal simply watched with an angry look on his face as well.

  “Damn you Jon Connell! You made me cry again!” she exclaimed. “Why must you always do these things alone? Do you really want to die?!?!”

  Jon reached down and took both of her hands in his. “No my beloved little sister. I still have too much to do before I die.” he told her. “Phillie, I need you to trust me. I've trusted you with every ship I own. You know how hard I've worked to get them and how they are the means to the freedom I've searched for my whole life. Can you trust me now?”

  “How? The minute my back it turned you run off to battle!” She started to cry. Jon wrapped her in his arms and just held her close until her trembling stopped and she pushed against him.

  “Phillie, that mission was no rescue. It was supposed to be a trap. If anyone except me had gone, we'd have dead crew members right now instead of dead pirates.” Jon told her. “I'm going to debrief the entire crew shortly. Will you come up and hear me out?”

  “I'll listen, Jon.” Phillie promised.

  Less that an hour later, Jon had assembled the department heads in the main conference room. Once he had everyone's attention he started.

  “The last mission began like most of the others we've taken lately. A cargo ship cried out for help, Defiance responded. This time the call came from a TransCo. ship. I've always been suspicious of those people since they fired our cook for verifying my claim to Defiance under the pirate salvage laws. Still, my personal suspicions are no reason not to offer help to a ship in distress way out here. I had Defiance jump far enough out that she would be hidden from any long range scans.

  Then I took my Dragon Ship and the Umin armor in closer to investigate. For those who don't already know, that armor masks my life signs and the ship has a cloaking shield that renders the whole ship invisible to scans and eye contact. As long as I'm flying that ship I'm totally invisible. Instead of one ship engaged in a life or death struggle with another, I found six pirate vessels and a large TransCo. hauler groped together and wondering where Defiance was and if she would even come. This Boss King had sent them to destroy us.

  For anyone who is upset that I went in alone, be thankful I did. They were scanning so strongly that if anyone else had gotten close they would have ended up dead. I'm sure Defiance would have survived a battle, but she would have come away with some serious damage. Because of the unique qualities of my ship, I was able to get in close, shoot down just enough of the pirates to get them shooting at themselves and left without them even knowing I was there.

  Phillie, where are we on modifying the other four Dragon Ships so others can fly them?”

  “Jar was able to get one started, but that's it.” she admitted. “He couldn't get the armor to work for him at all. I'm still working on making them flyable by anyone.”

  “Jar's nanoids can't connect to the ship's controls the same as mine?” Jon asked.

  “Apparently not Jon.” Phillie informed him. “Maybe if we had him spend a month in a tube and see if he comes out with one of those dragon's on his back. The Earth diaries say that each of the five who flew them before had a dragon that matched the colors of the ships.”

  “OK. Put that on the back jets. I'm not answering any more calls from TransCo. ships for any reason. The pirates want to blow up their own boats, from now on we'll let them. For right now I want you to concentrate on getting our ships able to jump.”

  “Yes Boss. Two already can. The other two will be here sometime next week. When they leave, they'll be jumpers too.” Phillie assured him. “Oh and another thing. I discovered that each of the Leviathan's shuttles can become invisible to scanners the same way as your
ship. They won't mask life signs, but unless someone is looking for that, the ships are just as well hidden. So you don't have to go into battles alone again!”

  The briefing broke up and everyone went back to work. Jon looked down at Phillie and said. “I really am sorry for scaring you sis.”

  “I forgive you. Sometimes I forget that you are a warrior and not a farmer.” she smiled up to him. “Besides, the Healer told me he said you could go back to work, just no swordplay. I checked your ship and you didn't even take those terrible swords with you. I guess I should be happy that you listened to the Healer.” Phillie's smile brightened.

  Jon smiled back at her and then in all seriousness he looked at Jarrieal and said, “Do I see dirt on my little sister's fur? Jar? Are you falling down on your job? I insist you take her and give her a nice long bath. Make sure you don't leave so much as a single smudge. You know how important it is to be clean!”

  “HELP US! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!” a frantic female voice called out over the long range coms. “A ship came out of space and is bombing Sanctuary! Please help! We are defenseless!” The message repeated twice more before being cut off in mid sentence.

  Looking over at the Nav Officer Jon asked, “Did you get the coords for the sending station of that?”

  “We're filtering them now sir.”

  “Com down to Flight and have our pilots load up. We're going to take Leviathan into battle this time. Have Phillie ready to launch anything she has ready to fly! If I have to sit here, I still want Defiance in the fight! Have her taken out of the hanger and jump her in with us.” Jon had managed to injure his back during another of the human football games and true to form; Phillie was insisting that her heart-brother take it easy.

  “Yes sir!”

  “We have the coords now sir. Defiance will require two minutes to off load.”

  “We'll need to figure out how to make that faster gentle males. Maybe a large sling to throw her into space.” Jon suggested.

  “No one expected to be going into battle with a Destroyer in our hanger either. I suggest we have her outside and ready to go at anytime we need her.” the ship's Captain suggested.

  “After today Captain, let's make sure that's what we do.” Jon agreed. “How many of the others has our Flight Engineer got ready for us?”

  “Both of them can jump now, but their guns are still a mess. When you shoot something it stays shot. Sir” the new tactical officer told him. “The Carriers are bringing new weapons for both ships.”

  “What else could I do? If we hadn't taken out those guns we'd have been blown out of space ourselves.” Jon replied good naturedly.

  “Defiance reports they are free and have the coords dialed in. Both ships ready to jump in 3, 2, 1, JUMPING NOW!”

  Once again Leviathan vanished from point A and appeared at point B in a matter of seconds. Defiance was at her side and both ships settled as they bled off the remaining speed from their jump. “Show me what's out there!” Jon ordered. The large forward view screen displayed the entire system while the holographic display at the command table showed a planet under siege with no less than five pirate ships in orbit around it. One of those ships was a Destroyer that was sitting off and pounding the surface with what looked to be the same heavy alloy poles Defiance carried as ammunition for the weapon the pirates had bolted to her belly.

  “Flight reports all fighters and shuttles away sir.”

  “Tell the fighters to take out the smaller pirate ships and the shuttles to go for the larger ones. I want that Destroyer. Tell the ground troops to head straight to the surface, kill anything that isn't plowing a field that needs a bath. Get us in the fight! Jump us in close now!”

  “Jumping in 3, 2, 1 JUMPING NOW!” came the reply from the nav officer. Leviathan blinked for just a second and came back before the officer had gotten the jump warning completely out of his mouth.

  “Tactical, lock weapons on the Destroyer and bring it down!” Jon ordered.

  “I've got a better idea Admiral, you'll love this one.” He was told as a wide golden beam shot out from the front of Leviathan to encase the Destroyer. As the beam wrapped around the pirate ship, its weapons went silent and the lights inside winked out. The engines also went dark and the ship was suddenly in a state of free fall in orbit around the planet it had been so intent on attacking just moments before. “That ship will be off line for the next hour, sir. Plenty of time for us to add one more Destroyer to our fleet. This one will have working guns!”

  “Jackal! Get over to that pirate Destroyer; take teams two through five with you. Kill those worthless scum and claim the ship! Jon commanded.

  “Take it easy Boss, I got you covered. Don't get yourself all excited over nothing. I'm touching down now, grubs in position for entry in five.” Jarrieal commed to let Jon know he had the situation in hand.

  “SIR!” the Scanner station called to him, “A life pod just released. It will enter the atmosphere in under thirty minutes.”

  “Somebody go get that rat.” Jon ordered. “There will be no desertions today.”

  “I'll get him.” Jon heard Mopie's singsong voice come over the com. He'd have to declare this a holiday. Jar had gotten him to pilot a ship even though he hated that job. It would become officially known as 'Mopie Day'! He smiled at his own joke. No time to laugh. They were still engaged in a running battle with the smaller ships which were blinking out of existence with bright flashes of light as their engines exploded or their hulls were breached resulting in the ships self destruction as both the inside air and the crew members were flung out into space.

  Like the well trained pro's that Jon's teams were, it wasn't long before everyone of the small pirate ships from Cutters to Yachts were blown to pieces leaving only the debris from the five little ships and their dead crews floating in orbit. They would end up cleaning up that mess so the debris didn't fall back into the atmosphere and injure someone or something on the ground as it burned its way to the surface.

  The teams that Jarrieal had taken over to the Destroyer had spent less than thirty minutes dealing death to the pirates onboard. They even managed to save three small young females who looked like they had been badly used and not fed in weeks. Just the sight of armed combat troops sent them into fits of tears and Jar had to find just the right people to get them to come out from their hiding places so they could be taken over to Leviathan to be checked out, clothed, fed, and cared for. It actually took more time to find them all and talk them out than it did to capture the ship! By the time they had all three of the females sitting and talking, instead of running and screaming, the pirate Destroyer had been brought in and locked down in Leviathan's hanger bay.

  Mopie brought the single escape pod into the Leviathan and before the person inside could get it open and escape, a team of Jon's special troops had it surrounded. When the troops finally allowed it to open the male inside greeted them with a huge smile.

  “Well hello gentle males. It’s about time you got me out of this thing. Take me to the bridge and let me talk to your Captain. My father will pay you all plenty of credits for saving me.”

  On the surface of Sanctuary the ground troops made quick work of dealing death to the few pirates they found who were making it a point of killing any surviving mourners. The once beautiful structure that had been the home for mourning Lexonian females through many cycles now lay in ruins, and the town's people stood by in shocked silence. It was only after the troops started yelling for them to either go home or help look for victims, that the people joined in and helped the men clear away wreckage. A call had gone up for the Healer to send aid and he and all of his assistants were on the ground offering treatments to the wounded. Burial details where also formed to see to the dead.

  Jarrieal slowly walked onto the bridge with his head hung low. The news he'd just received from Med Lab was depressing to say the least. Fully three quarters of the mourners at Sanctuary had been killed, but what had happened to the three young females found on
the pirate ship had been far worse than mere death. Now he had to tell Jon, knowing that his friend would want somebody’s head for this.

  Jon watched him enter and finally said, “Report. What's happened to make you so sad after a mission? Did Phillie get hurt?”

  “No Jon, Phillie is fine, I'm fine, everybody is fine. Everybody except those three young females is fine.” The normally tough Warrior had to stop and fight back tears before continuing. “Those three are still younglings. The oldest is only twelve cycles. The other two are ten. That scum pumped them full of the lustor drug and used them in ways a decent male could never even think of. They used the drug to make the younglings beg them for sex! The oldest shows signs of being restrained and beaten on a regular basis. All have lost their innocence. The Healer says the tubes can heal their bodies, but their minds will take cycles to heal.”

  “You know something brother, if we ever find out where that stuff is coming from, I may have to destroy a planet with this ship just to teach the planets that some things should not be allowed!” Jarrieal had been right. Jon was very angry about this!

  “There is more good news. Do you remember that idiot from basic who used to give you and Zeprik such a hard time? Heli something?”

  “Helios King. I remember him. Why?”

  “It was him who tried to escape from the Destroyer in the life pod.” Jar told Jon. “When we opened the pod he came out smiling and promising to make everybody rich for saving his worthless ass. The guys took him to one of the empty living quarters and locked him in. It’s one of the smaller ones but it’s still a lot nicer than he deserves. We should throw him out an air lock!”

  “So he tried to escape from the one ship that was attacking Sanctuary from space and claims to be able to make people rich. Did he say how?” Jon had an idea forming. He thought he might be able to find this Boss King if it turned out they had his kid.