T. R. Harris

The Legend of Earth

Chapter 1

He dreamed of killing Humans….

In his dream, the ground before him was littered with the bloody remains of hundreds of dead Humans, splayed about in an open field on Klinmon, his ancestral homeworld.

Linuso Summlin raised his hands to his face; they were covered with blood — Human blood. He thought this odd for a Klin, to have killed with his own hands. His race was more subtle, more finessed. They usually employed others to do the killing for them.

Yet instinctively he knew this entire field of Human corpses had fallen by his hands, and as he looked closer at the bodies, he saw all their faces were the same. It was the lifeless, vacant-eyed face of Adam Cain, the Human whose mocking smugness haunted the darkest avenues of his sleep.

Is this a memory or a dream? As the gray fog of unconsciousness began to lift, Linuso couldn’t tell which. It seemed so real — so satisfying in its aftermath — that if this was a dream, then he did not want to wake, forever content to live out the rest of his existence confined to this gruesome dreamscape.

Unfortunately, that was not to be the case….

Linuso became aware of a painful brightness attempting to invade his dream, filtering through his eyelids to wash away the scene of glorious death before him. When he opened his eyes — even a fraction — a spasm of light hit him with the force of an electric shock. He frowned and squinted, fighting to keep the stabbing pain away, but to no avail.

The foggy scene before him began to focus into reality; he was in a bed in a bright and sterile room with several beings hovering around him.

“Pleabaen, it is good to see you have regained consciousness,” said a voice to his right. As more awareness reached him, Linuso could feel he carried bandages and feeding tubes, while a strange, pervasive numbness lingered in his body.

“Where am I?” a weak and raspy voice uttered, one he barely recognized as his own.

“You are in a medical facility near the Estate. You have been severely injured, but you will recover … with time.”

“Injured, how?”

“Perhaps is not the time, Pleabaen. You have only now emerged from a coma.”

Linuso blinked his eyes several times, bringing the room into better focus. He managed to shift his head from side to side and saw the grave expressions on the four other Klin in the room. Injured? I have been injured; but I have no recollection of such an event.

“No, you must tell me now,” he commanded in his foreign voice.

There was a pregnant pause before the speaker began. “It was the Humans, McCarthy and Cain. They destroyed the communication array on the roof of the Estate and crashed it through your chambers nearly killing you. Over one hundred Klin died in the explosion and subsequent fire in the building.”

Linuso’s senses were rapidly returning; his heart raced and the veins in his temples began to pound. “The Humans did this? When … how?”

“Within minutes of being placed in the detention cell they all managed to escape. Apparently McCarthy had planned for this eventuality and placed a key and weapons within the cell-”

“Where are they now?”

“They have escaped the planet, all of them, including McCarthy and Cain.”

“And what of the battle … what of the fleet?”

Again there was a pause before the speaker answered. “The battle went to the Humans, Pleabaen. Do you not remember?” The speaker looked to the Klin wearing the uniform of a medical technician. They shared a concerned expression.

But now it was coming back to him, as memories began to explode in his head. Yes, the battle had gone to the Humans, through a feat of deception that completely destroyed the Juirean fleet and left in its wake a Human force which his own Klin numbers could not match. He had called off the attack, leaving the Human fleet free to roam the region.

“I now recall,” Linuso said. “I withdrew the fleet as we seek an alternative plan to defeat the Juireans — and now apparently the Humans as well.”

Through his groggy awareness, Linuso could see several of the Klin exchange more looks of concern. The speaker — who Linuso now recognized as one of his aides named Jinnil — appeared to be internally debating something more.

“What is it?” Linuso asked him. “Are there other developments?”

“Yes, Linuso,” Jinnil said slowly. “The fleet … the Kracori have assumed control.”

With each new revelation, Linuso was shocked further into consciousness. Painfully, he attempted to rise up in the bed; two aides rushed in to assist him, propping a pillow behind his back. “What do you mean: assumed control?”

“There has been a revolt throughout the Kracori population, Pleabaen. They have either killed or imprisoned all the Klin who have been working with them and have taken over all our land-based facilities as well as all spaceships on which they were embarked. The situation is grave. I know the rest of the Forum will be grateful that you have regained consciousness. A conference was to be convened soon if you had not. We are in dire need of leadership, Pleabaen.”

“Where is the fleet now — this Kracori fleet?”

“They have embarked on a course for Juir.”

“Juir! Do they intend to accomplish the cleansing themselves?”

“That appears to be the case,” Jinnil said. “The Juirean forces between Falor-Kapel and their homeworld are greatly diminished. There is a possibility that if the Kracori fleet can arrive before the Juireans have a chance to regroup, they could lay waste to the planet with little resistance.”

“And what of the Humans?”

“They have just now met up with the second fleet from Earth and are still in the vicinity of the Falor-Kapel system. Linuso, their fleet is now over thirteen-hundred ships strong. There is no force between them and Juir that can counter such a fleet, if they embark for Juir as well.”

“They will move on Juir,” the Pleabaen stated firmly, “if they know the planet is vulnerable. Have they made any indication that they are aware of this fact?”

“All our surrogates aboard the fleet have gone silent. We do not know the intentions of the Humans.”

Linuso attempted to climb from the bed, but spasms of pain in his back and legs forced him to fall back on the cushion. After fighting through the agony, he closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, calming his mind and body. “I must convene the Forum; it will have to be here, seeing as I am unable to leave. All options must be weighed and new plans devised. We cannot allow either the Kracori — or the Humans — to reach Juir before we do. The Klin have worked too long to let some outliers steal our glory. We cannot let it happen … not again.”

Chapter 2

Adam Cain thought this is how people on death row must feel.

An hour earlier, an announcement had blared from the PA system of the Juirean Enforcer-class starship informing all the prisoners that they had entered the Juirean stellar system and were now to begin preparations. Adam was at a loss as to what preparations he needed to make. After all, how does one prepare for one’s own execution?

With nothing better to do for the past two months, Adam found his imagination to be his own worst enemy. During that time he had managed to conjure up all kinds of outrageous and improbable scenarios for how his stay on Juir might transpire. In one such scenario he and his fellow Humans would convince the Juireans to set them free. In another they would escape in a hail of flash bolts. Or lastly — with trumpets blowing — the Human fleet would sweep in at the last minute to save them all from certain death. Yet no matter how convincing he made the fantasies out to be, there was only one thing he knew for certain: he had no idea how the next twenty-four hours would play out.

The fact that Adam and the Humans were still prisoners of the Juirean Overlord Anawar Fe Batlin was a testament not only to the alien’s effectiveness, but also to his paranoia. It had been two months since they had surrendered to the ten-ship convoy commanded by the elderly Overlord, coming only five days after escaping from the Klin stronghold on Marishal. The Humans had surrendered to the Juireans believing that it made more sense to take their chances as prisoners, as opposed to being blasted out of space in a hail of energy bolts. And besides, they had history on their side; no prison or jail cell had been able to contain the Humans for very long. As in the past, the Humans treated their imprisonment as just a temporary setback. To them, it wasn’t a question of if they could escape, but rather when.

But then the Overlord had pulled a fast one….

They had only been aboard the Juirean Class-3 starship for two days when Adam was summoned into Overlord Anawar Fe Batlin’s private chambers.

“I’ve made new arrangements for your detainment,” the gruff, old alien had said. Adam stood silently before the Juirean’s desk waiting for more details.

“I will not have a repeat of what happened the last time you were held aboard a Juirean vessel, so you and your companions are to be transferred to another ship — a small, unmanned Enforcer. You will have full run of the ship, all except the bridge and generator rooms. Explosives have been fashioned around these spaces while monitors have been placed throughout the ship. I will not tolerate any efforts to access these spaces, or any attempts to escape.”

Anawar leaned back in his chair and ran a wrinkled hand through his light blue hair. Adam knew Juireans signified rank by the dyed color of their manes, great masses of hair that billowed from the tops of their head to cascade halfway down their backs. However, this Overlord was old, and the constant battle between the dark blue of his rank and the ravages of age was quickly being lost to stubborn streaks of gray. Maybe he’ll do a better dye job for his command appearance before the Council, Adam thought. A little Just for Aliens would go a long way to help cover up that gray.

“I am fully aware of your reputation, Adam Cain,” the Overlord continued. “I am also aware of the outcome of the latest engagement between our two races. This convoy is headed for Juir to add our firepower to the countering forces being assembled there, a journey which will take two standard months.” Anawar paused a moment to look Adam up and down. “You Humans are the gravest enemies of the Juirean Expansion and I would not be faulted for simply destroying the prison ship at my discretion, killing all of you in the process. I have the Klin-designed spacecraft you were captured aboard, which by itself will gain me great favor with the Council. But I must admit, I would personally like to present you to Elder Hydon as well, but it is not a necessity. The last thing I will tolerate is any further loss of Juirean life by your hands. Be forewarned, I will be looking for a reason not to kill you and your co-conspirators. Eliminating you as a threat as soon as possible would make my life much simpler. So whether you live or die now depends entirely on your actions aboard the prison ship.”

Anawar briefly flashed his teeth, a gesture that would normally be called a smile, yet one Adam knew to be sign of defiance and arrogance in alien culture. Adam did not respond; it was too early in his captivity to cause problems. Besides, this particular Juirean seemed serious about keeping him in chains. That may change, but for now he had to be careful.

“You seem to have thought of everything,” Adam complimented. “When will this transfer take place?”

“Immediately; as we speak your companions are being escorted to the landing bay.” The Juirean hesitated, fighting back the urge to say something more. Finally he gave in to his urges. “The Juirean people do not deserve the pain and destruction your barbaric race has brought to the Expansion, and if you were any other group of Humans, I would have summarily executed all of you as an act of war. But you are Adam Cain, the terrorist, and I know how much pleasure the Elder will get from personally putting an end to your evil existence. But remember, you arriving at Juir alive would simply be a bonus.”

The shuttle skidded into the Enforcer’s small landing bay, and once the atmosphere had returned to the chamber, all the prisoners were hustled out under heavy guard. Anawar’s Counselor, another old Juirean named Timino, was in charge of the transfer. He barely said a word, seeming instead to be put out by the whole affair. When everyone was off the shuttle the old Juirean stepped up to Adam.

“I would have cast you all out into the cold of space if I was in command,” he said without preamble. “I know that as long as you and your kind are alive, you are a threat.”

Adam grinned at him, flashing his teeth in his own sign of challenge and defiance. “Yeah, I get it: The only good Human is a dead Human — something like that?”

“That is a very accurate way to express it,” the Juirean agreed. Then he motioned for all the guards to reenter the shuttle. He turned back to Adam just before the hatch was shut. “We will be monitoring you. I welcome the opportunity to recommend detonation of the explosives — just give me a reason.” And with that he disappeared into the shuttle.

The prisoners all quickly moved out of the landing bay and into an observation room, before the atmosphere was evacuated from the chamber once again and the shuttle departed. As soon as it was clear, the room exploded with over a dozen different voices all trying to speak at once. McCarthy’s booming command soon brought immediate silence.

“Carter, I saw that there are environment suits in the landing bay. We’ll suit up and spacewalk back to the command ship. They won’t be expecting that. Once we get there, we’ll look for some way to get inside.”

“That would be very risky,” Kaylor spoke up. “If the convoy enters a well, everyone outside would be sucked in. That won’t work.”

McCarthy’s eyes darted back and forth widely. “Then we’ll have to get onto the bridge. “Connors and Sato, the two of you see if we can gain access through the air duct system-”

“Hold on!” Sherri yelled, her high-pitched voice cutting cleanly through the low, guttural tone of the men. She stepped in front of McCarthy, who towered over her by a good head-and-a-half, and pointed a finger up at his face. “Who put you in charge?” she asked. “To me, you’re just a god-damn traitor. You were quite content to play along with the Klin until they stabbed you in the back. As I see it, you’re just as responsible as the Klin for all the crap that’s been going on for who knows how long. You probably even knew that the Juirean attack on the Earth was a setup. You knew the Klin could have stopped it before anyone got killed, but you did nothing. You’re just as responsible for all those deaths as the stinking Klin!”

Adam had been watching the expressions of McCarthy’s men as Sherri had unleashed her tirade. None seemed surprised by the allegations. That was not good, meaning they had been part of the conspiracy against their own race, too, just like McCarthy. However, it did provide Adam with a valuable insight into their loyalties.

Finally, McCarthy had had enough. He raised his hand to strike the feisty female, only to have all the Human members of Adam’s team suddenly rush forward. They were immediately blocked by several of McCarthy’s own men, and a tense standoff ensued.

Adam shoved his way between McCarthy and Sherri, separating them. “Everyone just calm down; fighting amongst ourselves will not accomplish a thing.”

“But we can’t do nuthin,” said one of Nigel’s men, aggressively moving to within a palm’s length of Adam’s face. He tolerated the man’s foul breath; he was sure they all suffered from the same malady. “They’re just going to kill us when we get to Juir,” the man finished.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Adam said.

“What the fuck does that mean?” the man asked. Adam remembered his name was Simpson — or something like that — and he was one of the Australians.

“The Juireans have been a victim of the Klin’s manipulations, just as we have. I think we have a good chance of convincing them that we’re not really their enemy-”

“Bullshit!” McCarthy said, replacing Simpson in the face-to-face standoff with Adam. Tobias and Riyad moved up to flank him.

“It’s okay, guys,” Adam said to them. “We’re just having a discussion.” He turned his attention back to McCarthy. “Whatever’s going to happen on Juir is a couple of months away. Until then, we have run of this ship and time to assess our situation.” He looked over at Simpson. “We may find a way to escape — I’m not opposed to that — but we can’t jump headlong into something until we have all the facts. Most of us have Special Forces training. We know better than to simply react to a situation.”

There was an awkward silence in the room, as McCarthy’s team looked to him for guidance. Eventually, the hulking, ginger-hair man smiled at Adam. “Fine, we’ll do it your way — for now. But get one thing straight, mate, you’re not in charge of me or my men.”

“Roger that, Mr. McCarthy, but we are on the same team. We have to work together.”

The space opened up some around the two men as people in the room began to relax. Adam held out his hand to McCarthy and smiled.

Nigel gripped the hand tightly, squeezing it hard in a macho act dominance. Adam matched his grip — and then reeled off a powerful left hook to McCarthy’s jaw.

McCarthy fell heavily to the deck, as tensions soared once more between the two opposing teams. Adam jumped back and raised his hands. “I owed him that!”

“Stand down!” McCarthy commanded from the floor, while propping himself on one elbow and massaging his jaw with his other hand. He grinned up at Adam. “Good form, Mr. Cain. I guess I did deserve that.” He rose to his feet. “But that’s the only free one you’ll ever get.”

McCarthy turned away, shoving his way through the throng surrounding him, heading off into the ship; his men followed like a gaggle of steroid-enhanced geese.

Adam looked over at Sherri and winked.

“Men,” was all she said.

McCarthy and his nine-man team claimed the ship’s forward compartments for their own, with McCarthy in the captain’s quarters and Carter Thomas in the XO’s. This area was reserved for the ship’s Juirean contingent and therefore offered more-spacious and better-appointed accommodations.

As the ranking officer onboard, Adam should have been able to claim the captain’s quarters, but he chose not to make an issue out of it. Instead, he and his people took the more modest quarters found mid-ships. Soon a tense equilibrium was established between the two camps. In fact, the less interaction Adam and his team had with Nigel’s, the better.

If McCarthy didn’t get them all blown to vapor over the next two months, Adam would have time to think. He needed that time, because a germ of an idea had begun to percolate in his mind….

For much of the first two weeks aboard the prison ship, Adam’s two alien companions, Kaylor and Jym, had done all they could to find a way around the Juirean’s safeguards, but with no luck. And once the convoy entered gravity wells for the journey to Juir, there wasn’t much more they could do except sit back and enjoy the ride.

Unfortunately, that was easier said than done, since all the prisoners knew only death awaited them at the journey’s end.

Being the eternal optimist, Adam chose to spend his time working on an endless array of alternative endings to their predicament, ones where they actually lived to tell their tale. But now the moment of truth was at hand. In a couple of hours they would be shuttling down to the planet Juir, the capital of the Expansion — and about as deep into enemy territory as one could get. At this particular time, Adam Cain, Captain, US Navy SEAL’s, wasn’t feeling his normal cocky self.

He shrugged. Que sera, sera, whatever will be will be.

Adam was momentarily distracted when Sherri Valentine emerged from the small grooming station in the cramped compartment they shared, her expression stern, her brow perpetually furrowed these days. Unlike Adam, who had faced his own mortality countless times before while in action, Sherri was just now coming to grips with hers. “Twenty-six years is just too short for it to end here, twenty-thousand light years from home and at the hands of a group of disgusting aliens,” she often mumbled to herself when she thought Adam couldn’t hear. The passing days had only deepened her depression.

But no matter how grim the situation, Adam wasn’t about to give up. However, as the days passed — and they drew ever-closer to Juir — he was quickly running out of options.

Adam’s team had free-reign of a series of nine compartments, including a small galley and comfort lounge. Inevitably, they intermingled often with McCarthy’s men, yet both groups kept their distance as much as possible, a wise move considering the tension between the two parties.

Even though McCarthy had been instrumental in helping his people escape from the Klin, Adam still didn’t trust the large Englishman. McCarthy had been the leader of the Human Converts — and the most-traitorous of them all — voluntarily siding with the aliens against his own race. He had orchestrated the abduction of hundreds, if not thousands, of people from the Earth, sending them into captivity on half a dozen worlds. Those who did not succumb to the Klin’s brainwashing propaganda and become willing accomplices of the Klin were used as slaves or sexual surrogates to breed a compliant force of Second-Generation Humans. The 2G’s were innocent dupes of the Klin, knowing no other truth other than what the Klin told them.

But McCarthy knew the truth — at least to a point. He knew the Klin needed the Humans to fight a war against the galaxy-ruling Juireans and to help exact a vengeance aimed at satisfying a centuries-long grudge. And in return for his help, McCarthy had been promised nothing less than the Earth herself. With the power of the Klin behind him, McCarthy would be installed as the supreme ruler of the planet, once the ultimate truth came out about the Klin’s involvement with Humanity. It took a certain type of personality to aspire to such heights, a kind of ego willing to sell out his entire race to achieve it.

This made Nigel McCarthy a psychopath of the first degree.

Adam could only imagine what a traumatic event it must have been for McCarthy when he learned he’d been played by the Klin, just like the rest of the Human race. He was simply another pawn in the Klin’s ultimate game of galactic chess, to be sacrificed when the time came. Adam would have given anything to have seen the look on McCarthy’s face when he also learned that another race — the Kracori — were to be the Klin’s true partners in galactic domination and not the Humans. It would have been priceless.

Instead of partnering with the Converts, the Klin were using mankind’s primitive savagery and quest for revenge to simply reduce the Juirean military forces to a more manageable level. Then the Klin and Kracori would move in to finish the job. After that, the Human race was expendable; the Klin couldn’t allow such a potent and potentially dangerous race to exist.

But the Humans had had other ideas. Seeing through the ruse long before the execution of the Klin’s final plan, the Humans had surprised the Juirean forces off Falor-Kapel and defeated their fleet in such a lopsided victory that it left the Human force almost fully intact and much too strong for the Klin-Kracori alliance to overcome.

In the aftermath of the battle, Adam had spent some time trying to figure out what the Klin’s next move might be. In one way the plan had succeeded; the Juirean forces had been decimated, at least in this part of the galaxy. But now it was the Humans who had become the dominant military force in the region, at least until the Juirean units regrouped.

By his count, Adam estimated the Human fleet was now comprised of a little over one-thousand warships, compared to the Klin-Kracori fleet of three hundred — a number the Klin leader Linuso had revealed at their last meeting. As it turned out, all the Klin had managed to do was simply replace one powerful enemy with another. And without a countering force of equal or greater strength, there was nothing the Klin could do to whittle down the Human forces to a more manageable level, not without the help of the Juireans. It was a classic Catch-22 situation.

So what was the Klin’s endgame? Was it to defeat the Juirean fleet? That had been done, but still the Juireans survived, on Juir and countless other locations throughout the galaxy. Was it to defeat the Humans? That had never been their main goal. They would accomplish that through simple battle attrition with the Juireans. If everything had gone according to plan, the Humans would have been reduced to an insignificant player in the game, one which could be easily eliminated at some future date.

Their goal had always been to have the Humans clear a path for them all the way to the planet Juir. They sought to excoriate the planet, much as the Juireans had done to the Klin homeworld thousands of years before. But even that act would not eradicate the Juireans from the galaxy. The destruction of Juir would be more symbolic than decisive, and just the beginning of the decline of Juirean influence within the galaxy. And then with the help of the Kracori — instead of the Humans — the Klin would begin the slow and arduous task of ferreting out all the remaining Juireans.

If that was their endgame, what could they do now?

It had been several weeks before Adam had come up with the most-feasible Plan B for the Klin. It was simple: They would still attack Juir. Whether that action would have a lasting influence on the galaxy or not was anyone’s guess. But the Klin would have their revenge — or at least a huge slice of it — for the destruction of their homeworld. It wasn’t the ultimate solution, but it was the best they could do at the time.

If that truly was the Klin’s Plan B, then Adam might actually have something to offer the Juireans in exchange for his life, as well as the lives of his companions. But, damn, he would have to do the best sales job in history to pull it off….

Chapter 3

Hydon Ra Elys was the most-powerful living entity in the galaxy, but he would have surrendered that title in a heartbeat for just a moment of peace in his troubled world.

For over four thousand years the Juirean race had ruled the galaxy, and during all that time crises had come and gone, each dealt with by a Council Elder such as himself. Some of the conflicts these ancient Juireans presided over had left the race stronger, while others had rocked it to its very core. Yet throughout it all, the Juireans had survived.

But now, as Hydon struggled with the deluge of events surrounding this latest crisis, he wasn’t so sure they would survive this time, at least not as the undisputed leaders of the galaxy. There were simply too many forces uniting against them.

He took a moment to massage his neck, relieving only a fraction of the stress that resided there. Then he looked down at his desktop and the six datapads resting there, all lit with information catastrophic to his people and the further existence of the Expansion.

Hydon was the head of the Juirean Council, and therefore at the very pinnacle of political power in the galaxy. A succession vote had replaced the former Elder, Nylor Ca Crunic, with Hydon nearly thirty-two standard years earlier. Nylor was older than Hydon and remained a member of the Council to this day. Juireans advanced through a process of confidence votes, supported by the Councilmembers’ real-life experience with the nominees’ abilities. Nylor had not been a poor Elder; the Council had simply decided that Hydon’s skill set had been superior to Nylor’s at the time.

In light of the current situation — namely the war with the Humans and the Klin — Hydon knew his days as Elder were numbered. He also knew the confidence vote would not take place until the current situation had been stabilized — or Hydon made a major blunder. Hydon was tempted to label his authorization of the attack upon the planet Earth as a blunder worthy of demotion, even though he also knew he had been operating on the best intelligence available at the time. With the current crisis far from resolved, Hydon knew that now was not the time to make a change, as did the majority of the Council. However, when the time was right, Hydon Ra Elys would be the first to vote for his removal as Elder.

His thoughts were interrupted by the entry into his office of three of his most senior advisors. They were Fleet Marshal Relion, his Counselor Yol-fin and Councilmember Wydor. Even though he had been expecting their arrival, Hydon did not feel prepared for the decisions that had to be made at this meeting.

Hydon Ra Elys had been born in the K-32 breeding facility on Salin. As it was with all Juireans for the past three thousand years, he never knew his birth-female, or where the seed came from that would fertilize her. Upon birth, he was taken to the rearing stations at the facility and nursed to Stage Two by the postnatal specialists. Testing had begun at age three, after which he was advanced to pre-Overlord screening. By the age of eight, he had shown enough promise to be permanently assigned to the Overlord Corps and transferred to the planet Crilis for advanced training.

He personally did not set foot upon the planet Juir until he had reached twelve-standard when he made his first pilgrimage to the planet as part of Overlord orientation.

He could still remember the awe and thrill he felt when he first stepped foot upon the birthplace of his race. The air was sweet, and the verdant hills sang with the rustling of the leaves of the brilliant mily trees. The tour had included visits to the Southern Sea, as well as the ancient Guard facilities in Juir City. Yet the highlight of the trip came when the caravan carried the three hundred young Overlords to the top of the Kacoran Plain. Hydon was literally shaking in his knees when he first saw Malor Tower, the great pyramid majestically rising up in all its glory, golden starlight reflecting off its glass exterior.

Then came the moment every Juirean covets, the time when they first set eyes upon the Contact Monument. The huge pyramid that was Malor Tower had been built directly over the monument — the very place where an alien race had first made contact with the Juirean people. Of course, at that time the people of the planet Axlus were not called Juireans — only those from Juir City called themselves that. But that soon changed when the inhabitants of the planet realized once and for all that they were not people of a single city, or land or continent, but instead belonged to an entire planet and to a single race of beings.

For millennia Juireans from across the Expansion had come to Juir to behold the monument, whether they be Admins, Guards, Counselors, Overlords or Elites. All Juireans were welcome.

It would be twenty-eight more years before Hydon would return to the birthplace of his race. Thereafter, he would depart on various assignments, but then always return, having acquired just a little more experience, a little more respect from his peers.

Then forty-one years later he returned to Juir for good. He was voted to Elite Class, and six years later found a seat on the Juirean Council itself.

Yet even to this day Hydon could still remember the overwhelming joy he felt when first viewing the Contact Monument, even though now he sat in an office forty-two stories above the monolith and directly over the tall spire that marked the very first contact point by an alien race with the soil of Juir.

As his guests took their seats, Hydon felt a sour taste welling up in his throat, as the thought of that first alien contact lingered. That contact had been made by the race of beings known as the Klin, and yes, the history and legacies of both races were that intertwined, trailing all the back to the very beginning when the people of Axlus became the Juireans. A day didn’t go by that the Elder had not thought of the Klin, whether chanting some curse word whose origins were long forgotten, or curious about the latest rumor he’d heard regarding the long-extinct Klin.

Hydon knew that it was simply an act of fate that found him in the position of Elder right at the very moment the Klin chose to reveal their continued existence, to prove all the rumors true and to set the Expansion and the Juirean people on a collision course with their oldest nemesis. That was unfortunate. And even though the verification of the existence of the Klin was an event of monumental proportion to both the Juireans and to the Expansion, his most immediate concern was not with the Klin, but rather with the race of beings called Humans.

“I haven’t much time, Relion, so please get started,” Hydon commanded, while accepting yet another datapad from the outstretched hand of his Fleet Marshal.

“Yes, my Lord. First, I will let you know that the sentries have been able to track the Human fleet since their departure from the Falor-Kapel system. They are making no pretense now as to their strength or intentions. They are headed this way.”

“How long?”

“They have only just now left the system, but by traditional routes around the Core, they should arrive at the outer boundary in approximately four standard months.”

“Their strength?”

“It’s hard for the sentries to tell at that distance, but they estimate around fifteen-hundred ships of various classes, including approximately twelve hundred warships.”

The Elder was silent for a moment, as all in the room thought the unspoken. And then: “Defenses — what are the prospects?”

Relion sighed a little too loudly and was embarrassed by the action. No one else at the meeting commented. “We are rushing all available warcraft to the area. We are also placing nuclear mines across the boundary, although the distances are much too great to be of much use. It would be pure luck if one of them is contacted by an approaching Human ship. There is a very wide area from which they could make their final approach, assuming they don’t split and choose a multiple front assault.” The Fleet Marshal paused a moment to let the information sink in.

“What is your assessment of our defensive strength in four months’ time?”

“My command counts a total of nearly five thousand Class-2 or higher warcraft in the Expansion at this time. According to estimates, only around eight hundred could make it here in time, including three Class-6’s and our remaining Class-7.”

Relion paused again, an action which caused the Elder to widen his eyes at his subordinate. “And…?”

“It will still not be enough, my Lord.”

This was what Hydon had been afraid of. No matter what they did, the Humans would still prevail.

Now it was Hydon’s turn to pause. He looked down at the corroborating data on the pad and then at the larger monitor screen to his right. It displayed the relative positions of the seven systems which made up the Alliance Cluster and whose furthest border marked the outer boundary. Within the Cluster were located the power generating planets of Oannan and Bal, the breeding farm of Salin, the training centers on Crilis, as well as the shipbuilding facilities on Molipor and Pymilia. Taken together, the worlds within the Alliance Cluster made up the industrial and intellectual life-blood of the Expansion. And at its very center was its heart — the planet Juir. If the Humans could breach the boundary, then they could strike a crippling blow to all that made the Expansion function.

And Fleet Marshal Relion was saying there was nothing they could do to stop it.

Hydon looked to Councilmember Wydor. They were as close to friends as one could be in Juirean society, having served together half a dozen times throughout the years. Wydor had ascended to the Council upon Hydon’s nomination.

“I see no other option,” Wydor said to Hydon, regret thick in his voice. “We must save what we can and return when our forces are stronger.”

“I did not want to be the Elder who presided over the destruction of our homeworld, Wydor.”

“You will not be held responsible, my Lord,” said his personal Counselor Yol-fin, a trusted advisor who had been at Hydon’s side for over fifty standard years.

“Unfortunately Counselor, they will. Whether it be official blame or not, my name will be forever associated with the sacking of Juir.”

Wydor leaned forward to rest his arms upon Hydon’s desk. “You have an opportunity to pull victory out of defeat,” he began, his voice building in intensity. “You can salvage most of our heritage and capabilities, to be resurrected at a future date. The Humans are upstarts. They may have a more powerful fleet at this time, but they are also located a great distance away in the Far Arm. They may sweep through the area, but they will not be able to hold it — if we preserve our strength.”

“The Councilmember is right, my Lord,” said Relion, his voice gaining enthusiasm as well. “If we commit a sizeable portion of our remaining forces to defense of the Cluster — just to have the effort fail — we will only be delaying our recovery. All available ships should be used for evacuation purposes. We could stockpile ample energy modules and then cripple the facilities so the Humans cannot use them. With four months until their arrival, we could even manage to save a good portion of the population.”

“But not all.” Hydon’s statement was like sucking all the air out of the room. The population of Juir was just over a billion — and that was just the Juireans. Even with every possible vessel filled to capacity — and not only the military ships, but every ship — the most they could hope for would be a few hundred million evacuated in the four months before the Human’s arrival. And then they would have to find a place to move all the refugees, somewhere far enough from harm, yet close enough where transport time wouldn’t limit the evacuation ships to only a trip or two in the time available. Finally, there would be the space taken up with records, artifacts and energy modules to be considered….

“Hydon,” Wydor said softly, “we can only do so much. Juir is already lost. The most we can hope for is to salvage all we can, and to return with a new force strong enough to drive the evil Humans away.”

“When that time comes, Wydor, I hope it is you who is Elder to lead the way … the way home.”

After the meeting adjourned, Hydon’s senior Counselor remained. His other two advisors had rushed off to begin the monumental task of saving the core of the Juirean Expansion and legacy from the marauding Human invaders.

“What is it, Yol-fin? I still have a lot to do.”

“Pardon me, my Lord, but you specifically requested that you be notified when Overlord Anawar Fe Batlin arrived.”

“Anawar? Do I know him?”

“Not personally. He is bringing in a small convoy from the outer rim.”

Hydon shook his head and frowned, still at a lost to place the significance of the event.

“He has the Human terrorist Adam Cain with him.”

“Yes! Now I remember. I do not have time for this, Yol-fin. Just have him executed when he arrives.”

“My Lord, you mentioned before how you have never met a Human. You seemed rather pleased with the prospect of killing this particular terrorist yourself.”

Hydon finally focused on his Counselor. He’s right. I do not really know my enemy.

“He is traveling with others of his kind, is he not?”

“Yes, there are fifteen Humans and two others, a Belsonian and a Fulqin.”

Hydon thought for a moment how best to gain the most benefit from the acquisition of these Humans. He reached a decision.

“If I recall, Adam Cain is traveling with a female and another male, a pirate from Sector 17, is this correct?”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“Have those three brought to me. Have the others turned over to Relion’s department. I have heard these Humans are extremely strong and resistant to flash weapons. Have his technicians test them. Find their breaking points, both physically and mentally. We may not be facing them in defense of the Cluster at this time, but we will face them again in the future. I want to know how tough these creatures truly are, and I want to know their weaknesses. When are they arriving? I cannot spend too much time on this.”

“Anawar should be achieving orbit about now. His shuttle will be cleared to land at the Council field. They should be here in less than two hours.”

“Good. Have a cleanup crew standing by near the Pinnacle Room — for when I’m done with the Humans.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

Chapter 4

Adam couldn’t see anything from the confined rear compartment of shuttle. He had hoped to at least catch a glimpse of the infamous planet Juir during the descent. Instead, all he had to look at were the forlorn faces of his companions, all silent, having finally resigned themselves to their fate.

The reality of the situation was hard to dismiss. Even if they did mount an escape and managed to confiscate a starship, one capable of escaping the planet, they were on the planet Juir for Christ’s sake. It would be a long, hard, and impossible slog fighting their way out of the very heart of the Juirean Expansion.

For his part, Adam still held onto a thread of hope. He knew that both the Humans and the Juireans had been maneuvered into this war by the Klin. If he could somehow convince the Juireans of that fact, then they might still have a chance at surviving. Granted, it was a very slim, razor-thin, microscopically narrow chance, but still a chance. And that was assuming he’d even get the chance to say a word before the executioner’s blade fell upon his neck — which had always been Adam’s fantasy way to die; he was a big Braveheart fan.

A bright, blinding light flooded into the shuttle’s compartment as the lower panel slowly opened, shaking Adam from his fantasies. A surprisingly fresh and scented air filled the chamber and Adam took in a deep breath. It had been two months since he last breathed fresh, unfiltered air, and it was marvelous.

Lined up outside the shuttle was a contingent of armed Juirean Guards. Adam quickly counted at least fifty of them — all for fifteen Humans. Before he knew it, the Guards were within the compartment, forcing them all out into the sunlight with the barrels of their flash rifles. Normally, Adam would have revealed in the lower gravity of an Expansion-standard world — and all were measured against this very planet — but he had just spent two months aboard a Juirean starship and his muscles had become acclimated to the lighter gravity. He was hoping that would not be a problem, should the need arise.

He took the opportunity to look around and was shocked at what he saw. Rather than a concreted-over mass of ugly government bureaucracy for as far as the eye could see, he was instead standing in a wide field of bright green grass, flanked by small buildings with dark bronze glass. In the distance was a grove of modest-height trees, all ablaze with leaves of rustic brown and bright reds. A soft breeze was stirring, and the scent of something akin to jasmine filled the air. He looked off to his left and saw that they were high on a hill or mountain, and off in the distance was a vast ocean of deep shimmering blue. The sky was streaked with pure white clouds that seemed to be gathering up the late afternoon light, and for a moment Adam almost felt like he was home.

The moment passed quickly, however, when the Guards began to cut Sherri, Riyad and himself out from the rest of the prisoners. There were silent protests as the three of them locked eyes with Lt. Tobias, Chief Rutledge and Petty Officer Tindal. Even Kaylor and Jym were being pulled away and loaded into the back of a large, truck-like transport. Adam could care less what happened to McCarthy and his men, but the others, that was a different story.

Sherri began to sob loudly as she watched her companions being herded into the back of the truck, believing, as Adam did, that this would be the last time they would ever see them. At the last moment, just as Lt. Tobias was stepping onto the truck, he turned to Adam and saluted. Adam crisply returned the salute, as Rutledge and Tindal joined in. Adam’s bottom lip was trembling visibly when he closed the salute.

Once the truck was loaded, the rear doors were closed and the vehicle hummed off towards its unknown destination, leaving the remaining Humans all alone. Another transport had arrived, and Overlord Anawar emerged from the rear of the shuttle and approached the car.

“The three of you will come with me,” he said almost gleefully.

It appeared the old Overlord was going to personally present Adam to the leader of the Juirean Expansion; he was surprised that Sherri and Riyad had also been invited, but in a way he was glad. They looked at each other and then reluctantly climbed into the rear compartment of the transport, while Anawar sat in the front. There was a third row of seats behind the Humans, already filled with four hulking Juireans, each with MK-47’s at the ready.

A quick sequence of eye contacts sent Adam the message that the two other Humans were content with staying put. If this was to be the end, they at least wanted to meet this supreme being of the galaxy before they went, if even to take the experience to their graves.

As they pulled around the shuttle, a large pyramid-shaped building could be seen reaching into the sky about two kilometers away. It was dark bronze in color and reflected the late afternoon sunlight off its western surface. It was very impressive, easily twice the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Surrounding the building were eight other structures, tall monoliths shaped like over-sized Washington Monuments. As they drew closer, Adam noticed that these surrounding objects were buildings in their own right, with dozens of aliens — mainly Juireans — moving into and out of the glass entrances at their bases.

The entire compound was painted with winding fields of dark green grass, tasteful fountains and walkways, and with parade grounds made up of decorative brick forming pleasing patterns. Adam was quite impressed. He never imagined the Juireans would be into urban planning and design, and he’d never seen any examples of Juirean art before.

He noticed both Sherri and Riyad appeared equally impressed, glad they had the distraction to take their minds off the inevitable. Although Adam still carried a slim glimmer of hope he hadn’t shared any of the details of his plan with them. He didn’t want to give them any false hopes.

The transport slipped around the massive pyramid along its northern face. On this side of the building was a large parking area and the car followed a circular driveway until it came to rest next to a wide glass entrance. Five Juirean Guards waited on the concrete landing, and as they all exited the vehicle, they moved up to the three Humans and strapped collars around their necks. The bands were about an inch wide, and each collar carried a small box that pressed against the back of their necks. These were probably explosive devices, Adam figured, such as Riyad had used on his ankle — damn, that was like three years ago, Adam thought. A lot has happened since then.

The group was led into the building by a Guard wearing a yellow cape. Anawar followed behind him with the Humans sandwiched between the other guards.

As they entered the great bronze pyramid, Adam’s breath was taken away. They had entered a vast open area with a ceiling soaring easily twenty stories high. Along the outer walls of this lower level were various offices, but what really took his breath away was the structure sitting at the very center of this vast gallery.

It was obviously a monument of some kind, with a circle of informational podiums set on top of pedestals and all surrounding something that looked like the Lunar Landing Module from the Apollo moon landings days. It was a bulky object with two distinct segments and resting on six legs, and rising above the odd-looking object was a large spire. One side of the spire was straight, attached to the LEM-like object at its top center and climbing nearly as high as the twenty-story ceiling. The other side of the spire bulged out in a free-form curve, thin at the bottom, thick in the center and then tapering to sharp point high above. There were a number of colored spotlights illuminating the entire display, all designed to highlight and impress.

Dozens of Juireans and other aliens moved around the monument, with only a few actually paying any attention to it — although Adam couldn’t help but notice the expression on Anawar’s face as they neared the display. The old Juireans stared up at the towering spire with unblinking eyes, his smallish mouth open slightly. His breathing appeared to come in shallow bursts and he slowed his pace as he came closer.

The procession stopped briefly as the lead Guard noticed Anawar’s reaction. “Have you not seen the Contact Monument before, my Lord?” the Guard asked.

“Only once, during my orientation tour,” Anawar replied, not taking his eyes from the display. “That was a very long time ago.”

“You have not been to Juir since?” The Guard’s tone was incredulous.

“We all do not have the pleasure of serving here, commander.”

The Guard simply grunted softly before turning to lead them to an elevator door set in the far wall of the gallery. There were two more Guards flanking the elevator; they nodded slightly to the lead Guard and opened the door for him.

The elevator was spacious and Adam could feel it move upwards, then sideways, before resuming the climb to what Adam guessed would be the very top of the pyramid. This is where the Council Elder would hold court.

To his disappointment, the elevator dropped them off at a very pedestrian-looking room filled with scurrying bureaucrats and an ample supply of Guards. The procession moved down a long corridor until it met up with another doorway with a stairway leading upwards.

Without a word, the lead Guard began to climb the stairs, followed tentatively by Anawar and the Humans. The other Guards did not follow.

The stairway led them to an opening in the ceiling and they stepped out into a large conference room with radically sloping walls that met at a point about thirty meters above. At the very top the bronze glass walls gave way to a clear, almost crystalline cap — the very peak of the great pyramid building.

The outer walls of the vast room were lined with counters with various monitors sitting atop them, some active, some dark; Juirean Guards stood at the four corners of the room, each wearing full body armor and cradling flash rifles in their grips.

A massive, freeform conference table made of polished stone took up a good third of the room on the other side of the opening in the floor that marked the stairway in and out. The table flowed like a stylized ‘S,’ with large padded chairs placed at intervals around its circumference. Numerous low-profile monitors were built into the surface of the table.

Adam looked around and gasped when he gazed out at the view the room provided. It was a 360-degree panorama, with the shimmering sea to the right, and to his left majestic, snow-capped mountains off in the distance.

Adam looked at his companions; they returned his gaze, raising eyebrows and nodding. Looking at the Overlord, Adam could see he, too, was equally impressed.

The lead Guard motioned for Adam and the Humans to stand next to the far end of the conference table, just as another Juirean rose up from the stairway in the floor, followed by two others.

The first Juirean walked purposefully to the opposite end of the conference table, flowing a long purple cape behind him. He carried the white hair of an Elite, the highest in the Juirean caste system, and just from the air of confidence and power he exuded, Adam was sure this was the so-called Council Elder, the leader of the known universe.

As he sat — flanked now by the other two Juireans, one with white hair, the other green — he dropped an ornate short-sword onto the hard surface of the conference table. The blade was highly polished with a slight curvature, the hilt made of wrapped leather of various colors. In light of the high technology the Juireans commanded, the weapon appeared to be very basic and primitive.

“I am Council Elder Hydon Ra Elys,” the Juirean said abruptly, barely acknowledging the presence of the Humans. “Since we have heard stories concerning the tenacity of your kind as far as physical strength and resistance to flash weapons, the collars you now wear have been fitted with molecular blades of titanium which we assume will sever the nerves running through your spines.” He finally looked up at the Humans and took notice. “And from the thickness of your necks, there is a good chance the blades would separate your heads from your bodies with minimal effort.”

He looked down at the datapad he’d carried into the room, and then without looking up, he continued, “If you approach me closer than half the width of this table, the blades will be activated. In addition, the room is being constantly monitored. Any attempt to attack me or any of the guards will result in activation of the collars. My time is limited, so after a brief discussion, I will use this ceremonial blade from the time before Contact to end your lives. You are fortunate that I do not have more time, otherwise I would make you suffer more.”

The Elder finally finished scanning the information on the datapad and set it down on the tabletop. He leaned back in his chair and looked up at Overlord Anawar standing about three meters to Adam’s right.

“Lord Anawar, I am very grateful that you have brought these outlaws to me personally. Your file will be noted. And the prize of the Klin spacecraft is even now being loaded aboard another ship for transport so it can be properly analyzed out of the area. As well, the ten ships you have delivered will serve an important function during the evacuation.”

“Evacuation? My Lord, I do not understand. What of the defense?”

“Of course you are not aware; the decision has only recently been made. Juir, as well as several other important facilities throughout the Cluster, are to be evacuated to safer territory as a result of the impending attack by the Human forces. It has been determined that any defense we may mount in the time available will be inadequate, therefore we are evacuating so as to preserve Juirean artifacts and records, along with as many lives as possible.”

“Forgive me, my Lord, but Juir is to be abandoned … to the barbarians?”

“Overlord Anawar, this is not a decision we have come to lightly. Unfortunately, at this time it is the only one that will preserve Juirean culture. And even though the Humans will occupy the Cluster for the time being, we do have ample reserves to repel them at a future date. It is more important at this time to save our heritage, if not our homeworld.”

“But there are over a billion Juireans on the planet. There certainly cannot be enough ships available to save them all.”

Adam could tell the Elder was growing impatient with his subordinate’s questioning. This latest revelation also explained why Hydon seemed to be so distracted.

“We will be able to save over half, according to our estimates. There are still four months before the Humans arrive.”

“Payback’s a bitch, isn’t it?” Sherri said, the first of the Humans to speak.

Hydon looked at her for several seconds, his eyes scanning her up and down. “You are the female. Although it has been millennia since Juireans practiced the traditional mating bonds, the vast majority of our Member races still do. In fact, in some societies females play the dominant role. I respect that. I will address you as an equal with your male counterparts.”

Sherri pulled her chin down into her neck as her eyes grew wide. Adam could almost hear her thinking, “Oh no, you didn’t just say that!”

“You are the one known as Sherri Valentine. You have accompanied the males during their terrorism activities, so you will share their fate.” Hydon then turned his attention to Adam. “You must be Adam Cain,” he said quickly. “The three of you are the first Humans I have met in person. It is good to actually see the enemy in the flesh. There have been so many rumors circulating regarding Humans, many I am sure initiated by you and your kind. Although all of you in this room will die quickly and soon, the others you came with will not be so lucky. They will be tested and their bodies analyzed to reveal your secrets. Once Fleet Marshal Relion and his technicians are done with them, we will know what it takes to efficiently kill the Humans.” Hydon nodded to the Juirean seated at his right.

“Now, before I kill you, I want to know the answer to a question I have not been able to fathom: Why? Why has your race elected to wage war against the Juirean Expansion? Besides the sheer audacity of the act, you must know you cannot prevail, not against the entire Expansion.”

“We didn’t start this — you did!” Sherri took a step closer to the Juirean; Adam and Riyad grabbed her arms and pulled her back.

“As to your point of us starting this conflict, you are gravely mistaken. The Juirean Expansion had no knowledge of your race until you began hostile activities against us. And the attack upon your homeworld was simply a defensive move to counter your aggressiveness.” He looked directly at Adam. “And as we have learned, it was you who played an integral role in leading our forces into the trap. And now, in our most recent encounter, your race has once again displayed an almost pathological obsession with deception. You cannot be trusted. You are a race of savages and criminals.” With the last statement, Hydon looked at Riyad. “Pirates and barbarians, feeding off the misfortunes of others. Yes, Riyad Tarazi, I am also aware of your contributions to this entire affair.”

He looked again at Adam, “So answer me: Why have you embarked down this fruitless path?”

Adam took a deep breath. He eyed the sword resting on the table, knowing that he would have only one chance to save their lives, and, unlike the evil villains in a James Bond movie, the Juirean leader appeared to be in a hurry. He wasn’t going to take the time to gloat.

But still, his comment about an evacuation gave Adam the opening he was looking for.

“Sherri’s right: we didn’t start this, and as it turns out, neither did you,” Adam said. “Everything that has happened up until now has been the result of the Klin screwing with both of us.”

Hydon looked confused, either from Adam’s use of the word screwing or from his comment about the Klin.

“You are partners with the Klin, however, I was not aware there was also a sexual component to your relationship. Regardless, that is not an answer.”

“I mean we’re not partners; it turns out we never were. We are just as much victims of the Klin’s treachery as you are. It’s been the Klin all along who have maneuvered us both into war.”

“He lies, my Lord,” said the Juirean to Hydon’s right, the one he referred to as Fleet Marshal Relion. “They have used Klin warships and technology all along, and are even now producing many more.”

“I do not have time for your games,” Hydon said to Adam. “If you expect this silly diversion to delay your execution, you are mistaken.”

“I can prove it.”

Adam could feel Sherri’s and Riyad’s heads whip around in his direction, and he could also see the narrowing in the eyes of the Juirean as a slight trace of curiosity entered his mind. “How can you prove what you say, here and now, in the short time you have left?”

Adam moved closer to the table and pulled out a chair across from Hydon. The Elder pushed back from the table slightly as Adam came closer. “Do not come much closer; I do not want to miss the satisfaction of killing you myself.”

Adam stretched a grin in the Juirean’s direction as he sat down, a gesture that caught Hydon by surprise. “Let me set the stage, if I may?” Adam said, resting his hands on the cold stone surface of the conference table. “Let’s go back to the attack on the Earth — my homeworld. It was there that your fleet was destroyed by a surprise attack by the Klin ships. Before this, very few people on my planet knew of the existence of the Klin, or of the Juireans, or any other real aliens for that matter. Many believed there was other life in the galaxy, but we had never encountered it before. We were simply a one-world race, divided up among a couple hundred countries — and all fighting against each other. Sound familiar?”

“It is like ancient Juir, before the Contact. But you are wasting my time.”

“Not really. In a few moments, I’m going to tell you how you can save your precious planet from destruction.”

The three Juireans seated at the table exchanged looks of confusion, but none spoke.

“Your fleet was destroyed by Klin ships sitting in dark status within your ranks, is this correct?”

“That is correct. But they were Human ships.” It was Relion who answered.

Adam shifted his attention to the head of the Juirean military. “How do ships maneuver while in dark status?” he asked.

“Usually with gas jets; using chemical or gravity would make the ships detectable and defeat the purpose of being dark.”

“Good. How soon after your ships arrived did you begin your attack?”

“Immediately,” Relion answered, frowning.

“And your attack continued for about three to four hours.”

“Correct.”

“Don’t play your games with us, Human,” Hydon said. “None of us have time for this.”

“That’s right. Time is the key, my Lord.” Adam gritted his teeth as he spoke the words my Lord. “So from the time you arrived until the time the Klin attacked was about three to four hours.”

“Again, correct.”

“My question to you is how could the Klin ships have arrived in dark status, to be within your fleet, in that short of time?”

“They came in undetected, in dark status, as you said.” Even Relion was growing impatient with this line of questioning.

“From where? How far out can you detect ships using energy drives?”

“Nearly out to the edge of your stellar system.”

“And how long would it take ships to cover that distance, undetected, only coasting in without using energy — in dark status?”

Relion seemed confused by the question. “It would take several standard years to cover that distance. But your ships were expecting us. They were already there.”

“Exactly!” Adam exclaimed, causing the Juireans to jump back slightly. “They were already in orbit. They had to be otherwise they would not have had time to drift in without power and not be detected.”

“I see your point, Adam Cain, but I don’t see what difference it makes,” said Relion. “So your forces were already in orbit waiting for us to arrive. You knew we were coming — you led us there yourself. You waited until we had arrived and then you attacked.”

Adam leaned back in his chair and placed his hands behind his head. He looked over his shoulder at Sherri and Riyad, who returned the look with quizzical expressions. He turned back at the Juireans, focusing his attention on Hydon. “So we were there waiting for you. We — and I say it was the Klin only — had the power to destroy your fleet from the moment you arrived.” He paused for effect before continuing. “So why did we wait for hours to do it? Why did we allow you to drop energy bombs on our world and kill over a billion of our people? Why would we do that if we had the power and the opportunity to stop you before you dropped a single bomb?”

Hydon met Adam’s stare straight on. “I do not know why Humans do what they do. You may not cherish life as much as we do. I do not know.”

“Well here’s your answer: It was the Klin who controlled those ships in space. It was the Klin who could have stopped your attack and didn’t. And it was the Klin who allowed you to kill a billion people — a billion Humans.”

“Why would they do that,” asked the other Juirean seated at the table, the one who had not spoken to this point.

“To make us mad, that’s why. They did it so we would hate Juireans with every ounce of our being. They did it so we would want to go to war against you. Then right after the attack, the fucking Klin and their Human surrogates came down to Earth and offered to help us rebuild, while telling us god-awful stories about the evil Juireans and their desire to kill every last person on Earth. They gave us technology and spaceships and helped us train for the coming war with the Juireans — with you.”

“Again, I ask why would they do this? And why your race?

“Because they couldn’t do it themselves. As you’ve seen, we are pretty awesome fighters. We may be primitives compared to you technologically, but that’s probably what makes us so good at what we do best. We’re stronger, faster and tougher than even you. We’re god-damn supermen. Why wouldn’t the Klin use us in a war with the Juireans?”

None of the Juireans spoke for a full minute, instead their eyes locked on Adam. Finally Adam could take it no longer. “Can’t you see? The Klin have set this whole thing up. They made you believe that we were your enemy, while at the same time making sure that all of Humanity would hate the Juireans as much as they do — by allowing you to kill a billion of us.”

“Again, I ask why? What do they hope to gain from a war?” This other Juirean seemed to be more contemplative than the others, his tone softer. “Your planet is positioned much too far away to be an effective capital of the Expansion and your resources are limited. In addition, any victory would be a Human victory, not a Klin victory.”

Adam looked over at Overlord Anawar. “When you first picked us up, we had just escaped from the Klin headquarters on a planet called Marishal. While we were there, we watched the attack between the Humans and Juireans that took place a couple of months ago. We found out then that all the Klin ever wanted from this war was for the two of us to reduce our forces to a point where their fleet — and their true partners in crime — could then step in and take over. Fortunately for us, we tricked them — and you — and came out much stronger than they had anticipated.”

“You say there is another fleet?

“That’s right. It’s three hundred ships strong and manned by the Klin and another of their patsy races, the Kracori.”

Adam watched as Relion entered data in one of the computers embedded into the top of the conference table. He looked up a moment later. “The Kracori are a race of beings from the planet Eilsion. It’s somewhere near the Juddle Nebula, my Lord, although there is no definite location noted for the planet.”

“I have not heard of these Kracori,” Hydon said. He then took a moment to look out at the panorama beyond the bronze glass of the conference room. Darkness was a little closer now, with the last rays of daylight creeping across the landscape.

“You say there is another fleet, a fleet of Klin and Kracori?” he asked, not looked from the window.

“That’s right,” said Adam. “And if I’m right, it’s not the Humans who are your most immediate problem, it’s them.”

“My Lord,” said Relion, “the Human fleet delayed their departure for Juir by two months after the attack as they awaited the arrival of their second fleet. What if this other fleet — if it exists — did not hesitate?”

“Then they are due here in less than two months.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Adam agreed. “So you can evacuate all you want, but you won’t have time to do squat before the Klin arrive. And you know the kind of grudge they have against you. They called it a Reckoning of their own. I’m sure you get the meaning.”

Hydon continued to stare out the window for what seemed like an eternity, as everyone in the room watched him. Adam was content to let the Juirean digest everything he’d just heard.

“Relion,” the Council Elder began, “deactivate the collars.” He then turned to face Adam. “They can be reactivated at any time. We will investigate your claims, to see if we can detect any mass of ships approaching the Cluster. Fleet Marshal, cease all evacuation efforts and prepare a defense. If what the Human says is true, we may be able to repel a force of three hundred ships with the forces available.”

Adam could see the other two Juireans grow visibly excited. Relion began to bark orders into seemingly empty air, knowing that others were watching and listening.

“Then Juir can be saved!” Overlord Anawar said to the room.

“If what the Human says is correct, it is a possibility” said the nameless Juirean at the table.

Hydon did not speak, but rather locked eyes with Adam. Adam grinned. “That’s right,” he said cryptically to the Elder. “Even if you do stop the Klin fleet, you have a much larger and meaner group of very mad Humans arriving right behind them. So you can use your ships to defend against the Klin, and then you have none available for the evacuation. When the Humans arrive, you will have lost nearly all your defenders fighting against the Klin and have nothing left for the Humans. Juir is lost, as is nearly everything else.”

Adam’s words put an immediate damper on the spirits within the room. Relion and the nameless Juirean had risen from their chairs, but now they dropped back into them, dejected.

After a few moments, Adam figured he’d let them suffer long enough. “Of course, I might be able to contact the Human fleet and get them to call off the attack.”

“How can you do that?” Relion asked.

“Well, thanks to you guys, I’m pretty well-known to those in charge of the fleet, and a lot of us already know the Klin have been responsible for everything that’s happened up till now. I might have a shot.”

“A shot?”

“A chance at making them stop.”

“You would do that?” It was Hydon asking the question.

Adam leaned in closer across the table, making sure not to cross the imaginary dividing line down its center, just in case the collar had not yet been deactivated. “Don’t get me wrong. We are not friends, buddies or allies. I still have the image of the charred and smoking remains of my wife and daughter etched in my mind from your attack on Earth. These so-called mating bonds may not mean much to you, but they do to us. I’ll do this to save as many Human lives as possible.”

“Including your own,” Hydon said, his tone matching that of Adam’s.

“That’s right, along with the others who came with us. But already too many lives have been lost in a war that should have never been fought.”

“On both sides.”

“Whatever.”

Hydon turned to the nameless Juirean. “Have these three — and the others — housed in the Oannean Tower — under guard. So far, we have absolutely no empirical evidence that anything this Human says is true.” He turned to Adam. “In the event that it is, then we will work together to assist you in making contact with your fleet.” Hydon paused as he fought to say the words that seemed so painful to utter. “And then you will be free to leave.”

“Works for me,” Adam said, grinning as widely as he could without exposing his teeth. The last thing he wanted to do was spoil the moment with an inadvertent challenge of the supreme leader of the galaxy.

Chapter 5

Fifteen hundred years ago, the Juirean Empire was still expanding at a prodigious rate. Even though the borders of the Expansion only increased with the addition of new members, there had always been a buffer zone extending another thousand or so light years beyond. This was the rugged frontier, reserved for the adventurers and explorers, those who often spread the word of the coming Juirean Expansion to worlds that knew nothing of such things.

This rapid expansion of the empire caused the Klin to be continually on the move, unable to put down roots for fear of being discovered by the Juireans. Yet the ultimate goal of the Klin at this time was to find a suitable hiding place well within the Expansion, a place where they could easily monitor the activities of their mortal enemy.

When they eventually stumbled upon the Elision stellar system, buried deep within the turmoil of the Juddle Nebula, the Klin knew they had found their perfect sanctuary.

A stellar nebulae is a violent and dangerous place. Ever-changing vagaries of gravity, matter, heat and deadly radiation made these regions of space a place to be avoided by most sane spacers, even the fearless explorers of the Expansion. Also, within these stellar birthing grounds, several generations of new-born stars could come and go within a billion years’ time, and the planets that formed around these young stars were often bombarded with so much left over stellar material during the brief time of their existence that life could seldom gain a foothold.

The star named Kyrils was an exception. It had burst into existence almost five billion years before near the outer edge of the nebulae, in a more stable region, and was able to clear out most of the rogue dust, rock and gas to form a fairly uniform planetary shield of thirteen worlds. Even though constant concussions from nearby stellar novae deformed the system in its early days, the system had survived, safe within a fairly dense cocoon of gas and dust, hidden well within the very confines of the Juddle Nebula.

Fifteen hundred years before, scouts from the surviving Klin had weaved their way through the maze of gravity eddies to discover the Kyrils system. Immediately, they saw it for what it was: the perfect place for their forward base deep within Juirean territory. There were even two worlds situated comfortably within the star’s habitable zone. One was called Olypon, and would serve well as the Klin’s base of operations. The other was called Eilsion by the race of Primes who dominated its landscape — a people called the Kracori.

Even though Eilsion was a rocky world, with a large molten core and a strong magnetic field, it still suffered from considerably more stellar radiation than did Olypon. The Kracori had evolved as an extremely tough race, with thick leathery skin that had turned a deep, ashen gray over the millennia. But there was another unique quality that set the Kracori apart from nearly every other race in the galaxy.

Eilsion was a heavy-gravity world. Ever since the Juireans had taken over the galaxy and set the surface gravity of Juir as the galactic standard, all worlds were compared against this measure. The home of the Kracori was rated at 1.28 that of standard. This was significant, but not unique. There are literally millions of planets with higher gravity than even Eilsion throughout the galaxy, yet what made the Kracori so unique is how they had adapted to it.

Most inhabitants of heavy-gravity worlds were thick, low-lying and bulky. Also, these creatures had very slow metabolisms, so their movements were sloth-like, almost like a world in slow-motion.

But not the Kracori; they were an active, strong race of beings, able to move within their environment at speeds comparable to those on lower-gravity worlds. The Klin, being as cerebral as they were, classified the Kracori as Prime-D, and they would remain the only race so classified for another thirteen hundred years — until the discovery of the Human race.

The Klin established a small colony on the neighboring world of Olypon and began to watch the Kracori as they developed their society. They also continued to be pushed further out from the heart of the galaxy. This was not a problem for the Klin. Over the millennia, they had learned not to concentrate their population in only one location, and by the time the Earth was discovered, the Klin had established three very distinct colonies.

The main base was on Olypon, and over the years, contact was made with the Kracori, who become willing and proficient manufacturers of the Klin technology. They built spaceships by the hundreds and enjoyed the benefits of all the wonders of Klin science.

A second base — a much smaller one — was located on the planet Glasien-4 in the Far Arm of the galaxy. It was from here that scouts first discovered the planet Earth, although the world had already been visited many times in past. These early visitors had been the frontier adventurers seeking freedom from the confines of the Juirean Expansion, and more often than not, slavers. Although the Humans were an exceptionally strong and durable race, perfect for the slave trade, they had proved to be almost impossible to contain and control. After several thousand years, only the most stubborn slavers continued to find new product among the Humans.

The Klin’s primary administration headquarters was located on the distant world of Marishal, far out near the galactic rim and out of the main gravity lanes. This was where the Pleabaens of Klin resided, the leaders of the race. Marishal was also the secondary manufacturing location for the Klin, although not nearly as extensive an operation as on Elision.

All three of these locations served the Klin well for over fifteen hundred years, primarily because of their isolation from the major deep-well gravity lanes.

The Klin had developed the gravity drive four thousand years earlier, just before the Juireans had attacked their world and killed off nearly ninety-nine percent of the population. Even though the Juireans called this event the Reckoning, the Klin word for the event more closely translated into Holocaust.

Gravity drives work by focusing dynamic-forces to create microscopic singularities in space. Since these miniature black holes were always created at the same distance from the generator, the motherships were already well within the event horizon of the singularity when it was created, thereby shielding the generating spaceships from the effects of relativity. As space would flow toward the singularity, the starships would move as well, requiring no additional energy to propel them forward.

But here is where the true genius of the gravity drive paid dividends. Since the effects of the singularity were felt in all directions around the central point, space on the opposite side of the generating spaceship was also drawn in, and when the singularity dissolved, space would rebound, propelling the starship several billions of kilometers from where it had originally created the singularity. Space travel was achieved through the constant creation and dissolving of hundreds of these tiny black holes along the line of travel.

Of course, as with any great scientific discovery, there were guidelines to be followed to achieve maximum results.

Gravity drives were constantly being affected by other gravity sources around them, such as stars, nebulae and even other black holes. One simply couldn’t plot a straight-line course through space. In addition, gravity drives were very temperamental with regard to the amount of matter available within a particular region of space. Too little matter and the critical mass for singularity generation could not be achieved. Too much and the amount of matter drawn toward the singularity would cause a rainstorm of deadly projectiles capable of ripping any starship to shreds. These large-mass singularities were also very unstable and hard to control.

For true deep-well generation, just the right mix of matter and void had to be found. This requirement restricted truly swift movement throughout the galaxy to a relatively few well-established gravity lanes. Here the large interstellar spacecraft could crank up their wells and travel at speeds of several hundred light years per standard hour. Using these lanes, a journey from the planet Earth to Juir for example — a distance of approximately twenty-thousand light years — could be achieved in just over under nine standard months.

However, for the majority of travel within the galaxy, these kinds of speeds could not be employed. Journey between relatively close star systems — as well as within the systems themselves — was reserved for shallow-well generation.

With so many competing gravity sources and ample clusters of matter in the form of dust and debris throughout the bulk of the galaxy, shallow-well speeds were greatly reduced, often down to only a few millions of kilometers per hour. It was like comparing atmospheric ramjet speeds to those of surface wheeled transport, and with those transports having to navigate down narrow streets and between buildings. These smaller spaceships could include within their engine rooms massive gravity generators capable of much higher speeds, but why would they? It would be like carrying a ramjet engine on the back of your wheeled transport, just in case one needed to jump a twenty kilometer-wide canyon at some point. It just wasn’t practical.

So the three worlds the Klin chose as their main sanctuaries were well-isolated from the major deep-well gravity lanes, and far enough from normal star-to-star trade that they remained hidden from most prying eyes for hundreds of years.

Four thousand years ago, at the time of the Reckoning, there had been approximately forty-eight thousand Klin living off-planet or on ships in space. The surviving Klin had run for their lives, moving from refuge to refuge as the Juireans expanded their empire. The Klin are very slow breeders, often not reaching physical maturity until after seventy-standard, so even in the present time, the descendants of these survivors still only numbered about two-hundred thousand adults.

The past two hundred years had been the most stable for the Klin, as the push by the Juireans to bring new members into their Expansion had subsided. The Juireans were now content to let new worlds approach them with requests for membership, often after these worlds had been exposed to the realities of galactic society by the frontier explorers.

It was also around this time that the Pleabaens of the Klin had first devised the current plan for revenge against the Juireans, the one that was rapidly falling apart — thanks to the Humans.

The Juireans had never been a very forward-looking race, and the recent evolution of their society had made them even less so. In the time before becoming a galactic power, the Juireans — as did most all races — mated in pairs and for long-term. As a result, the mothers and fathers of the offspring produced through these unions would have to consider the future and plan accordingly for the well-being of the children. Meanwhile, these offspring would plan for their own futures, including for families of their own.

When the Juireans switched to a more dispassionate means of reproduction and child-rearing, things began to change. Females become pregnant through artificial insemination and the children would be raised in government-run facilities. The needs of every Juirean were satisfied from cradle to grave, and with their life path predetermined at an early age as well. There was no need to plan for the future in Juirean society, since all decisions had already been made for them.

Early on in the history of the Juirean Empire, the need for military power had been great, yet as the years passed, the quest for more proficient administrators to manage all the gains the Juireans had already acquired began to take center-stage. The philosophy and organization of the Expansion also diminished the need for a large military, as growth was achieved by petition rather than conquest.

There was still a need for adequate military force in the outer limits of the Expansion, but within its core, the Juirean military was nearly obsolete. Where ten to twenty military vessels may be required to maintain control of an area such as the Fringe, one ship may do the job of patrolling a hundred worlds within the interior of the Expansion.

The Klin noticed this gradual change, and within it, an opportunity.

The Klin had always seen themselves as the true inheritors of the galaxy; the first race to contact other worlds within the Alliance Cluster and the inventors of the gravity drive. But now they were few and far between, with the Juireans the dominant force in the galaxy.

With time, the Klin knew the Juirean military would eventually vanish altogether, to be replaced by a much smaller police force limited to only local dispute resolution. Yet after four thousand years of waiting, they were desperately looking for a way to hasten that time….

The plan began to jell once the Earth was discovered by the Klin. Here was a race of extreme beings — extreme strength, extreme savagery, extreme capabilities — who were every bit a match for the Juireans. All they lacked was the technology to go up against the Juireans — as well as a reason.

A resource-draining war was all the Klin needed to reduce the Juireans to a level of military strength where they — along with their compliant Kracori — could make a move to supplant the Juireans as leaders of the galaxy. The plan had been perfection in its simplicity: The Humans would seek revenge against a race that had savagely attacked them, and the Juireans were gullible enough to see new threats where there were none.

But then it had all gone so terribly wrong.

The Humans had proved to be more proficient at war than even the Klin realized, as well as much more conniving and deceptive. And now the Kracori had revolted, commandeering hundreds of Klin spacecraft, along with the means to manufacture more.

The only race that had followed the plan precisely as the Klin had conceived it had been the Juireans.

Chapter 6

The same Juirean Guard commander in the yellow cape led the trio of Humans out of the massive pyramid building and to over to one of the adjacent towers. They took an elevator up several stories before being shown a spacious set of suites at the end of a long hallway. The Guard told them that the rest of the Humans would be joining them momentarily. He also informed them that armed guards would be stationed at the other end of the corridor near the elevators and that none of them would be allowed to leave unless ordered by higher authorities.

When the door to the suites closed, Sherri and Riyad set upon Adam with a combination of congratulations, thank you’s — as well as a few ‘what the hell just happened?’

“Most of it was just going with the flow,” he said to them. “When I found out they were planning on evacuating, I figured I had a little leverage.”

“But do you really think you can get the fleet to stop their attack?” Sherri asked as she poked her head inside several of the other rooms in the suite.

“I don’t really know, but it’s worth a try.”

Riyad had found the room’s beverage dispenser and already placed his finger into the sampling slot. In a moment, a cold drink appeared on the tray. “I wouldn’t,” he said after a long swallow from the glass. “We have all the power at this time. There would be nothing to stop us from laying waste to the entire region and crushing the Juireans — maybe forever. Like you said, Sherri: payback is a bitch.”

“But if the Juireans stop fighting, shouldn’t we?” Sherri asked as she sat down on a long sofa next to the room’s only window.

“Ask the families of the billion dead back on Earth-” Riyad caught himself suddenly as he saw Adam’s face blanch. “I am so sorry, my friend. I did not mean to be insensitive.”

“It’s cool,” Adam said, retrieving his own drink from the processor. “But we have to think of the bigger picture. If the war can end sooner rather than later, a lot of lives will be saved. Besides, the Juirean was right; they do have a lot more resources available. Any victory we would have now could be short-lived, and that would only mean more casualties down the road.”

“Granted,” Riyad said, “I’m just saying it could be difficult to convince the admirals not to attack.” And then he grinned wide, his eyes bright. “But after talking your way out of being flayed by that nasty-looking sword, I’m pretty sure if anyone could, it would be you!”

Just then a commotion was heard in the hallway outside the room; the door burst open and the rest of the Humans flowed in, along with Kaylor and Jym. Adam had been worried about the two aliens. The Juireans may not have considered them part of Adam’s entourage and simply had them eliminated. Probably more than anyone, he was relieved to see them come through the doorway.

Being the humble person that he was, Adam was content to let Sherri and Riyad explain what had just happened. The room was soon crowded with people who, a moment before, had been resigned to their fate and the next overwhelmed with relief at being spared.

Then Nigel McCarthy had to ruin the mood. “You know, if Cain can’t convince the fleet to stop the attack, the bloody Juireans will just go ahead and kill us straight away. Why wouldn’t they? So at the most, we have another two months to sit around and worry about this. I for one don’t want to spend that time doing nothing.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Lt. Tobias spoke up. “Captain Cain has the Juireans working with us now. Let’s not do anything that will make them regret that decision.” There was chorus of agreement from Adam’s contingent; McCarthy’s men offered no opinion, at least verbally. Adam had to admit: McCarthy commanded a very-disciplined team.

Eventually, they all found separate rooms within the suite to claim; there weren’t enough total rooms for the seventeen of them to have separate quarters so everyone had to pair up. McCarthy and Thomas shared a room. The large Englishman fell heavily onto one of the two beds in the room, as Carter Thomas did the same, and within minutes, McCarthy could hear the contented snoring of the huge black man, enjoying the slumber of the recently pardoned.

McCarthy felt no such relief and so he found sleep elusive.

As he lay awake on the bed, a club-like arm resting across his forehead, he began to work through the consequences of Adam Cain’s actions. A truce between the Humans and Juireans would certainly come as a welcome relief to all the forces currently fighting, and a long-term, negotiated peace would be accepted back on Earth. But then where would that leave him?

Even though he had left the service of the Klin, he had not done so voluntarily. He had known what the Klin were all about, yet he still agreed to help them, and against his own people. The likes of Sherri Valentine would not let that rest. She would blab to anyone who would listen about his collusion with the enemy. And she wasn’t the only one. Yes, if he was ever to return to Earth, he would be summarily placed in shackles and charged with the highest of treason. He would undoubtedly become the face of the enemy — even worse than the Klin themselves — since he had turned against his own kind with full knowledge of the consequences. And in light of the deaths of a billion innocent souls, they wouldn’t be able to execute him enough.

Was there a way to get back into the good graces of the Klin? He had no idea. And if so, how would he even contact them? He was locked away in a tower on the planet Juir, of all places.

Nigel McCarthy needed more time to work out a plan, a plan that would put him in the forefront of survival — and to hell with everyone else. Luckily, he had a couple of months to work something out….

Chapter 7

Hydon Ra Elys paced the floor of his personal residence, suffering the anguish of his thoughts. Over the past day he had experienced such a wide range of painful emotions that he was surprised he could still function.

Hydon was the Council Elder, the leader of the Expansion, and as such he was the being who carried the most responsibility for the events taking place — as well as those to come. Just the thought of having the sacred planet of Juir ransacked by either the Klin or the Humans was almost unimaginable, and one he would never have even considered only a few short months ago. But after the humiliating defeat at Falor-Kapel, and the revelation that the capital of the Expansion was now vulnerable to attack, this only meant that the decisions he would make from here on out would be the most important ever made by a Council Elder.

First the Humans — and now the Klin. How have we let ourselves become so exposed and ripe for defeat?

Hydon was taking an awful risk by trusting the Human Adam Cain. Every day they delayed evacuating the Cluster and saving Juirean lives only reduced his options — which he admitted were slim to none at this time. If the Human was lying about the second fleet — this Klin/Kracori fleet — that only meant more Juireans would be killed if and when the Humans attack. And if he is telling the truth, and the Juireans can repel the Klin invaders, then everything would be contingent on Cain convincing his forces to stop their attack. And if he can’t?

Hydon ran his hands through the long, white hair of his ranking-mane. After so many thousands of years, the survival of the galaxy-wide Juirean Expansion — at least in its present form — now rested on the words and actions of a single being, and not a Juirean, but that of a Human being.

The preparations for a defense of Juir would continue now with haste. Two months may be just about enough time to make that happen. After that, who knew…?

Chapter 8

Jonnif Vinn of the Kracori had assumed command of the Klin fleet off Falor-Kapel two months before. The soft-skinned Klin had proved to be no match for his warriors, and soon the Klin strongholds on Olypon and Glasien-4 were all under Kracori control.

Scouts had been dispatched to keep watch on the vastly larger Human fleet, and Jonnif was pleasantly surprised to see that they hesitated making their move on Juir, awaiting the arrival of their second fleet. This had allowed Jonnif time to call up an additional one-hundred fifty ships from Eilsion and elsewhere to strengthen his own forces. He now commanded four-hundred fifty ships with which to make the move on the Juirean capital.

He also enjoyed one other advantage which he was sure no one else was aware he had….

Following established gravity routes, the journey from Falor-Kapel to Juir normally took four months. The Humans had just now departed the F-K system, following the traditional routes. By now the Juireans would be aware of this and would be planning accordingly. But Jonnif knew of a different route, a quicker one, directly through the galactic center.

Long ago, in a desperate attempt to escape the growing Expansion, Klin navigators had discovered the obscure and dangerous transit. It was a narrow and convoluted path consisting of just the right combination of matter and emptiness, a rare mixture few would have even imagined existed this close to the Core and the voracious maw of the galaxy’s central supermassive black hole. The path was used sparingly these days — if at all — and all but forgotten by the Klin.

But not by the Kracori.

For hundreds of years Jonnif’s people had tolerated the condescending attitude the Klin exhibited toward them. It was true that their culture had benefited from the advances of science and technology provided by the aliens, yet the Kracori never got the sense that the Klin gave them credit for their abilities. The arrogance of the Klin was such that even when the plan for galactic domination had first been revealed, it was as if the Kracori were expected to go along without question, providing the strength and sheer numbers of bodies it would take to carry out such a feat. And being at the tip of the sword, it would be Kracori blood that was spilled, not Klin. The two-hundred thousand or so Klin who existed at the time could never hope to achieve their ambitious objectives by themselves. The Klin needed the Kracori, yet their actions never seemed to convey that reality.

Being the warriors as they were, the Kracori went along — yet all the while concealing an agenda of their own.

The revolt against the Klin had been inevitable and carried out in a matter of days. Now the Kracori were in a position to launch the most audacious part of their plan.

It would be two-fold. The first, of course, included the sacking of the planet Juir and the destruction of the Expansion infrastructure within the Alliance Cluster. The second part was even bolder.

The Kracori Ludif leaders — in their infinite wisdom — realized that even if their forces could lay waste to the Juirean Legend of invincibility, it would be quickly replaced by the Legend of Earth, once the vastly superior Human fleet arrived and drove the Kracori from the region, like scared little animals from a carcass. The Kracori would be forced to withdraw, making it evident to all who was the strongest animal of the two. This humiliating action would make the Kracori the laughing stock of the galaxy, and come only months after first exposing their existence to the Expansion. It would be difficult for their legend to ever recover.

So the Kracori needed a way to draw the Humans away from the area, and to give them a reason to abandon their campaign against the Juireans altogether. It was Jonnif you offered a solution.

An attack upon their homeworld of Earth.

Preparations were hastily begun on the planet Glasien-4 once the Kracori revolt was complete. Yet unlike the earlier Juirean attack on Earth, which only utilized energy bombs so as to preserve the viability of the planet for future use, the Kracori attack would be nuclear. As Jonnif and the Council reasoned, it would be one thing to draw the Human fleet away from Juir, only to have it return later with even more resources — and a meaner attitude. It was quite another to ravage the planet with an inferno of deadly radioactivity, rendering the Earth useless for decades to come. The Ludif leaders figured this was the only way of ensuring that the Humans would not be around to interfere with Kracori plans into the future.

Entering the Human stellar system undetected could be a challenge, but the Kracori planners reasoned that the Humans wouldn’t be expecting such an attack, and the strike force would be arriving in Klin-built ships, the same as all the others flitting around the planet at the time. The plan would have a high probability of success, after which the Humans would have no choice but to withdraw their fleet in order to assist in the defense and recovery efforts.

As far as the first part of the plan went, Jonnif was confident in its execution and success. The Juireans would be expecting the Human fleet to arrive in the Cluster in four months-standard, and would be making plans based on that timetable.

Yet with a two month head start — and by utilizing the secret path through the galactic core — the Kracori were already there….

Chapter 9

Two days later Council Elder Hydon entered the darkened confines of the Juirean Strategic Command Center for a meeting with Fleet Marshal Relion. The Juirean military higher commander had sent out every scout and called on every sensor available to try and locate any mass-gravity signatures approaching ahead of the invading Human fleet.

“We’ve been unable to detect anything out of the ordinary, my Lord,” Relion said, frustration thick in his voice. “There does seem to be a major exodus from the gravity lanes by just the normal traffic, all trying to avoid the Humans, yet nothing that would indicate a concentrated force of three hundred ships or more.”

“You’ve scanned all along the lanes, even the most obscure?”

“Yes, my Lord. The gravity routes to Juir are the most-traveled and monitored in the galaxy, even coming from that side of the Core. If there was a fleet in deep-well transit it would have been detected.”

“Then the Human has lied to us,” Hydon stated, pursing his thin lips together in anger.

“It appears so — but to what end? He had to surely know we would attempt to verify his claims, and if no traces were found, then our evacuation efforts would have been delayed only temporarily. Are the Humans so anxious to kill Juireans that even a few days’ delay in evacuating the population would mean a few more of us left behind to kill?”

“They are a deceptive and diabolical race. They appear to thrive on subterfuge and underhandedness, so their motives are always in question. I will be in my personal office in an hour. Have Adam Cain delivered to me at that time.”

“Yes, my Lord. And what of the evacuation?”

“Hold off until I have another chance to speak with the Human. He may reveal more in this second meeting.”

Hydon’s personal office was located three stories below the Pinnacle conference room. It was a large room, yet not as large as Adam would have expected for the leader of the galaxy. It was dimly lit, except for the area around the large wooden desk where Hydon sat. There were the ubiquitous computer monitors placed to his right and behind him on a matching wooden credenza, and on a secondary table set off to the left was a pile of datapads all stacked helter-skelter on its top. The entire scene reminded Adam of what an aged college professor’s office might look like, albeit without any disheveled library lining a wall-length bookcase.

The overall impression of the office was eventually brought full circle when Adam was directed to take a seat opposite the Elder, and noticed that Hydon was even wearing what appeared to be a thin pair of eyeglasses. Adam had to suppress a chuckle as he took the seat. Aliens wearing glasses — what next?

Hydon looked at Adam over the thin glasses. “I have security measures in place, but I’m hoping we will not have to deal with any such nonsense, Mister Cain — I believe that is the traditional prefix for a male of your race?

“That’s correct, Lord Hydon; I was told that is your preferred title. And you won’t have to worry about me doing something stupid. I don’t have a death wish.”

Hydon simply snorted. “That is precisely the reason for this meeting.” Hydon slipped off the glasses and set them on the desk. He continued to stare at Adam with an intense look of exasperation. “We have been unable to detect any trace of this Klin/Kracori fleet that you say is headed for Juir. You must realize what will happen to you and your companions if you are found to be lying to us? If anything, your wild tale has only delayed the inevitable by just a few days. So why would you lie?”

When Adam had been summoned to Hydon’s office, this was the last thing he expected to be confronted with. He knew there was a Klin/Kracori fleet — he had been present when the Klin Pleabaen had been in communication with it. What he wasn’t so sure about was where they were at the present time.

“I assure you, there is a fleet, and I’m ninety-percent positive that they would be looking to attack Juir before we do. It just makes sense.”

“So now you’re saying they may not have designs on attacking Juir after all?” Adam could hear the tone of Hydon’s voice raise an octave. But he was so sure….

“The Klin could move on Juir at its weakest moment, ransacking the planet like you did to their homeworld thousands of years ago. It’s what I would have done.”

Hydon snorted again. “I have only recently had direct contact with your kind, yet all I have learned of Humans is that you are a savage and heartless race. Of course you would seek to take millions of innocent lives to satisfy an ancient vendetta. That is your way, but that is not saying the Klin would. The story you told me about our attack on your Earth was logical and sensible, and I believe there is indeed another fleet — a Klin fleet — out there somewhere. That is why I gave you this reprieve. But the Klin have been running from us for thousands of years. They may have simply decided that now is not the time to strike against Juir. And if that is the case, then it is only your Human fleet that we must fear.”

Hydon paused and leaned forward in his chair. “Mr. Cain, are you still willing to contact your fleet and attempt to have them call off their attack?”

“Yes, of course! I honestly believe that the Humans and Juireans would not have gone to war against each other if it hadn’t been for the Klin.”

“Can you do it?”

It was Adam’s turn to hesitate, an event which caused the Elder to slam both his hands down on the desktop and push back in his chair.

“Why have you built up my hopes just to have them crushed? Is that the answer — to play games with my emotions? What kind of creatures are you?”

“I’m not playing games with you. I can try to convince them to call off the attack, but I can’t guarantee they will,” Adam pleaded. “I realize this will probably mean all of our deaths, but all I can do is try.”

“Then try you will!” Hydon yelled. “And there is no reason to delay. I will begin immediately to locate the communication frequencies associated with your fleet — and then you will try-”

A large monitor to Hydon’s right suddenly burst into life; on the screen was the face of Fleet Marshal Relion. “Pardon my intrusion, my Lord,” he said, his eyes darting between Hydon and Adam.

“What is it, Relion?”

“A curious development, my Lord.” He looked directly at Adam.

“Speak freely, Fleet Marshal,” Hydon commanded. “The Human is either on our side — or he will die.”

“Yes, my Lord. We have detected curious ship activity originating from Sector Three.”

“Sector Three? What kind of activity?” Hydon’s voice deepened and he looked at Adam.

“Larger than normal ship traffic, and it appears to be broken into clusters of ten to fifteen ships each.”

“Have the signatures been analyzed?”

“It is difficult, my Lord. The signatures are overlapping — and there appears to be some sort of wave disruptor causing interference.”

Hydon’s eyes grew wide. “Where are these ships headed?”

“Various locations within the Clusters. Many are now well within the outer boundary.”

“You’ve tried to communicate with them?” It was more of a statement than a question.”

“Of course, but the wave disruptor is making it difficult. Garbled replies are all we have received. They appear to be trying to communicate with us, but can’t.”

“How convenient,” Adam said. He could see the veins on Hydon’s neck dancing to the beat of his heart.

“I take it we have no adequate defense in place at this time, Fleet Marshal.”

“It is well sooner than two months’ time, my Lord, so no. We have nothing to counter an attack, if this is indeed an attack.” Relion’s voice had grown more panicked by the moment. He appeared to be anxious to get off the screen, as others around him were trying to get his attention. “Lord Hydon, even if this is not an invasion, it would be wise to have you and the other council members evacuated immediately. The closest unidentified ships could be at Juir in less than an hour.”

Hydon looked down at the top of his desk for a moment, gathering his thoughts. Then he looked back at Relion. “No. I will stay here and take refuge in the bunker vault beneath Malor Tower. But do have all the other council members evacuated. Use my authority to make them comply. And Relion, no exceptions, is that understood?”

“They will protest.”

“Let them, but get them away as quickly as possible. Now tend to your duties.”

The screen went blank immediately and Hydon turned back to Adam, appearing to have aged ten years in the past two minutes. “You may have been right about the Klin fleet, Mr. Cain, if not about the timetable.”

“How could they have gotten here so fast?” Adam asked, not knowing now what he should do. Without a defense, the Cluster would be decimated and the planet Juir excoriated.

“They must have traversed the Core region. It is the only way they could have journeyed from Falor-Kapel to here in such a time.” He hesitated again before continuing. “In a few moments we will have confirmation as to whether or not this is an invasion,” Hydon said to Adam. “If it is, then I will ask that you do something for me, personally.”

Adam jerked his head back slightly in an involuntary display of shock. At a loss for words, Adam simply stammered, “Sure, what?”

“Don’t call off your fleet. If you are right, and the Klin are approaching, then please have your forces continue to sweep through the area and vanquish the coming scourge. The Juirean people and your Human race may one day make peace, but we will never make peace with the Klin. I trust you feel the same.”

“Billions of people have died — and are about to die — because of the Klin. I don’t think peace will be on our minds if we ever encounter the Klin fleet head-to-head. And as far as me calling off our attack, it looks like I’m in the same boat — situation — as you’re in. Neither one of us may live out the day.”

Chapter 10

Even Jonnif of the Kracori was surprised at how easily his forces had infiltrated the Juirean Alliance Cluster. Before even the first alarm was raised, units from Ludif-Five were already strafing the breeding facilities on Salin, killing thousands — if not millions — of young Juireans, their birth mothers and the females nursing them to maturity. This one action would set the Juireans back a hundred years, depleting their future numbers to a level where hunting down the survivors would be a more manageable task for the Kracori.

Other units were just now reaching the energy facilities and manufacturing centers on Oannan and Bal. With so many dependent on the energy modules and generators produced at these locations, chaos would soon reign throughout the Expansion, and when the Kracori revealed their own reserves of modules and generators, penitent races would come crawling to them, begging the Kracori to help them maintain their decadent lifestyles.

These early victories were significant and satisfying, yet Jonnif’s true goal lay just ahead, as he watched the blue and white planet of Juir grow ever larger in his forward viewport.

There were dozens of defenders grouping between the planet and his forces, but they would be inadequate. The Klin-designed ships were of a superior style and weaponry than the Juireans, and much of the local defenders were just a hodge-podge of hastily culled together ships of all classes and function. Even as he watched, intense bolts of energy lashed out at these ships from his forces, firing even before his own ships came within the range of the defender’s weapons batteries. The bulk of his attacking forces barely even slowed down before entering the atmosphere and zeroing in on their assigned targets.

Jonnif had reserved the Malor Complex for himself, along with the twenty ships in his squadron. He swung in low over the Southern Sea, and then climbed for altitude, attempting to avoid the ground-based defenses that were still a danger on the homeworld of the Juirean race. Three of his ships disintegrated even before he could see the form of the Kacoran Plain rising up in the misty distance.

His energy bombs were smaller than those of the orbital release variety, their power more concentrated. These were building-busters, not city crushers. Jonnif would take his time on the Kacoran Plain, where a number of iconic structures where located. These were the symbols of the Expansion, monuments to the power of the Juireans.

Jonnif activated his ship’s vid recorders; he wanted to document for all time the destruction of these structures, including the giant pyramid that was the seat of power for all the galaxy. Legend was what determined a Kracori’s placed in history. After this day, the name of Jonnif Vinn would be Legend for as long as the last Kracori breathed.

Chapter 11

Hydon Ra Elys was, above all else, pragmatic. So just before Adam departed the Elder’s office, he stopped the Human with a question.

“Would you agree, Mr. Cain, that at this point both of our self-interests are intertwined?”

Adam was becoming accustomed to the odd way the Juireans spoke, so all he did was stop and answer. “Yeah, pretty much. Unless you’ll give us a ship to get off the planet, it looks like we’re both stuck here no matter what happens.”

“Exactly my thoughts.” Hydon approached Adam, towering almost a full head above him. “I would agree to have you and your companions join me in the bunker below us, but on one condition.”

“What condition?”

Hydon grinned — sort of. “I admit that your race is superior to my own in regards to strength and durability, and you have proven time and again that you are very proficient fighters-”

“You’re wasting time, Lord Hydon. What do you want?”

“I will agree to arm you and your fellow Humans if you agree to serve as an additional layer of bodyguards for me and my entourage. You must promise, however, not to turn these weapons against me. Together we might be able to survive.”

Again, Adam was stunned. This was indeed a strange turn of events.

Hydon continued, “It will be unlikely that the attackers’ bombs will penetrate to the level of the bunkers, so they will have to affect a ground assault to capture or kill us. I cannot think of a more potent force of defenders than you and your fellow Humans. Would you agree?”

“Yeah, fine. But we don’t have much time. Can you get my people over here post-haste?”

“I do not understand-”

“Quickly! Can you get them here quickly?”

“I am the Council Elder. It will be done on my command.”

“Then do it! We have to get underground as soon as possible.”

Councilmember Wydor met Hydon and Adam on the main floor of the giant pyramid, as hundreds of aliens of all varieties hurried about in near-panic mode.

“I will be staying with you, Lord Hydon,” the senior Elite stated firmly.

“No you will not,” countered Hydon, just as firmly. “Upon my decree you are now Acting Elder. You must assume control of the Council and serve in my stead.”

“There are others equally qualified.”

“Granted, but none I trust as much. There is a chance I may be able to hold out against the Klin forces until the Human fleet arrives.” He looked over at Adam. “With nothing left to destroy, the Humans will serve only as a deterrent to the Klin, and drive them away. At that point — if he survives — then Mr. Cain may convince the Humans to join us in a counterstrike against the Klin and rid the galaxy of their scourge once and for all. In that event, I desperately need you to organize our remaining forces and coordinate with the Humans, if and when the time comes. Even if I do not survive, I believe we know now the face of our true enemy.”

“That is assuming the Human has been telling the truth concerning the relationship between the Klin and his race. And there is no proof that this new invading force is not made up of Humans and Klin, and not some mysterious race that has never played a role in galactic politics before.”

“I tend to believe him at this point. However, once these invaders arrive, we will have our definitive answer.”

Wydor bore a laser-like stare at Adam, the hate as lethal as any weapon. “I will go, my Lord, yet I am still not convinced that all of this is not just another ruse perpetrated by the Human barbarians.”

Adam simply returned the stare with an amused grin. There was nothing he could do in this short time to win over the Juirean to the truth as Adam knew it. Besides, even if he did, he wasn’t sure he cared enough. The Juireans — for good or bad — were about to get their asses kicked, and whether or not the Klin were ultimately responsible for the war, the Juireans were getting pretty much what they deserved.

Soon Wydor was hustled away by his own entourage of Juirean Guards and other accompanying white-haired Elites, while Adam and Hydon entered another securely-guarded elevator and began a long descent far below the pyramid. He was sure the same existed under nearly every important capital building in the galaxy — including on Earth — and the Juireans would be better-prepared than most, considering their capital had been in place for four thousand years.

Adam had witnessed the effectiveness of energy bombs before and knew them to have very little penetrating power. They were primarily designed to eliminate surface targets through a combination of heat, concussion and fire. Hydon and his entourage should survive the initial attack without a problem, hunkered down beneath the surface. But then the ground assault would begin, and the Klin, with their Kracori henchmen, would come looking for them.

“Where are my people?” Adam asked Hydon as they exited the elevator and hurried down a long, sterile, metal-lined corridor.

“They should only be a few minutes behind us. They-”

Just then they heard the first distant rumbles of the Klin attack far above them.

Adam looked more urgently at the Elder. Hydon could see the concern in Adam’s expression, so he leaned toward one of his assistants and barked out a command. A moment later the assistant responded. “They are in the elevator, my Lord. They entered just before the first strikes occurred.”

Hydon looked at Adam but said nothing; Adam gave him a curt nod of thanks.

The intensity of the explosions above them grew to a deafening level, shaking the very bedrock surrounding the series of corridors they rushed down. Adam noticed several strategic cutouts, defensive fortifications and reinforced buffers, all being manned by serious looking green-hair Juireans. He saw no other aliens this deep into the labyrinth. The defense of their Elder — as well as whatever else was hidden in these chambers — was too important to left up to second-stringers.

Adam was hoping it would be enough. He had seen a Kracori face-to-face, and even though he had yet to meet an alien the equal of a Human, he was sure the Klin didn’t pick their allies without purpose. Adam had long believed Humans couldn’t be the only heavy-gravity beings with speed and coordination. The Klin had found the Humans and employed them as their muscle; he was sure the Kracori were just as deadly.

A large metal door stood open at the end of the last corridor, as formidable as that of a bank vault, easily three feet thick. Anxious-looking Juireans were waiting, ready to push the door shut once the Elder entered. Hydon stepped inside then turned to the guards.

“Wait. There are others coming.”

The Guards looked at each other nervously, but complied.

Hydon moved into the chamber beyond the door while Adam waited with for his team.

Two minutes later, Adam was relieved to see Lt. Tobias appear around a faraway corner and enter the last corridor before the vault — followed by the other SEAL’s, Sherri and all the rest, including McCarthy and his men. Kaylor and Jym brought up the rear. None of the Humans had been armed yet. Part of him wanted to tell Hydon not to supply weapons to McCarthy and his men, but he thought better of it. If Hydon detected distrust by Adam for members of his own team, he might reconsider giving weapons to any of them. He hoped he wouldn’t regret his decision.

Adam waved them through the doorway and the Juireans closed the heavy door, securing it from inside when the last of them was through. Immediately, Adam felt his ears pop, as the pressure inside the room was increased. This increased air pressure would add even more resistance when attempting to open the door.

Of course, the Klin would probably just blow it….

They were all in a large foyer area shaped in a semi-circle. Three doors were placed in the curving far wall, and positioned between each door were formidable metal barricades manned by six Juireans each. The Guards were encased in full body armor, including helmets, and each gripped the largest hand-held flash rifles Adam had ever seen.

A Juirean was motioning for the group to follow him through the doorway on the left. Without a word, they all followed. They entered a larger chamber, rectangular in shape, with a ceiling over twenty meters high. Assembled around them were a number of squads of Juirean Guards, as well as Hydon and about half of his support group.

Adam walked up to the Elder, his own group standing behind, looking unsure what to do next. After a moment, Hydon took notice. “Commander, supply each of these creatures with a flash rifle and sidearm, along with ample charges. Then find a barracks for them, somewhere not too far from my quarters. They are now part of my personal guard. Is that understood?”

Adam could see that the Guard commander recognized Adam and his companions as Humans, the very enemy they were currently waging war against — and for all he knew — were attacking Juir at that very moment. Apparently only Hydon and his closest advisors knew the truth.

“My Lord?” the commander said, “are you sure that is wise?”

“They can be trusted, commander, and soon we may need their assistance. Do as ordered.”

“Yes, my Lord.” The Juirean Guard moved up to Adam until he was only a few inches from him, towering a head taller. He looked down at the Human with undisguised contempt before finally saying, “Follow me. There is a place where you can find quarters.”

The room they were taken to was large and utilitarian, consisting of only a row of bunks, a bank of lockers and a communal grooming station at the end. Since all Juirean fighters were male, there was no need to have separate quarters for men and women.

Two Juireans wheeled a large cart into the room, filled with protruding barrels from a dozen or more flash rifles, plus MK’s and satchels of assorted charge packs for the weapons. Without a word, all the military personnel in Adam’s group swarmed the cart, snatching up weapons and ammo with gusto. They each admired the feel of the weapon in their grasp, as if it were a long-lost love. Adam armed himself as well, and after going so long without holding a weapon in his hands, he felt almost a drug-high sweep over him.

Sherri was no exception. She confidently selected a rifle and MK of her own, but soon the thrill had passed. “Adam, what’s going on now? We have Juireans giving us weapons — and the whole damn place feels like it’s being blown apart.”

“You’re right about that, Sherri,” Adam said as the group assembled around him. “The Klin found a way to get here sooner than expected. The Juireans are going to be creamed.” He showed his best Cheshire Cat smile. “It looks like we’re now part of Supreme Leader’s elite personal bodyguard, complete with weapons of our own.”

“And where are we exactly?” asked Chief Rutledge.

“Somewhere below the big pyramid, that’s all I know.” Then his face turned serious. “The buildings on the surface are going to be incinerated, and then they’ll come down here looking for us. It’s Hydon’s plan to hold out here until our fleet arrives. I have no idea what the Klin are going to bring against us.”

“This Juirean Hydon could have left with the other bigwigs,” McCarthy said, stepping forward. “Why didn’t he?”

“I think it’s symbolic, McCarthy. Seems like there’s something he thinks is worth dying for-”

“Like his planet and his people,” Petty officer John Tindal said, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

McCarthy ignored the remark. “We’re not sacrificing ourselves for these alien bastards, Cain. Just get that straight. If we see a way to get out of here alive, we’re going to take it.”

“Well, seeing that we’re probably a mile beneath the surface of Juir, and undoubtedly the only Humans within a thousand light years, good luck with that. But right now we have to keep the Klin from getting in here and taking us all out.”

Adam began to turn away, but then he had another thought. “And seeing that I’m the only one here who has the ear of the all-mighty Juirean leader, I think it’s about time you and your men start following my orders.” His voice was a growl as he spit out the last syllable.

Adam wasn’t the best at reading alien body language, yet it didn’t take an expert to see the tension and sadness on the faces of all the Juireans in the underground bunker. For hours now the bombardment on the surface had continued, and with each blast the natives knew their world above was being torn apart. Adam could relate, having lived through the bombardment of Earth by this very same race of aliens. And yet at the time, Adam had been more concerned about saving his own life, along with those of wife and daughter, than with any planetary legacy issues. Also at the time, he truly believed the Klin would stop the destruction — as they eventually did — but only after so many people had died.

Yet on the surface of Juir, the destruction was continuing unabated. It was evident by the frequency and intensity of the explosions that the Klin had eliminated any Juirean resistance, both in space and on the planet, and now had free reign to cause all the death and destruction they could deliver. The only limitation would be the capacity of their energy generators, and with constant rechargings, the bombardment could continue for weeks, if not months.

In a way, Adam felt sorry for the Juireans. They had to stay sequestered in their self-imposed prison far below the surface while their entire world was being destroyed, along with countless generations of Juirean history. When the Klin were through with Juir, all that would be left would be smoldering monuments to a once great race of beings.

Adam was sure the Klin already had detailed schematics of the maze of tunnels and chambers under the great pyramid. For hundreds, if not thousands of years, Klin spies had infiltrated Juirean culture and government. Each target would have been carefully delineated and scheduled for destruction, including the underground labyrinth. But first they had to gain control of the surface, and as the occupants of the bunker began to hear the slow, yet very clear, decrease in the frequency of the explosions above, they knew that time was drawing near.

After all, Adam thought, you can only bomb a building into ashes for so long. More than that and you’re just being a dick.

Adam knew that if he survived to ever walk the surface of Juir again he would find a completely alien landscape, unrecognizable from the one he had only the briefest memory of. It would be a scene right out of his vision of Hell. And for the non-religious Juireans who managed to survive, it would be the new standard from which they would forever associate with their own concept of Hell.

Chapter 12

Jonnif had his Klin-designed flying saucer land next to the smoldering remains of what had once been Malor Tower. All that was left now of the once-massive structure were a few tall, twisted sections of the east and south facing skeletal supports, now blackened from the intense fire and smoke that had consumed the building.

Jonnif was greeted by a passing cloud of dense, black smoke when he exited the shiny silver pedestal that supported the saucer above. He took in the fragrance of death and destruction, savoring every last moment. All around him were piles of still smoldering debris; some structural material, some the charred remains of the thousands of creatures whose lives had ended on this very spot — and by Jonnif’s hand.

The Kracori commander looked up into the sky, patched now with a combination of white clouds and smoke from the thousands of fires still raging across the area. He was almost in tears — tears of joy. He was standing on Juir, at the very center of the universe, the planet where it had all started. And where he stood wasn’t just any location on the planet, but high atop the Kacoran Plain. He looked to his right and across the sweeping panorama all the way to the Southern Sea. Before him lay the metropolis of Juir City, the very place where the Juireans had taken their name. The city was now just a dense cloud of black smoke, penetrated here and there by flickering towers of yellow fire, raging uncontrollably, consuming the entire area.

Jonnif would let it burn itself out, leaving nothing but ashes. If the Kracori ever decided to build settlements upon the surface of Juir, the ashes of the past would be easier to clear than the skeletal structures of the former civilization.

Kaddof and Mininof joined him for the stroll into what had once been the main gallery of Malor Tower. They were equally giddy with the splendor of the moment. Jonnif moved to the center of the remains knowing that somewhere near here was where the Contact Monument had once stood, the very spacecraft sent by the Klin to the then-savage and barbaric Juireans. There was nothing left.

Jonnif turned to his companions and laughed, a full-throated bellow that was soon joined by the others.

“Juireans….” Kaddof spit on the ground, and the others followed suit. Then he handed a datapad to his commander.

Jonnif scanned the entry; it was the latest casualty estimates. He looked up at Kaddof. “Excellent results, my Ludiffs, excellent. An estimated half-a-billion dead so far here on Juir, as well as another half-billion on the surrounding planets! But most-exciting are the millions of dead females on Salin. This could trigger a complete racial collapse.”

Jonnif knew that the rigidity of Juirean society called for each gender to fulfill its highest-and-best duty for the wellness of the race. That meant females were relegated almost exclusively to the job of species procreation. This was not a demeaning or second-class responsibility; on the contrary, Juirean females were revered, almost worshiped, in Juirean society. While any male could fill the duties of Admin, Guard, Counselor or Overlord, only females could ensure the continuation of the species, including the necessary males required to fill the every-growing needs of the Expansion. It would be impractical to waste a female in any of these more trivial positions.

Juirean females of child-bearing age and physicality were expected to remain pregnant during their most productive years. Those beyond that were the mid-wives, the medical personnel, the educators and the scientists associated with advancement of new and safer child rearing.

Because all these activities had been centralized on the planet of Salin, the Kracori attack there had the effect of nearly sterilizing the Juirean race.

However, between fending off Juirean defenders, attacking ground-based targets and eliminating vital infrastructure on the worlds they had attacked over the past five days, the Kracori did not have the resources to stop every rogue spaceship leaving the area. And for months prior to the attack, the Juireans had been stockpiling thousands of spacecraft in the Sector, mostly commercial-class vessels. In spite of the Kracori’s best efforts, these ships had been able to spirit away millions of Juireans.

Jonnif acknowledged that on those ships were many thousands of females — it had been impossible to kill them all — but it would not be enough to save the Juireans from eventual extinction.

The destruction of the females on Salin was probably the most significant victory of the entire campaign. The surviving females, even if left alone and not pursued, would require many generations just to replenish their own numbers, let alone those of the entire race. Granted, through DNA sequencing, most of the newborns going forward would be female, which would help speed up the rebuilding process. Yet this practice would also cause other problems for the Juireans. Although many billions still survived within the galaxy, ninety-nine percent of the remaining Juireans were male. As these males grew older and died off, there would be very few younger males available to replace them, at least not until the female population had been restocked.

Yes, Juirean society had been dealt a crippling blow these past few days — almost fatal. And even if the Kracori chose to let them be — which they were not prepared to do — then just with the passage of time, the Juirean race would slowly disappear, thanks in part to the segmentation of their society, as well as their own shortsightedness.

Jonnif stepped up to the charred and smoking body of a Juirean lying in the ruins of Malor Tower. He could still see the traces of blue hair atop the head, signifying that this had once been an Overlord. He kicked at the body, and saw the blackened flesh around the rib cage give way. Jonnif knelt down and pulled a generous handful of flesh from the corpse. He smelled it, and then placed the meat in his mouth.

The Juirean was juicy and cooked just to his liking. Jonnif stood, flashing a wide smile to his companions. “I believe I will have a table set up right here and we will all feast on the flesh of Juireans tonight! I will even have vids made so our celebration can be broadcast throughout the Expansion.” He bellowed a hearty laugh again. “The Kracori have not only destroyed the Juirean Legend, we will now devour their flesh while sitting atop their most sacred monument. How more can a legend be dishonored?”

The next morning, Jonnif awoke with a serious hangover and a bloated belly. The celebration festivities had continued almost until new light, with his commanders and support staff wandering throughout the still-smoking ruins pulling huge hunks of meat from the hundreds of bodies lying about. The intoxicants had flowed as well, far more than Jonnif had personally ever remembered ingesting before. But this was one of those unique moments in history which would never come again. Jonnif had been bound and determined not to let it pass without giving it his all.

But now he had to pay the price.

He could barely focus on the datapad when Mininof brought it to him. “Assist me,” Jonnif said. “What does it read?”

Mininof had participated in the prior evening’s festivities as well, but obviously to a lesser degree. “It is some of the last reports filed by the spies within the tower just as we began our attack. There is some interesting information.”

“Go on, don’t leave me in suspense.”

“Hydon is in the bunker below!”

Jonnif was nearly shocked sober — almost. This was very interesting news. Prior to the attack, the Klin — and now the Kracori — had had no fewer than thirty-five active spies operating within the building. They continually fed information to the Kracori, no matter how trivial. As is often the fate of spies, none had been warned of the impending attack, so all perished in the building.

“Yes, he and a group of what appeared to be Humans entered the bunker elevator just moments before your first strike.”

“Humans? Here?”

“That is what was reported.”

“Did the spies know who they are or what was their significance?”

“It was not mentioned in this report, yet a previous file might mention them. I will research it.”

“Good. In the meantime, get me linked into the bunker’s communication network. I wish to speak to the almighty Juirean Elder, now cowering in fear within his metal tomb, right below my very feet.”

“Technicians have already located the trunk lines. It should not be long before you have access. I am anxious to hear your conversation with Hydon. It will be legend.”

Chapter 13

Legend to a Kracori was very similar to a reputation, only more so. It was what gave a Kracori his identity, his legacy, his very reason for existing. Each Kracori had their own individual legend, and then their race had a legend of its own. The Kracori took immense pride in the legend of their race, and they also assigned legends to other races, even though none were aware of it. These legends created a pecking order of beings throughout the galaxy, with the Kracori sitting upon the very top.

Dominance for the Kracori came with the discrediting of another’s legend, be it an individual’s or that of an entire race. Until the legend was destroyed, the person or race was still considered a threat.

On Eilsion, Kracori seldom resorted to full-blown wars or murder against their own kind; most Kracori struggles in the past had been against nature or beast. Amongst themselves, it was the placement of legend that determined a person’s position within the society.

For the eight hundred or so years that the Kracori had been aware of the Juireans — since revealed by the Klin — their consciousness had been dominated by the Legend of the Juireans. It infected their politics and haunted their dreams, even though no Kracori had ever met a Juirean face-to-face.

The Klin had introduced the galaxy to the Kracori, if only peripherally. Yet conversely, the Klin had been careful not to reveal the Kracori to the rest of the galaxy, electing to save them for their grand finale. That time had finally come, but as it turned out, it was the Klin who had not been invited to the party.

In doing so, the Kracori had greatly diminished the Legend of the Klin, a legend that for many generations ranked second only to that of their own. Now with the utter demolition of the Juirean Legend, the only legend the Kracori had to contend with now was the Legend of Earth.

As Jonnif prepared himself for the day’s activities — which undoubtedly would have him speaking directly with the Council Elder Hydon Ra Elys — he was curious to learn what Humans were doing on Juir. He had not been aware that any were even near the planet, let alone on its surface and associating with the most-powerful Juirean of them all.

Jonnif was still confident in his plan to divert the Human fleet from Juir. In fact, the latest report he had received put the estimated time for the attack upon the planet Earth at just under seven days, which was actually behind schedule. From what he understood, there had been a delay in finding enough nuclear weapons for the attack. There had been a prior use of nuclear devices in the Far Arm about two years earlier, but those weapons had been obtained by cannibalizing some of the old Klin ships for their self-destruct explosives. Since the galaxy now knew of the Klin’s existence, none of the new ships built recently contained self-destruct devices, so the weapons had to be brought in all the way from Eilsion.

The weapons had finally arrived and were loaded aboard the ships of the strike force almost two months before. Since then the small fleet of ten ships had been making its way from Glasien-4 to the planet Earth. Another seven days’ journey … and the attack would commence.

The Human fleet was still about three months away from Juir, so once their homeworld was attacked, there would still be plenty of time for a message to be received, recalling the fleet to Earth.

I am so sorry, Lord Hydon, Jonnif thought, but the Humans will not be coming to your rescue.

However, Jonnif still had to be careful. Knowing the Juireans as he did, if he revealed to them that no hope for rescue remained, all those hiding within the bunker below would simply commit suicide rather than submit to the Kracori. And that would not serve Jonnif’s needs, not at all.

Chapter 14

After the first five days in the bunker, the explosions on the surface had ended, signaling to Adam the beginning of the second phase of the Kracori invasion — consolidation.

By this time, Adam had realized that cohabitating with McCarthy and his men was not going to work, and so a few days before he had claimed a secondary, smaller barracks for their own. Kaylor and Jym came too, and soon staked out a small corner of the new barracks as their own, pulling over a couple of cots and surrounding them with sheets hung from the ceiling for privacy. Except for the occasional contact in the mess hall, the two groups of Humans had not had any other contact over the past two days.

On the fifth day of their confinement in the bunker, a Guard commander had come to Adam’s barracks and summoned him and his top lieutenants to a meeting with Hydon. This would be the first time Adam would have been in the bunker’s command center, and he was anxious to learn the capacities and defenses the Juireans had available. At the end on a long corridor, they found a vast room full of banks of computers, monitors and about two dozen Juireans and handful of other creatures all chattering at once. The level of conversation dropped substantially when the Humans entered the room.

Hydon was hunched over a console, speaking with a technician, his omnipresent Counselor Yol-fin at his side. The technician stopped speaking when Adam approached.

Hydon looked perturbed. “Continue; they’re with us now.”

“Yes, my Lord,” said the tech. He pointed at the monitor. “You see here where the invaders have blocked off all three of the exits on the mountain side of the Plain. And here, on the city side, they have done the same. It’s apparent they had advanced knowledge of these locations.”

I knew it, Adam thought. I think we’re all screwed.

Hydon straighten up and turned to Adam. “Your race is very knowledgeable regarding military tactics,” he stated, no flattery intended. “What do you believe will be the Klin’s next move?”

Adam hadn’t had much time to think about it, but now that he was asked, he leaned forward and studied the schematic on the computer screen.

“I’ve been curious what defenses you have in place for the bunker.” Adam approached the monitor. “Are we self-sufficient down here, meaning do we have our own power, water and food supply?”

“Completely self-sufficient,” Hydon said. “And we are located within solid bedrock.”

Up until about a year ago, Adam Cain had been just an enlisted grunt in the U.S. Navy SEALs; the only true officer in the room, in his opinion, was Lt. Andy Tobias. He motioned for the officer to step forward. “What do you think, Andy? Anything stick out at first glance?”

“How many defenders do you have in the complex?”

“A little over three hundred,” Hydon answered without hesitation, “plus an additional sixty stationed in the tunnels.”

“And how many access points into the bunker?”

“Just one.”

“And any escape routes from underground.”

Hydon pointed at several locations on the map, exits from the labyrinth on either side of the Kacoran Plain. “The Klin have taken up positions at all the exits. There are several monitors keeping track of this at the entrances, as well as in the tunnels.” He looked at Adam. “This other race — the Kracori — appear to be the only military force the Klin are employing. We’ve not spotted any other beings.”

Tobias ran his finger along one of the long corridors leading to their present location on the map. “Could a nuclear device be brought through here, once the defenders have been cleared?” Adam remembered the various barricades and defensive positions he’d passed on the way to the bunker. As formidable as they appeared, in the long run, they would be overrun.

“Yes, but the tunnels can be sealed along their lengths with hidden explosives if we see an attempt to bring in such a device.”

“Then how would we get out?” Riyad Tarazi asked the Elder. “I mean if we ever have reason to leave such luxurious accommodations.”

“There is a way I can escape at any time.”

“How’s that?”

“There is a boring pod available. It is a mining device that can travel through bedrock. It will provide me and up to ten of my entourage a means of escaping, if I find it necessary.”

“That’s comforting — for you anyway,” Riyad said.

After another moment of studying the schematic, Andy straightened up. “I don’t see why they would want to blast us out of here. We are of no strategic value and the enemy has full run of the surface. They could simply wait us out and deal with us later once they’ve established a solid beach hold. And from the blocking of all the exits out of the mountain, they obviously know the complete layout of the complex, including the fact that you could collapse the tunnels if they make a move on the bunker.”

“They may not feel they have the luxury of time,” Adam said. “They know our fleet is on its way, so I don’t think they’ll be setting up any permanent outposts on the surface — or let any of the people down here survive so they can be rescued.”

“That’s true, but they have no reason to go through all the effort. In fact, they may force us to blow the tunnels just to trap us down here. Then whether the fleet arrives or not, eventually we’ll all starve to death. Problem solved. I say they’re going to sit on us. Besides, there must be hundreds of such shelters like this one around the planet. Trying to ferret out a few more Juireans from each one doesn’t seem like an efficient use of man — I mean — alien-power.”

Adam turned to Hydon. “I concur with Lt. Tobias; I think they’ll choose to wait us out. Even if we are eventually rescued, we’ll only be a handful of survivors. Compared to the damage they’ve already caused, we’re hardly worth the effort.”

“Unless they know you’re down here,” Riyad said, grinning at the Council Elder.

“Even if they did, my status is no longer significant. Within the Juirean hierarchy, we are all easily replaceable.”

Just then a loud, crackling sound screeched from the speakers embedded in the metal walls of the room. From the strong stereo effect filtering in from the nearby corridor, Adam could tell the sound was coming through all the nearby speakers, and probably throughout the entire complex.

The screeching continued for a few more seconds as technicians buried their heads in the consoles, seeking a source of the sound or a way to turn it off.

Finally, the screeching ended, but then a voice came over the speakers. “Your attention in the bunker,” said a strong voice, a command voice. “I am Commander Jonnif Vinn of the Ludif Kracori forces presently in control of the planet Juir, as well as all the surrounding systems.” The voice paused for a moment, as if the very mention of his name should elicit awe in the listener. “Our technicians have gained access to your communication network; your own technicians will find that on channel-17 you will be able to return the link to me. I will speak specifically with Elder Hydon Ra Elys.”

All heads turned toward Hydon, who appeared to be more disappointed than angry that his presence in the bunker had already been discovered. That didn’t take long, Adam thought.

Hydon nodded to the technician seated in front of him and the tech opened the channel. “This is Lord Hydon,” he said into the room. “I commend you on your rapid discovery of my presence.”

“You can thank the spies we’ve had in place on your world for years. The few prisoners we have taken so far have not been very cooperative. Not yet.”

“You will find that Juireans do not make good prisoners. What was your name? I was not paying complete attention when you spoke it earlier.” Adam didn’t know if Hydon was being intentionally provocative or not. Either way, he liked it.

“My name is Jonnif, and it is a name your people will long remember.”

“That may be so, but for now it is unimportant. What do you want?”

There was a long moment of silence before Jonnif replied. Adam could only imagine the look on the Kracori’s gray face. Adam was really beginning to like Hydon, even though he was sure the Juirean was just being a Juirean. Even still, it sounded like something Adam might have said….

“I want you, Lord Hydon; that should be obvious. We have control of your planet, as well as the Sector, with all the resources that have allowed your bastard race to maintain control over the galaxy for so long. It is all under the control of the Kracori-”

“And your Klin masters.”

There was another moment of silence. When Jonnif spoke again, Adam could almost hear the joy in his voice. “You appear to be misinformed, Lord Hydon. The Kracori no longer follow the dictates of the Klin. They served us as long as was necessary, but now it is only Ludif direction we follow. And it is our very own Ludif Council who will take immense pleasure in gazing upon the glorious being who is the Juirean Elder, be he dead or alive.”

Jonnif paused again, expecting some defiant retort from Hydon. When none came, he continued. “You are simply a symbol, Hydon, a symbol of Juirean dominance of the galaxy and how it has survived for far too long. The presentation of your body — living or dead — to the Ludifs will demonstrate to all just how unimportant you are — how unimportant all Juireans are from now on. Your end has come, Lord Hydon. Your legend has been broken. Many of your kind may still exist on other worlds, but without legend you have nothing left. You will all be replaced by the Legend of the Kracori.” Jonnif’s voice had climbed to an angry crescendo. Now he paused, letting his remarks settle so all the creatures listening throughout the complex could grasp their significance.

“If that time comes, Jonnif,” Hydon began, “I will not leave any of my physical being for you to present to your Ludifs — whatever they may be.”

“Your attempts to insult me are not working,” Jonnif said. Adam saw a genuine look of shock cross Hydon’s face. So he wasn’t doing it intentionally. Damn! “And your reaction has been anticipated. That is why I’m making this offer to all your fellow captives within your death chambers: Present to me the body of Hydon Ra Elys, either dead or alive, and I will guarantee that all the rest of you in the bunker will be set free, and that applies to all the Juireans as well. While others of your kind will be relentlessly hunted and eliminated by the Kracori, you will all be given amnesty. All you need do is surrender Lord Hydon to me.”

Adam was closely watching Hydon’s face as Jonnif made his offer; he detected no concern whatsoever. And none of the other Juireans in the room were showing any signs of shifty eyes or furtive glances Hydon’s way. Finally, Hydon chose to speak.

“You do not know Juireans very well,” he said. “The preservation of our own selves is of little concern to us. The offering of bribes has no effect on Juireans. I’m afraid this strategy will not provide the results you seek. You will not get my body.”

When Jonnif’s voice came once more through the speakers, his tone was softer, more cadenced. “That is what you think now. Once your people have been confined in their metal grave for more time, you may find that self-preservation can be a very effective motivator.”

“You may believe you are gaining leverage, Jonnif, but I know my people. Do what you must, but you will never lay eyes upon my intact body. In addition, your time on my planet is limited, so you will not gain any long-term advantage from your actions this day. All you have done is shown yourselves for what you are: animals fit only for extermination.”

“It is your race, Hydon, which is in the process of being exterminated. And speaking of our tenure upon your world, it may be permanent, or it may not. That remains to be seen. With regards to the Humans, I also have knowledge that there are some there with you, a circumstance I find curious, yet not concerning.”

Hydon looked at Adam, who raised his eyebrows in a display of surprise. The intel the Kracori had on the operations of the Juireans, including right in the very heart of their capital, was impressive.

Jonnif was continuing: “Since I personally have never met a Human, I will amend my offer. Bring me the Humans, especially the one named Adam Cain, and I will include a sizeable monetary bonus along with the offer of amnesty. This Adam Cain is the only Human name I have heard, and I am curious to see just how imposing he truly is, along with the others of his kind. They will be sport for me and my Ludifs, so only live Humans will satisfy the amendment.”

“Jonnif, your bombast is becoming boring. I will now end this conversation; it has become pointless and immature.”

“As you wish, just let it be known that my offer of amnesty will last for only ten Juirean days. In summary, for all who are listening: for Hydon, amnesty for all; for the Humans, credits for whomever brings them to me personally and alive.

Hydon tapped the technician on the shoulder and the channel was cut. He stared at the floor for a few moments before turning to Adam.

“With the provisions we have, the occupants of the bunker can survive for more than a year-”

“Aren’t you concerned about a revolt down here, about someone taking Jonnif up on his offer?” Riyad asked.

“Juireans will not betray other Juireans simply to save their own lives. However….” Hydon nodded to the Guard Commander who had led them to the command center. The Juirean drew his weapon and leveled it at the Humans. “.…with your people I am concerned.” He turned to Adam, who looked at Hydon with a look of sickening resignation.

“I apologize for this action, Mr. Cain; I’m sure you understand. You Humans are the unknown variable here. I cannot risk leaving you armed as we await your fleet. Apparently, we are under no threat of attack while in the bunker, so your weapons will not be necessary. If that changes, then I will reconsider my decision. Until then, I will ask that you surrender your weapons without resistance.”

Adam and the others were wearing only MK’s holstered around their waists, having left the larger flash rifles in the barracks. Adam understood Hydon’s position, and with McCarthy being the loose cannon that he was, it made perfect sense. At least this way, Adam wouldn’t have to disarm Nigel and his men himself….

As he surrendered his MK to the Guard, Adam looked over at Tobias and Riyad, who were in the process of doing the same. “McCarthy’s not going to like this,” he said to them. And then he turned to Hydon. “How many Juireans did you say you had down here?”

“Three hundred. Why?”

“I hope it’s enough.”

Chapter 15

Nigel McCarthy had noticed the Juirean Guard come to summon Adam, and he had followed him to the command center. Leaning nonchalantly against the cold metal of the corridor wall, McCarthy had been left unmolested and was able to listen in on the conversation inside the command center. Once the technician had cut the transmission with the Kracori, he rushed back down the corridor to avoid being spotted by the other Humans and returned to his barracks, all the while with possibilities exploding in his mind.

A full pardon and a shit-load of money, simply for turning Hydon over to the Kracori — and for solving my Adam Cain problem once and for all. What could be better?

As he entered the barracks, he met the eyes of his men, each one conveying the same silent message: Here was the opportunity they had been waiting for.

McCarthy knew they could never return to Earth; they had been too involved with the traitorous Klin for that fact to be ignored if they ever did. So the arrival of the Human fleet was not something any of them relished. For weeks, McCarthy had been racking his brain trying to find some way out of their current situation, and now this Kracori Jonnif had just handed it to him as sweet as could be.

However, McCarthy knew he had to act fast. The Kracori did say he wanted all the Humans — which included McCarthy and his men. Yet Adam Cain was his true prize. Besides, after having worked with the Klin for so many years, McCarthy was sure he could also convince the Kracori that he could be of value to them as well. Jonnif did admit he’d never met a Human before, so McCarthy could provide him with first-hand experience and counseling, just as he had done for the Klin.

But Adam Cain would immediately be on guard for any betrayal by the Juireans — or the other aliens in the complex — but especially by him. The American was no fool; he would be suspicious of McCarthy straight away.

Carter Thomas approached him. “What’s the op, sir? Extraction will be the problem.”

“I know. We simply can’t parade the Juirean and Cain down the tunnels; they have explosives in them. But there is something called a boring pod down here that we can use.”

“What’s that?”

“Something that can move through solid rock. It’s Hydon’s escape option. We need to find and secure it. Have you seen anything like it over the past few days?”

His men had gathered around the cot where McCarthy sat. “I saw something that looked like a small submarine the other day,” said the Aussie Zack Baker.

“Where?” McCarthy queried.

“Just past the mess hall, back in the workshops and such.”

“Guarded?” Thomas asked.

“Not at that time. It may be by now.”

“Baker, you and Amarillas get over there. Position for action, but don’t do anything until we get there,” McCarthy commanded.

Then he looked at the others. “We need to grab Cain and his people and then figure out a way of getting close to Hydon. The bugger didn’t seem that concerned about his own security, so it shouldn’t be too hard. But then we need to move him half way across the bunker. It could get dicey, mates.”

“Just a walk in the park, sir,” Carter Thomas said, flashing his impossibly bright smile. “And it sure beats the alternative.”

“Roger that,” a chorus rose from the other men.

“Gear up,” Nigel said. “First stop, Cain’s barracks.”

Chapter 16

It took Jonnif several minutes to calm down after his conversation with the Juirean Elder. His aide Mininof stood beside him, watching his expression.

“Now you give it time,” Mininof said. “You have given all those trapped in the bunker much to think about.”

“I refuse to be dismissed so disrespectfully! Hydon is without legend, and I am the one standing in the ruins of his capital. He has no place to be condescending.”

“Just give it time, Jonnif. I’m sure that even now the seeds of rebellion are being planted. Hydon may have no real value to us strategically, but just knowing that his own people may soon turn against him must bring you great satisfaction.”

“It does,” Jonnif said with a grunt. “But I would have enjoyed it more if I’d heard fear in his voice.”

“You may still get the opportunity to experience that fear, and possibly in person. Patience, Jonnif. In the meantime, we must begin preparations for the arrival of the troop ships. There are still a lot of Juireans left to kill, here and elsewhere.”

With that comment, Jonnif of the Kracori smiled. The killing of Juireans had become his new favorite pastime. Eating them was his second best.

Chapter 17

The Guard Commander and a squad of five other Juireans accompanied Adam and his team back to their barracks. On the way, Adam wasn’t sure if he should warn the Juirean that McCarthy may not take too kindly to be disarmed. He was hoping his distrust for the hulking Englishman wasn’t clouding his judgment. He knew Nigel would protest having his guns taken away, but would he really go all the way and try to take Hydon — and Adam, too?

Adam saw the logic in having the Humans disarmed. They had no need for them as long as the bunker was secure, and Hydon did say he could have them back if the bunker came under attack. Still, he didn’t feel comfortable without have at least a sidearm resting on his hip. All they had to do was just hold out long enough for the fleet to arrive and then everything would be fine.

Adam had left Chief Rutledge and Petty Officer Tindal in the barracks with Sherri and the two aliens. All of them seemed to get along fairly well and he’d seen marked improvement in all of their moods once they moved from the other barracks. They could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Even though the surface of Juir was now a smoldering wasteland, they appeared to be safe and secure down in the bunker. And with the truce brokered between Adam and Hydon, within a few months, the Kracori would be on the run — from both Human and Juirean forces. The war would be over and they could all go home.

Adam sensed the tension the moment he entered the barracks. The three Humans were sitting on a pair of cots at the far end of the room, while Kaylor and Jym stood against the side wall. Behind them were the white sheets the aliens had draped around their cots. All of them wore solemn, serious expressions.

Riyad and Tobias sensed it too, but before they could react, four of McCarthy’s men appeared behind them, while two more burst through the sheets behind Kaylor and Jym, flash rifles level and ready.

The Guard Commander went for his MK sidearm, but even before it cleared the holster, the Humans behind them had smashed the stocks of their rifles into the heads of all the Juireans. They fell into a silent heap in the door to the barracks.

With Adam, Riyad and Tobias unarmed, the three of them simply raised their hands in surrender

McCarthy came forward to face Adam, a large grin on his face.

“This is crazy, McCarthy,” Adam said flatly, although he knew no amount of reasoning would stop the chain of events the Englishman had just set in motion.

“Maybe so Cain, but in the immortal words of Don Corleone, ‘He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.’”

“This is going to get bloody.”

“That’s aces by me. Now get over there with the others.”

McCarthy’s men stripped the unconscious Juireans of their weapons and then did their best to place their new cache anywhere they could on their bodies — one can never have too much firepower.

“Is Hydon still in the command center?” McCarthy asked Adam.

“He was when we left. So it’s not just us you’re after? Now you’re just being stupid.”

Nigel told two of his men to stand guard over the prisoners and then left with the remaining four. Five men up against three hundred Juireans — McCarthy just might have a chance, Adam thought sardonically. For the time being, Adam would just wait it out and let the Juireans do their job. If McCarthy and his men got killed trying to take Hydon, well that would be a problem that just took care of itself….

The word had not yet spread through the bunker that the Humans should not be carrying weapons, so McCarthy’s small team was able to easily stroll through the main chamber of the bunker and to the command center without question. Not a single Juirean gave them more than their customary glance as they passed in the hallway. In five days, most of the occupants of the bunker had become accustomed to seeing the Human aliens among them, at least in the public spaces.

The command center was another matter altogether. While eavesdropping a few minutes before, McCarthy had acquired a lay of the land. Now he confidently walked straight in and approached Hydon — still at the command console — while his men stationed themselves at the doorway.

Hydon and Yol-fin saw McCarthy coming; they also noticed he was still armed. Momentarily confused, they hesitated raising the alarm. Nigel took the opportunity to rush up to Hydon and slip in behind him, clamping a massive arm around the alien’s chest. Nigel McCarthy stood nearly six-and-half-feet tall, but still the Juirean towered over him by a good eight inches. Hydon began to struggle, but his eyes grew wide when he found he could gain no ground against the Human’s incredible strength.

McCarthy let out a small laugh when he felt Hydon submit, an then he whispered in Hydon’s ear, “Now you know what your people have been up against. Pretty impressive, isn’t it, mate?”

Unrestrained, Yol-fin cried out, “Guards, protect the Elder!”

A dozen heads lifted from their consoles, the words of alarm not registering right away. Yet a few did react quicker, only to be the first to be cut them down by the brilliant bolts from the Human’s flash rifles, some before they could even lift from their chairs. A level-one bolt even caught Yol-fin center mass, cauterizing the hole it left before his body even struck the floor.

In a few seconds, the four Human gunmen had struck down all the aliens in the room except Hydon, but not before an alarm sounded. McCarthy flung the unarmed Juirean toward the corridor, where two of his men grabbed him by the arms. Several Juirean Guards were running down the corridor — but away from the command center. McCarthy smiled. They think we’re under attack from the outside. Let them keep thinking that.

“Stand back,” he said to his men, and they all moved farther back into the command center. Within seconds, the corridor was clear with all the aliens running toward to the main entrance to the bunker.

“Move out. Thomas and Sato, take point.”

At the end of the long corridor their luck ran out. Three Juirean Overlords — signified by their blue manes — were heading for the corridor, each followed by a yellow-haired counselor. The eyes of the Overlords grew wide when they saw Hydon held securely by his two Human guards.

McCarthy tried to think fast. “We’re moving Lord Hydon to a safer location,” he called out to the Overlords. They hesitated.

“No, they are not! I am being taken prisoner,” Hydon countered almost immediately.

“Alert security!” one of Overlords yelled, his voice echoing off the metal walls and ceiling of the chamber, only moments before a bolt from McCarthy’s own MK entered his body just below the neck. A flurry of other bolts sent the remaining five Juireans to the deck.

But now the dozens of other Juireans in the chamber were focused on McCarthy and the other Humans. The team moved out, hugging the side of the curving wall, heading toward the corridor leading to the barracks.

“Stand back!” McCarthy commanded, “or I will kill Lord Hydon.” He insisted on using the prefix ‘Lord’ to make his captive sound even more important, hopefully giving the troops second thoughts about opening fire.

“Disregard my welfare-” Hydon began to say, just before McCarthy smashed the butt of his MK into the side of the Elder’s mouth. Teeth broke and blood sprayed out, stunning the Juirean into silence.

The team continued to move closer to the corridor leading to the barracks, while a phalanx of Juirean Guards took up a position in front of them. When they reached the corridor, McCarthy scanned the hallway and found it empty. They moved inside.

McCarthy grabbed Hydon by the arm, freeing up the two men who had been holding him so they take up defensive stances; down on one knee, flash rifles held securely against their cheeks. Together, the team shuffled farther down the corridor, as dozens of Juireans began to fill the narrow opening with too many unguarded bodies.

“Open fire,” McCarthy said calmly, and his four marksmen began to send bolt after bolt into the mass of aliens. The Juireans in the front rows — those who weren’t killed immediately — tried to retreat, but where blocked by the crunch of other bodies from behind. Soon, over twenty Juireans lay dead, forming a very effective berm across the width of the hallway.

With two of McCarthy’s men providing suppressing fire, the other three — with Hydon — scrambled down the length of the hallway. Once at the entrance to the barracks, others from the team provided cover for the forward two as they ran for cover. Answering bolts were now coursing down the corridor, but all the Humans made it to the barracks safely.

Adam made a quick count as McCarthy’s men reentered the room. Damn, they all made it back — and with Hydon.

There was a second exit from the barracks leading to the mess hall. All the various barracks in the complex were located next to this huge room. Across the mess hall were other corridors leading to the bunker’s life support facilities and workshops — and to the room where the small submarine-like craft was located.

A few aliens were in the main mess hall — not Juireans — when the Humans entered. These creatures wore the uniforms of cooks and attendants, so they were not part of the defense force called to action when the alarms sounded. McCarthy’s men sent accurate bolts of blue energy into their bodies without hesitation.

With McCarthy leading the way, Adam and his people were shoved along behind him by the members of the Englishman’s team. Hydon was now with the last group, used as a shield for when the Juireans burst into the mess hall, however, they were all through and into another hallway before the Juireans managed to form a following party. Moments later McCarthy entered the room with the boring pod.

On the floor around the long, fifteen meter tall craft were four dead Juirean Guards. Baker stepped out from the entrance of the craft, coming face-to-face with McCarthy. “Sorry, we couldn’t wait any longer. We had to take them out.”

“Well done, Zack. Now everyone, get on board.”

Just then a barrage of electric-blue bolts streaked into the room. Even though level-two bolts were more of an annoyance than a threat to Humans, level-ones were deadly; three of McCarthy’s men went down from level-one bolts to the back.

McCarthy’s remaining force of seven armed Humans was still enough to keep the prisoners under guard and Hydon subdued. The Juirean Elder still had not fully recovered the blow to the mouth and was groggy, his head wobbling as he was thrown into one of the hard plastic seats lining the fuselage of the craft.

The boring pod did indeed look like a small submersible, long and rounded in the front. Yet running along its sides were wide tracks like those found on heavy equipment — bulldozers and such — and along the rounded front were several large laser arrays. The interior was one single compartment, with the pilot seat located in front of a large monitor. There were no windows in the compartment, either in the front or along the sides.

Once everyone was inside, McCarthy dogged the hatch and moved to the pilot’s seat. He took a moment to scan the controls and then looked back into the compartment. Spotting Kaylor, he moved back into the compartment and grabbed the alien by his shirt, pulling him into the pilot’s seat. “Can you drive this thing?”

“I don’t know,” Kaylor said as he looked over the controls.

McCarthy placed the MK to Kaylor’s head. “You better figure it out quick. You’re no use to me unless you can.”

Kaylor was familiar with just about every control panel currently in use by the Juireans. He pressed a button, which he knew would activate the generators, and immediately his monitor lit up showing an image of the shiny metal wall the craft was facing.

“Good,” said McCarthy. “Now get us out of here.”

“What do you mean? We’re underground!”

“This thing is called a boring pod. It’s supposed to be able to move through rock,” McCarthy explained. “So start boring!”

Kaylor saw a bank of six uniform control buttons all colored green. There was Juirean writing under them, and from the little Juirean he could read, he believed they said something like heat or melt control. He flicked them all on and was rewarded by a brilliant flash from the monitor as the laser arrays beamed out a massive blast of intense heat. Within seconds, the wall before them had melted, opening up a circular tunnel that grew longer as the lasers continued to send out torrents of intense light. Red molten lava began to flow prodigiously into the chamber where they sat, filling it with an ever-deepening layer of fiery, viscous liquid and incinerating all the Juireans who had followed the Humans into the room.

Kaylor gripped the steering control arm and pressed forward. The craft lunged forward and into the tunnel, which was still being formed by the constant beams from the lasers. The interior compartment of the pod was now filled with a deafening roar as the tracks lining the pod began to scrape against the solid rock sides of the tunnel. A waterfall of lava could be seen flowing down the forward wall of the tunnel and disappearing under the craft. Kaylor experimented with a knob on the side of the monitor and the image switched to a rear view. The lava was flying up behind them like the plume from a jet ski and sticking to a wall that had already formed behind them. They were now inside a bubble within the rock, moving forward at what seemed to be a respectable speed.

Kaylor glanced over his shoulder; McCarthy was still there, looking at the monitor, which Kaylor had switched back to the forward view. “Where to? I have no idea where we’re going.”

“See if you can find a navigation function of some kind.”

Kaylor was already pressing buttons and turning knobs. Finally, the screen was replaced with a green-lined representation of the surrounding bedrock, showing layers indicating the various thickness and makeup of the strata they were moving through. Another adjustment and the view expanded.

In the center of the screen was their present location, with an orange line trailing out behind them, clearly showing where the tunnel met up with the underground bunker. Adam could see the monitor past Sherri’s head, as all the others in the compartment were fixated on the screen. When Kaylor moved the perspective out a little further he could now see the edge of the Kacoran Plain. The line they were presently on was about half way down inside the mountain — and they were heading straight for the edge. Adam could just imagine them break through the side of the cliff and plunging half a mile down to the boulder-strewn base of the mountain….

McCarthy saw the possibility, too. He pointed to a place at the base of the mountain. “Steer us down here.”

Kaylor experimented a little more with the controls, first making the path of the craft climb some toward the surface. The controls seemed to be counterintuitive, but soon Kaylor had them figured out and Adam could feel the pod take a steeper angle in its forward track. Looking at the distance they’d already traveled from the bunker, and compared to where they were headed, it should only be about half an hour before the tiny craft would be popping out at the base of the Kacoran Plain.

Chapter 18

Shortly after Jonnif’s fleet had headed into the Volousian Discourse — the circuitous route near the galactic core — four large troop carriers had been dispatched from Eilsion, following the fleet. They had just now arrived on station, three in orbit around Juir, and the fourth above Bal and the energy module plants which covered much of the planet’s surface.

The forty thousand Kracori ground forces these transports carried would be the cleanup crews for the two conquered worlds. They would form into hundreds of killing squads and scour the surface for survivors.

Their task was made easier on Juir by the centralized planning that had taken place on the planet over the centuries. There were now only seventeen-hundred mass cities dotting the entire planet, with kilometers upon kilometers of vast open spaces between them. Except for maintenance stations and energy sites, no private settlements were allowed in these open areas. All the invaders had to do was strike at the cities, and then clean up the aftermath by strafing the long lines of refugees fleeing their burning cities.

By the time the ground troops had arrived, some huge tent-cities had been set up outside a few of the settlements far removed from Juir City. But these, too, would be easy targets for the cleanup crews.

After suffering through incredibly cramped conditions for the past two months, the Kracori were ready to strike down upon the surface and eat anything they came across — and it had already circulated throughout the troops just how delectable was Juirean flesh. To calm the growing tensions within the ships during the trip, Kracori commanders promised all their warriors as much of the tasty flesh as they could consume, most of which would be just lying on the ground cooked and waiting to be eaten. This pacified the Kracori warriors, at least for a while. Now their stomachs growled for the real thing.

Jonnif stood on a leading edge of the cliff overlooking the smoking remains of Juir City as the first of the shuttles streamed down from the sky. They came on gravity drive, ripping up the surface in great clouds of black, ash-infused dust. Soon ten thousand Kracori would be fanning out across the area, just as twenty thousand more would cover other parts of the planet. Jonnif had no false illusions. Even after the massive bombings had killed over half the population of Juir, it would still be many long months before the last Juirean would be extinguished from just this one planet alone. But if the attack on Earth proceeded according to plan, the Kracori would have all the time they required.

Mininof approached him with a datapad and a scowl. “What’s wrong?” Jonnif asked.

“There has been seismic activity detected within the mountain.”

“This mountain?”

“Yes … and it’s moving.”

“I do not understand.”

“Monitors are picking up something moving through the rock. It’s small, barely noticeable, but it could be an excavator of some kind.”

“Hydon — he is trying to escape!”

“My thoughts as well; by All-Ludif, he will not succeed.”

“Where is this excavator headed?” Jonnif had already turned away from the cliff and was headed back to the camp, a grouping of a dozen large tents that had been set up around his spacecraft and served as the headquarters for his command.

“It is cutting a path toward the base of the mountain, on the city side.”

“Send a transport and a contingent of warriors. How long until they reach the edge of the mountain?”

“Only minutes, Jonnif.”

“Send any ground forces we may already have in the area. He may be traveling with a small group and they could be hard to locate in all the confusion around the city. I do not want to lose him.”

Chapter 19

McCarthy’s men are good, Adam acknowledged. He had been watching them for the past half an hour, and even as the location of the small boring pod drew closer to the edge of the mountain, they never took their eyes off Adam and the other prisoners. Even if they had, Adam wasn’t sure what he would have done, not here in the confined space of the pod. One errant rifle blast and the vehicle could be disabled, encasing them forever in a tomb of solid rock, hundreds of meters thick. But now the pod was nearing its exit point. Adam was relieved; he had never been claustrophobic before, but this was pushing it.

When they eventually burst out into the open, the only sensation was the sudden reduction in the god-awful screeching sound they had endured for almost forty-five minutes. The monitor in front of Kaylor still showed the graphic display of their route, but soon the Belsonian switched the views and the compartment flooded with daylight from the screen. The tiny craft continued to crawl along on its lower tracks down a fairly steep grade until it eventually settled out onto a grassy meadow, near a grove of trees with white and red buds showing through leaves of green.

McCarthy leaned closer to the screen, scanning for any signs of Juireans or Kracori outside. Seeing none, he turned and ordered Carter Thomas to crack the hatch.

Immediately, the compartment was filled with the smell of smoke — and not the pleasant, wafting-through-the-pines kind of smoke — but rather an acrid mix of burning rubber and ozone. They were also nearly consumed by a blast of intense heat from outside.

Adam and his team were hustled outside and moved away from the incredibly hot hull of the boring pod as quickly as possible. It was obvious the pod wasn’t designed to be opened so quickly after making a passage, at least not until the exterior had time to cool. Parts of the craft were still covered with rapidly-hardening clumps of lava, still glowing a hypnotic, iridescent red, and the tracks of the vehicle were rapidly being cemented into monuments of stone as the lava entwined within them cooled. Adam realized the craft had been designed for one-time use only. Once its journey was complete it would be impossible to break the stone cancer which had infected nearly the entire exterior and all exposed components. The craft had done its job. Now it was retired, to forever become part of the landscape at the base of mountain.

The group moved into the grove of trees and Adam’s team were ordered to sit on their hands on the cool grass, while Hydon was segregated and placed with his back against one of the trees, Michael Amarillas watching his every movement with a flash rifle leveled at his chest.

Adam took the opportunity to survey their surroundings. The grove of trees appeared to be large and grew thicker the further it spread from the rock-strewn cascade of boulders near the base of the Kacoran Plain. Off to his left, Adam could see a small creek running into the grove, fed from the myriad of small waterfalls painting the walls of the cliff.

Directly ahead of him and through more trees, Adam could barely make out the jagged skyline of Juir City, a towering plume of black smoke sending a quilt of dark shadows on the ashen ground below. He had only had a moment to glimpse the expanse of the millennia-old city from the top of the Plain when he first arrived, but he knew it had once been a thriving metropolis of several million beings. Now it was gone, replaced by a graveyard of burned out buildings, their defiant remains jutting skyward at radical angles and all a uniform, oily gray in color.

The stench of death was everywhere.

Adam looked at Sherri and saw her near tears. Even though these were Juireans who had died, they had still been living beings, the vast majority of them simply going about their daily activities with no diabolical or evil intentions. This was genocide in its most-naked form, not hidden by any pretense other than to kill until there was nothing left to kill.

Adam could hear McCarthy and Thomas talking, trying to figure out what to do next. After a moment, they decided to wait until the pod cooled and then see if any communication equipment inside still worked. They were fortunate that it was late afternoon; it would have been more difficult to guard the prisoners in the murky greyness of the Juirean night. With three moons populating the sky, and a brilliant swatch of stars from the galactic center — thousands of times closer here than on Earth — the night on Juir was never truly dark. However, the time of day was not one of the things either man considered when they made their escape from the bunker.

Hydon had recovered from McCarthy’s blow to his mouth, at least mentally. The side of his face and mouth had swollen up so much that the Juirean could barely spread his lips, and when he tried, his face contorted in pain. Still, he managed to speak. “You are foolish to trust these Kracori. Humans are their enemy, too.”

“Shut up Hydon,” McCarthy ordered. “I’ll take my chances out here over rotting to death in your bunker. And I have news for you: we’re not going to be welcomed back by our fellow Humans, either.”

Adam saw Hydon frown, not understanding the comment.

“What he means is that he and his men are traitors. They’ve been working with the Klin for years,” Adam explained.

“That’s right,” McCarthy said. “So you see now why the Kracori’s offer of amnesty was so appealing. And the credits for Cain and his people certainly won’t hurt, either.”

“How can you be so alone all the time?” Sherri asked. “Even if you do survive, you’ll have no home, not even a race of beings to belong to.”

“The only race I belong to is the race of Me, missy. I’m the only one who really gives a damn about what happens to me. I’m just being practical.”

“And so you’ll live out the rest of your life on some alien world, surrounded by creatures completely foreign to you?”

“It sure beats the shite out of being hanged as a traitor.” McCarthy smiled and looked over at his men guarding Adam and Sherri. “Do they still hang blokes for treason these days, or is it now more high tech?”

They all got a good laugh out of that one, but then McCarthy’s men fell silent and dropped to their knees when they felt the vibration of approaching vehicles.

McCarthy motioned with his hands for four of his men to keep watch on the prisoners while he and Thomas went to investigate. With flash rifles gripped firmly in their hands, the two of them moved off through the grove and toward the sound of the rapidly approaching transports.

Adam could hear multiple vehicles now, as if an entire convoy was drawing closer. It hadn’t taken long for whoever was in the vehicles to locate the pod, probably drawn there by the sound of the craft moving through the rock. And it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out from where the pod originated. These would be Kracori, and they’ve coming looking for Hydon.

McCarthy and Thomas watched as the caravan of five large electric vehicles moved single file across the soft soil of the meadow. They ran on wide tires that chewed up the ground, leaving a dark brown scar in the bright green grass. These were troop carriers, similar to any such vehicle on Earth, with a cab in the front and an open bed in the rear where a dozen or so heavily-armed Kracori were seated. Standing at the rear of the cab and at the head of the truck’s bed, stood a single Kracori soldier, holding a weapon with a flattened barrel. McCarthy had never seen this particular weapon before, but he was sure it was not to be trifled with.

Once the convoy was within thirty meters or so, Nigel told Thomas to stay in the woods and cover him. He handed his flash rifle to the large former Army Ranger and stepped out into the clear.

Immediately, the trucks turned toward him, and all the heads in the back of the transports craned to get a look at him, each bringing their rifles up into their laps. McCarthy raised his arms up and out to his side, palms open, showing he was unarmed.

The lead truck stopped only meters from his position and the troops poured out the back and over the sides, surrounding him instantly. The majority of the creatures were taller than McCarthy, greyish in color, with rigid plates running along the sides of their heads. The necks were very thick and formed a pyramid shape down from the head and joining up at the ends of what would have been shoulders, if they had any. The eyes were almost solid black, large and intimidating.

So these are Kracori, Nigel thought, the new kids on the block.

An officer of some rank moved through the line of Kracori surrounding him and approached. “Who are you?” the creature asked, not bothering to draw his own weapon.

“I am Nigel McCarthy, a Human. I have brought the Juirean Hydon Ra Elys for your commander Jonnif. This is by his request.”

The Kracori looked completely confused, first by the mention of McCarthy being a Human, and then secondly about Hydon and Jonnif. He placed his hand to his ear and began to speak. “There is a creature here who says he is a Human. He professes to bring a Juirean named Hydon for Commander Jonnif.”

The officer listened in silence for a moment, and then all of a sudden his eyes grew wide. “Yes, my Ludif! Immediately.”

He returned his attention to McCarthy. “Where is this Juirean?”

McCarthy turned and pointed into the woods. “Through there, and I also have Human prisoners for Jonnif as well.”

The confused look returned to the Kracori’s face again. “But you are Human, yet you say you are holding Human prisoners.”

“That’s right. We do things a little differently where we come from.”

“That is apparent. Show us the way.”

Within a few minutes, the small clearing in the grove of trees was swarming with Kracori. Adam’s team had been bound — as had been Hydon — while McCarthy agreed to let the Kracori have their weapons in exchange for not binding them as well. Strictly for security reasons, they were assured. Then they were all led through the trees to the large transport trucks and loaded onto the back of one of them.

Soon they were bouncing across the green meadow while skirting the edge of the granite wall of the Kacoran Plain. After a few minutes, the convoy met up with a paved road, wide and well-traveled. One direction led away from the mountain and toward the city. The other climbed up the mountain, through a series of switchbacks, climbing the two thousand meters to the shear plateau above.

As Adam was jostled back and forth in the back of the truck, he looked up at the plain high above. Within minutes they were on top. They had traveled one long circle, only to end up at the same grassy landing field they’d arrived at only six short days before. And he was right. What had once been an awe-inspiring complex of majestic shining obelisks, surrounding the massive bronze pyramid, was now just a sickening pile of smoking ruble. The entire cluster of magnificent buildings was gone, now an alien environment, unrecognizable from just days before.

Chapter 20

The landing field to the north of the building complex was now spotted with nine Klin flying saucers, all sitting precariously on the shiny, round pedestals protruding from their underbellies. A camp of several large white tents had been set up close to one of the starships and the convoy made its way in that direction.

After parking, all the prisoners were herded off the back of the truck and paraded to the closest tent. A tall Kracori emerged from inside, wearing a tight-fitting vest and black pants. His arms were bare and showed a defined musculature Adam had not seen in many races — other than his own. The wide mouth of the creature was stretched into a grin, and there seemed to be a sparkle in his eye. This would be Jonnif, commander of the Kracori invasion force.

The Kracori officer from the convoy pulled Hydon forward by his arm and placed the Juirean leader in front of his commander. Jonnif grinned even wider, displaying a double row of long, sharp teeth. He made no effort to conceal them, meaning he was either issuing a challenge to the Juirean or his race did not subscribe to such covenants.

“So Lord Hydon, here you are in the flesh,” Jonnif said with immense joy in his voice. “I believe you made a vow that I would never gaze upon your intact body.” Jonnif poked Hydon with a clenched fist. “This does not appear to an apparition standing before me, so I assume you must be very troubled by the circumstance you now find yourself in. I hope so, because your trials have only just begun.”

Jonnif turned to address the officer holding Hydon’s arm. “Who has delivered the Elder to me? Bring him forward.”

The officer motioned for McCarthy to step forward. The two creatures faced each, both of similar heights and builds. McCarthy’s face remained stoic.

“You are a Human?” Jonnif asked, truly seeking the answer.

“That’s right. My name is Nigel McCarthy. You promised amnesty to the one who brought you Hydon, as well as a financial reward for Adam Cain.”

Jonnif gazed past McCarthy at the group of bound Humans standing next to the large transport. “Which of you is Adam Cain?”

Adam took a step forward. Jonnif motioned for him to be brought to him. The Kracori commander then looked back and forth between the two Humans as they stood next to each other. “I find this so confusing: a member of your own race has decided to trade you for the promise of credits.” Jonnif said to Adam, shaking his head. “The only Kracori imprisoned by other Kracori are those who have committed crimes against the race. From my understanding, you are an accomplished warrior among your people and the leader of a force fighting against the Juireans, so hardly a criminal.” Jonnif then turned his attention to McCarthy. “And yet you still take him prisoner and present him to me — for monetary gain? I find this fascinating. Your kind truly is an enigma and highly unpredictable.” The Kracori commander looked at the other of his race now standing next to him and laughed. “I will have to be on my guard with these creatures, Mininof, and tremble with fear in their presence.”

After a moment more of sizing up the Humans, Jonnif nodded to McCarthy. “I will honor my offer to you, both of amnesty and of credits.”

“For me and my team.” McCarthy’s boldness caused the Kracori to widen his eyes.

“You fascinate me, Human. We must speak further; I must seek to find your legend. And yes, your team is as one with you. You will all share in whatever fortunes befall the one.”

Once more, Jonnif turned his attention to Adam. “The same goes for you and your companions. Mininof, make preparations for a test of these warriors. Humans are rumored to be the most superior fighters in the galaxy, at least according to our former associates the Klin. I wish to see this for myself.” He looked at McCarthy again. “Come with me now; we will talk.”

McCarthy entered the nearest tent, followed by five Kracori and Hydon Ra Elys. There were various partitions within the tent, dividing it into several compartments. Jonnif entered one of the sections and sat on a couch placed along the outer wall of the tent. There was another long couch opposite him and he motioned for McCarthy to take a seat. Hydon remained standing behind the couch and under heavy guard.

An attendant entered and brought Jonnif a drink in a large mug. “Forgive me, but I am terrible with alien names. What was yours again?”

“Nigel McCarthy.”

“That is correct. Very odd, but I will respect your ways. I would offer you a liquid, but until you have been tested, what I offer could kill you.” Jonnif laughed; his mood almost giddy. He’s really stoked by his good fortune, McCarthy thought.

After another long swallow of his drink, Jonnif smiled at the large Human. “I have seen how your race is able to deceive others, as you did in the battle of Falor-Kapel. Are you aware of that battle?”

“Yes, I am. At the time, I was the lead Human advisor to Pleabaen Linuso of the Klin on Marishal.”

Jonnif was truly shocked by the revelation. “Forgive me once more, but I was not aware I was in the presence of such an important dignitary. In such a large galaxy, it is a miracle of fate that we have met. How was it that you came to be in the service of the Klin?”

“I was one of the people taken from the Earth when the Klin were building their army. Their former advisor had grown old and sick and the Klin needed a replacement. I volunteered for the job.”

“You must know by now that the Klin have not been working in the best interest of the Humans.”

“I knew that. It just didn’t matter.”

Jonnif smiled wider and then finished off his drink. He gestured for another. “Is this attitude you’re exhibiting common among the Humans? Is there no such thing as loyalty in your race?”

“That depends,” Nigel said. “Some are more loyal than others. I happen to be more loyal to myself than to others.”

“I suppose that attitude could come in handy; it certainly has for you this day, I must admit. You not only brought me the Juirean leader, but also a very effective and dangerous warrior of your own kind — along with his support.”

It was McCarthy’s turn to smile. “I am very good at what I do. And my services might be available for hire by the Kracori as well.”

Jonnif moved to the edge of the couch, his hands resting on his legs. “You would offer to advise the Kracori in the ways of the Humans? You understand that we are just as determined to rid the galaxy of the Human race as we are the Juireans?”

“That’s fine with me, just so I’m properly compensated for my expertise and advice.”

Jonnif actually slapped his knee is a show of excitement. “Of course, Nigel McCarthy! The Ludif Council would welcome your assistance — and be willing to provide a planetary fortune in return.”

McCarthy raised his eyebrows. “I’m okay with that,” He smiled, full-toothed and unabashed. “When do we start?”

“Immediately,” Jonnif declared, rising from the couch. “You will accompany Hydon on his faithful journey to Eilsion. I will send along a recommendation to the Ludif Council and allow you to present the Juirean personally. The Council will be very impressed. Kaddof!” Jonnif cried out.

Jonnif’s second-in-command entered with a quizzical look.

“Nigel McCarthy, the Human here, has just now joined our ranks. He and the other members of his team are to be afforded our greatest respect. He will escort Elder Hydon to Eilsion and present him to the Ludif’s. Have them all moved to Dagorif’s ship for the most expedient departure.”

“Yes, Jonnif.” Kaddof turned to McCarthy. “Follow me. We will gather your companions and depart in approximately three hours.”

As Nigel McCarthy followed the gray being out of the tent, he was feeling an almost overwhelming excitement. A planetary fortune and respect from the Kracori! I’m really brill, I am!

Chapter 21

Adam’s day wasn’t going as well as Nigel McCarthy’s. All the prisoners had been taken to another tent and tied to the center support poles. They now sat on the grassy floor, struggling as best they could against their restraints. The tent served as some sort of workshop and storage facility, with several long benches set along the canvas walls of the tent and a prodigious number of crates stacked to the rear. They were offered no food or drink.

Jym was apoplectic, while Kaylor tried to assure him that it was only Adam and the other Humans the Kracori were interested in.

“Our races are known well to the Expansion, Jym,” Kaylor said. “Nothing will be gained by testing us.”

“And yet we always seem to be included in whatever misfortune befalls them.”

“That could be as much our fault as theirs-”

“I would say it’s more your fault, Kaylor. It was you who first brought Adam aboard the FS-475 so many years ago. You should have left him to die.”

“Hey, relax you two,” Adam said. “And thanks for that, Jym -

left me to die?”

“I’m only being practical, Adam,” Jym defended. “Many of the recent events in the galaxy would have unfolded just as they have if we had not met you, yet Kaylor and I would have continued with our lives unmolested — if not for you.”

Adam leaned his head back against the metal pole and closed his eyes. Jym was probably right. The sequence of events of the past three years had already been put in motion hundreds of years before Adam came along. He just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Now here he was, sitting on the grass of the planet Juir and about to tested — whatever that means — by a race of creatures who just kicked the ass of the most powerful force in the galaxy.

No matter how limited the Kracori time on Juir may be they had definitely left their mark on the planet for millennia to come. What the Humans would do with the burned out hulk of a planet when they arrived, Adam had no idea. Besides, with the Juireans essentially demoted now to third-world status, the fleet wouldn’t have much to do once they got here. With Juir already destroyed, the fleet might just simply turn around and go home.

But Adam couldn’t let the rest of them know how hopeless he felt their situation to be. After all, he was the great Adam Cain, Starfighter Extraordinaire!

“It will all work out, Jym,” he finally said without opening his eyes. “Trust me. We’ve gotten out of worst situations than this before.”

Jym stared at Adam for several moments before replying. “Seriously — when?”

Adam could only answer with was a grin and shrug. From her place next to him, Sherri just snorted.

About an hour later three large Kracori came and took Adam away. A few minutes after that two more entered the tent, and after eyeing the prisoners for a few moments, took seats at the benches. Only one of the Kracori was wearing a sidearm and appeared to be a guard. The other was a technician of some kind.

Adam was half pulled and dragged to a nearby tent. The interior of this one was nearly empty, just a large open area that had been set up as some kind of viewing area. Two rows of seats had been arranged along one side of the arena and even now about a dozen Kracori were milling about, taking seats and drinking from large, metal mugs. As Adam was brought in, they all looked at him with amused curiosity, like some circus animal being paraded before the crowd. This was entertainment, and after five days of intense action against the planet Juir, the Kracori officers could sure use a diversion about now. Adam Cain was to be that diversion.

Adam was placed at the center of the grass-floored display area and his bindings removed. He had no idea what the test would entail, but he figured it probably would be a physical contest of some kind, since the Kracori appeared to pride themselves on their strength and aggressiveness. It would also be to the death — his. That’s normally how these things went.

A few minutes later Jonnif entered, chatting jovially with his omnipresent companion Mininof. He barely acknowledged Adam, who stood in the middle of the arena feeling awkward and unsure. The Klin had chosen the Kracori as their physical surrogates for a reason, just as they had the Humans. Yet to the Klin, the Humans were expendable, simply to be used as fodder to reduce the Juireans numbers. The Kracori, on the other hand, had been selected to accompany the Klin all the way to Juir. Adam snickered to himself; somewhere along the way, the Klin missed the boarding call.

After passing through the crowd and sharing pleasantries, Jonnif moved into the arena and approached Adam. The Kracori commander had changed clothes. He now wore a pair of impossibly short shorts and a half-shirt of some kind with a black swatch cutting diagonally from the left shoulder to where the shirt ended just under his rib cage. Adam could see the muscles of the creature’s abdomen, showing a nicely defined six-pack. Although the outfit looked gay, the Kracori himself was intimidating.

“Adam Cain,” Jonnif said, more to the crowd than to him. “You are the first Human any of us have seen in person, although we have been aware of your race for a hundred years or more. The Klin looked upon the Humans as mere savages, but useful savages. Being much more patient than we Kracori, the Klin waited until your race had advanced enough technologically before you could play a part in their ultimate plan. With a little nudge here and there, you progressed nicely.”

Jonnif moved to face him, standing only a few inches away. “But all you ever were to them was meat — but strong meat — born on a heavy-gravity rock and possessed of a combination of strength and agility rarely found in the galaxy — just as the Kracori.” A cheer rose up from the audience. “Yet unlike your race, we do not war amongst our own kind, at least we haven’t in over five thousand years.”

He turned back to the crowd with a flourish of his hand. “However, even now members of your own race betray you for nothing more than monetary gain. It is revealed now, Adam Cain, that the one trait that has made you so valuable to the Klin is the fact that you have never stopped warring amongst your kind. This shows that you will kill no matter the enemy. This trait has also made you adept at all the strategies and tactics associated with war — as well as quite the unpredictable type. As the Klin have said — savages.”

He turned to face Adam again. “I will now test that prowess. We will have a contest; I will not seek to kill you — at least not yet. However, if this test reaches the point when it appears you may kill me…” He drew out the sentence as several members of the audience laughed. “…then my companions here will descend upon you for a few moments of sport themselves. If you are lucky, you will survive their actions; let me correct myself — if you are unlucky you will survive. That would just mean another session and even more entertainment.

“The assault on Juir has been rather disappointing for warriors like the Kracori. We had been hoping for more face-to-face combat with the Juireans. Unfortunately, even as we begin our more intense sweep of the planet, the officer corps here rarely has the opportunity to experience combat first-hand. As a warrior yourself, I’m sure you are aware of such a division of labor. So as long as you live, we will make sport of you — and also of the other Humans we have captured.” He turned back to the crowd and smiled. “I only wish there were more of you!” The crowd roared.

“Give it a few more months and you’ll be up to your assholes in Humans.”

Jonnif turned to Adam, never losing the smile. “Ah yes, your fleet! I almost forgot.” As he took a step in closer his smile disappeared. “Your fleet will not be arriving anytime soon, Adam Cain — or ever for that matter.”

The seriousness of Jonnif’s words made Adam cringe. “What do you mean?”

“I mean soon your fleet will be returning to your homeworld, there to tend to the massive destruction wrought by the Kracori nuclear strike upon your Earth.”

Adam felt the blood drain from his face. Could the Kracori be speaking the truth? “Bullshit, Jonnif!”

“Bull…shit? What an interesting phrase. What does it mean?”

“It means you’re lying.”

“Jonnif turned to his audience of Kracori officers. “Am I telling a none-truth, my Ludifs?”

Uniformly the crowd shook their heads and said no, some even calling out: Death to the Humans, let them all die!

When Jonnif turned back to face Adam, he wore the most diabolically-satisfying look Adam had ever seen on a living creature. “It is true, Adam Cain. Within a very short time — days as a matter of fact — a Kracori force will be arriving to ravage your home planet with enough nuclear death and destruction to render it uninhabitable for hundreds of years. Your fleet will have no choice to break off and return to Earth like a whipped krymelic. The Legend of Earth will be broken forever. Without the resources of your planet to supply the bodies and tools of war, the Human race will cease to be a significant player in galactic affairs. The Kracori will remain on Juir and within the Alliance Cluster. We will continue to hunt down all surviving Juireans, and we Kracori will rule the galaxy for thousands of years to come!”

He stepped away from Adam, who now stood with his mouth agape, feeling dizzy and drained from the Jonnif’s sincere revelation. He wasn’t lying; he had taken too much satisfaction from the telling of his story to be making it up. And then something stuck in Adam’s mind: within a very short period of time — days!So the attack has not occurred yet! Would it be possible for Adam to warn the Earth of the impending attack? Possible, but not while standing in the middle of a fighting arena on the planet Juir….

Adam took a deep breath and felt his energy return. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. “Fuck you, Jonnif!” he yelled. “Let’s get this thing started!”

Jonnif turned back to him, a look of confusion on his face. “I am truly puzzled, Adam Cain. You wish to engage me in a sexual act, just as we are preparing to fight? Are the mating rituals on Earth ones of such physical combat and submission? If so, then you truly are savage.”

Jonnif squared up his stance. “Then let us begin. I will go first.”

Adam was stunned by the remark, not understanding what the Kracori meant. But suddenly Jonnif stepped forward and swung out with his right arm. He was fast, faster than any other creature Adam had fought since being cast into the galaxy, but Adam was able to easily dodge the blow and sweep the Kracori’s arm away with his own. Jonnif looked stunned, yet he countered quickly with a left hook that came at Adam from way too far out, like what you’d see in a schoolyard fight as two young boys flailed away at each other. TheKracori may be warriors, Adam thought, but they obviously don’t know any real hand-to-hand fighting techniques.

As he swept away the Jonnif’s arm, Adam grabbed his left wrist and twisted it backwards, spinning the Kracori around and pressing the alien’s arm against his back. Next, Adam clamped his right arm around Jonnif’s chest and pulled him tight. For a moment Jonnif struggled against Adam’s hold, but was unable to break free.

And then the most remarkable thing happened: The Kracori’s head twisted 180-degrees around, until their two faces were only inches apart. Jonnif smiled — and then spit in Adam’s face!

He released the alien and staggered back, wiping the disgusting spittle from his face. He had no idea what kind of alien germs could be contained in the sticky liquid. And they call us savages!

Jonnif took the opportunity to lower his shoulder and charge at Adam. In the light gravity of Juir, the Kracori was extremely fast and he impacted Adam with a force that knocked the wind out of his lungs and sent him crashing to the ground. Immediately, Jonnif was on top of him, striking his face with blow after incredibly-strong blow.

Stunned, Adam kicked up with his right knee, hitting Jonnif in the back and sending him rolling over Adam’s head. Recovering quickly from the blows he’d suffered, Adam scrambled around and fell on Jonnif’s back, pressing the alien’s body into the grassy floor of the arena. He then sent a powerful fist into Jonnif’s ribcage — once, then twice.

The Kracori cried out in pain and managed to roll over, dislodging Adam from his back. Now on his knees, Adam struck a strong right cross into Jonnif’s chin. The creature’s eyes grew wide at first, and then the eyelids began to flutter. Adam followed with another strong fist to the same region and Jonnif collapsed to the ground.

Adam’s victory was short-lived, however, as he suddenly felt his body pommelled by kick after kick to his ribs and face. One of the kicks sent him rolling over onto his back, where a flurry of booted feet came crashing down upon him. Within moments, the kicks had no further affect, as Adam slipped into the numb blackness of peaceful unconsciousness.

Chapter 22

Sherri was worried about Adam. She had heard cheering off in the distance a while ago and knew some kind of spectacle was taking place. But now she could hear nothing. Had she just heard the ceremonial death of Adam Cain? And after him, they would be coming for the rest of them….

All the Humans in the tent had struggled as best they could against their shackles, but to no avail. Sherri then noticed one of the Kracori looking at her intensely. The creature leaned over to his bench mate and whispered something. They both spun around in their chairs.

“You’re a female of the Human race, is this correct?” the first Kracori asked her. She did not detect any deviousness in the voice, just curiosity.

Sherri lowered her head, avoiding the interviewer’s eyes. “Yes I am. I fulfill my duties — as I must.” A plan began to blossom in her mind.

All the Human males looked over at her with raised eyebrows, yet none spoke.

“You are much smaller than the males of your species. Are you their mate?”

“Yes. As I said, I fulfill my duties as is dictated.”

The two Kracori smiled and nudged each other. “Is it only one of you for all of them?”

“Yes. It is much work, tending to the needs of them all — especially when it comes to feces removal.”

The Kracori’s mouths fell open in shock — as did those of Sherri’s Human companions. Feces removal?

“Please explain? We do not understand.”

Sherri refused to meet the eyes of the Kracori, instead maintaining the look of submissive weakness. “I will be punished for telling you this, but the males will relieve themselves whenever and wherever they wish.”

“Do you not have grooming stations?”

“Only for the females. They are for our own use, as well as for disposing of the waste of the males. It is a very disgusting chore.”

“Agreed!” said the Kracori guard. “So they just drop feces wherever they wish?”

“True, and as meat eaters, their feces is always sticky, wet and carries such an incredibly foul odor-”

“Female!” Riyad cried out. “It is time. I am beginning to relieve myself and I have not done so for a very long while.”

The two Kracori looked at Riyad with a look of panic and disgust. “You cannot do such a thing here.”

“My body says otherwise. Does your race have control over such natural bodily functions? Must you not breathe when you must breathe?”

One of the Kracori looked to the other. “I’m not going to clean up the mess!”

“Neither shall I-”

“And the smell will linger for hours, I must warn you,” Sherri added.

“Then you must tend to the male.”

“Of course, but how; I am bound?”

“I will release you. You are not a warrior and therefore not a risk. What will you require for the … the feces?”

“A scoop of some kind and a bag in which to place it; then it must then be buried else the smell will remain and become overwhelming.”

One of the Kracori found a small metal sheet and a bag, while the other knelt down next to Sherri and unlocked the shackles around her wrists. He then released the lock on the straps holding her to the support pole.

“Will this suffice?” asked the other Kracori as he handed her the sheet of metal and the bag.

“Yes, very well.” She scooted over to where Riyad was tied and began to undo his pants. “The scene is very graphic….”

“We will wait outside. Let us know when you are done.” The two Kracori exited through the canvas flap of the tent, shaking their heads in disgust as they left.

Sherri looked up into Riyad’s face, which now displayed a broad, wicked smile as she fumbled with his trousers. She pushed herself away. “Keep dreaming, Riyad,” she said, while returning his smile. Then she slipped in behind him and attempted to release the lock to his bindings. It was too strong; she could not free them.

She rose quickly to her feet and ran to the work benches. There she found a large crescent wrench-like tool and moved to the side of the entrance flap to the tent.

“I am done,” she called out.

The two Kracori entered. “That was quick. Where are you?” one of them asked as they entered the tent.

“Right here,” Sherri said as she swung the wrench with all her might. The solid metal tool struck the head of the closest Kracori sending him slumping to the ground. She swung again yet the second Kracori had time to raise his arm in self-defense. Still, the wrench carried a powerful impact and the alien fell backwards, landing on the ground at the feet of John Tindal. The Navy SEAL reached out with his unbound legs and clamped them around the head of the Kracori. Before he could resist, Sherri brought the heavy end of the wrench down directly on the chest of the alien. All the air was expelled from his lungs and his eyes grew wide. Tindal kicked the creature away, and Sherri finished him off with a skull-crushing final swing of the wrench.

“Great job, Sherri,” Lt. Tobias whispered, “if somewhat disgusting.”

Sherri smiled and then ran over to the unconscious Kracori she’d hit first. He was the one who had unlocked her bindings earlier. After rifling through his pockets she emerged with the key, and moments later they were all free.

Only one of the Kracori had been armed and within seconds Tobias had the MK gripped firmly in his hand.

“We have to find Adam,” Sherri said desperately, hoping they were not too late.

“Roger that,” Tobias said. “The sounds came from the left. I’ll take point. It’s dark out now, but not totally, so be careful. Move out.”

Outside the tent all seemed quiet. With the moons of Juir and the stars of the Milky Way so prominent, it could barely be referred to as dark, yet it was still enough to provide them some cover. The cheering within the other tent had ceased a while ago; most of the Kracori had now either retired to the tents or moved inside the spaceships and their living quarters.

They covered the distance to the next tent without a problem, but found it to only contain partitioned rooms with no one inside.

At the next tent, Tobias pulled back a small section of the entrance flap and gazed inside, with Sherri practically on his back looking inside as well. There they saw just a large open space with rows of empty seats off to the right. And near the center of the open area lay the unconscious body of Adam Cain, a heavy metal chain running from him to the tent’s center pole.

Tobias looked back at the rest of them all clustered behind him. “It’s Cain,” he whispered. “And he’s alive.”

“How do you know that?” Sherri asked, concern dripping from her voice.

He smiled. “’Cause I don’t think they’d chain up a corpse.”

He looked inside again, this time sweeping the full interior for any signs of the Kracori. When he was sure there were none, he flipped back the canvas and ran towards Adam, followed closely by the others. Tindal maintained watch at the doorway.

Sherri crouched down and lifted Adam’s head. She felt his carotid artery and found a pulse. His face was badly bruised and blood was caked below his nose. She slapped his face a couple of times — lightly — and could see his eyeballs move under the lids. Slowly Adam opened his eyes. Focusing in on Sherri, he tried to smile, then grimaced with pain.

“That didn’t go exactly as planned,” he finally managed to eke out.

“Anything broken?” Sherri asked as she helped him sit up.

“I don’t think so.” Adam expanded his focus to find Tobias and Riyad staring at him, looks of concern on their faces. “Are you guys free, or did they just throw us all in the same jail somewhere?”

“We’re free — for now,” Tobias said. “But we have to get out of here soon.”

Adam batted his eyes a few more times, as the cobwebs began to clear from his mind — and then he suddenly surged forward and grabbed Tobias by the shirt. “They’re going to nuke the Earth, Andy!” he cried out, far too loudly considering their current location.

“They’re what?”

“Jonnif told me the Kracori are going to nuke the planet so that the fleet will return to Earth instead of coming here.”

“When?”

“He said very soon, within days.”

Tobias followed the chain binding Adam to the center pole and then back to Adam’s wrists. The chain was thick and a hefty-looking lock secured it. “Rutledge, Riyad, grab hold of that chain link there.” He lifted the chain and all three men took hold of one of the links. “Now pull!”

All three men grunted and gritted their teeth until they saw a small separation begin to appear in the link. A few more groans and they’d pulled the link far enough apart so they could break the chain. Adam was still shackled in heavy metal cuffs but at least now they could leave the tent.

“We have to make contact with Earth, let them know about the attack,” Adam said between swollen lips.

“How do we do that,” Sherri asked as they helped Adam to his feet.

“Direct communication with Earth is impossible without comm buoys having already been laid,” Jym said, his tiny body nearly lost among the much taller Humans.

“What about the fleet?” Adam asked. “They’ve been laying buoys since they left.”

“Yes, that might work, but they are many thousands of light years away. Not knowing the comm frequencies for them, we would have to be much closer than we are now to make contact through traditional means.”

“Then we’re just going to have to take one of these ships,” said Riyad Tarazi matter-of-factly. As the former leader of the Fringe Pirates, absconding with a stolen spaceship was second nature to him.

“Target one of the smaller ones in the back,” Adam said, feeling now as though he may have a few bruised or cracked ribs. “We’re going to have to lift off without causing too much alarm.”

With the others helping him, Adam made it to the main entrance to the tent, and then before heading out into the open, he turned to Tobias and asked, “How did you get away?”

Andy Tobias grinned. “Sherri raised such a shit-storm that they just had to let us go.”

“She did what … they just let you go?”

Riyad put his hand on Adam’s shoulder. “Let’s save that for another time. The clock is ticking, my friend.”

They moved single file out of the tent and along its perimeter, crouched down in what shadows they could find. Across the wide landing field they could see a number of the Klin spaceships looking like gigantic metal mushrooms reflecting the light of Juir’s moons. There were no security lights around the ships; that would have only highlighted them for any Juirean counterattack, even though that possibility was virtually nil at the time. Only a few stray Kracori still walked the grounds and none of them appeared to be on sentry duty. Such was the Kracori’s confidence in their position on the planet.

“In the back there, that’s one of those A’s with a crew of around twenty-five.” Adam said. He looked around at the rest of his team. “How many weapons do we have?”

Tobias held up his single MK-17 and grinned. “That’s it — one gun?” Adam said. He took a deep, painful breath. “These are not your typical run-of-the-mill aliens we’re dealing with. They’re strong, fast and tough. About the only advantage I see we have going for us is that they don’t know squat about martial arts. No offense Sherri, but they fight like girls.”

Sherri sent him a smirk and patted his cheek. “Not all girls.”

“I hear that.” He tried to flash a smile through his broken lips but failed miserably. “But we’ll have the element of surprise. Kaylor, Jym, stay back in the access shaft until we get the ship secured. Okay — let’s roll.”

They darted from shadow to shadow under the forest of Klin starships, which always appeared to be much bigger once you got close to them. At the last one on the field, sitting almost half a klick from the cluster of tents, they crouched near the sliding entry door on the extended pedestal under the ship. The door was shut but there would be no reason to require a security code to open it. Rutledge slapped the operating panel and the door quietly slid open.

Inside the wide, round base was a winding staircase surrounding the central elevator tube. The elevator was used primarily for moving freight and equipment into the ship while crew used the stairs. With Tobias and his MK in the lead they began a slow, silent ascent up the stairs.

At the top they entered into the central generator and storage room, circular in shape, following the natural curvature of the ship. Beyond doorways on the outer wall of this room was a concentric hallway that wrapped around the entire ship; off this corridor where entrances to various other compartments, all set toward the ship’s exterior. There was another level above this one with two concentric corridors and more compartments. Topping it all off was the bridge, a prominent dome sitting in the middle of the disk.

Seeing that Adam was in no condition to engage in another fight with a Kracori, he was the last to enter the generator room at the head of the stairs. He heard a soft click and looked to see Tobias motioning with his hand. Tindal and Rutledge had already spotted it and were moving in that direction. It was a flash rifle, sitting on a table at the other end of the room, as conspicuous as could be. The young petty officer reached it first and snatched up the weapon before Rutledge had a chance. The Chief shot him an evil glare; Tindal just lifted the weapon to his lips and kissed it.

Tobias opened the nearest hatch leading to the outer corridor and did a quick look-see. Nobody; their luck was holding. At each hatch they came to, Tobias would stop and put an ear to the metal, listening for any sounds from inside the compartment.

At the third door, he heard what sounded like a grunt coming from inside. These interior doors were operated by recessed pressplates, not latches, so with Tobias on one side and Tindal on the other, Rutledge pressed the door release and stepped back. The door slid open smoothly and quietly — but not quietly enough for the occupant inside not to notice.

It was a Kracori officer, in the process of removing his shirt, and looking to be preparing for bed. His back was turned to the door and he nonchalantly turned to see who had opened it. His eyes grew wide when three burly Humans slammed into him, one pressing a clamp-like hand over his mouth while the other two held him down on the compartment’s single bed. Riyad, Adam and Sherri soon joined them inside the tiny compartment.

Tobias placed the barrel of his MK-17 against the temple of the alien. “Don’t yell out or I’ll blow your brains all over that wall over there. Tell me now, how many are there aboard?”

A look of defiance crossed the Kracori’s face and he shook his head. “I will tell you nothing, Human.”

“Fine,” Tobias said. He looked at Tindal. “Cut off his nose. Maybe that will make him talk.”

Adam could see Tindal hesitate; he knew he didn’t have a knife. But after the briefest of moments, Tindal leaned back and reached with his left hand behind his back.

“No! No! There are only four of us onboard.”

“Where are the rest?” Tobias asked.

“Most are aboard Ludif Jonnif’s ship. There is a celebration going on,” the alien nodded toward Adam “regarding him and the Juirean. It is a joyous day for us.…” The Kracori’s voice trailed off as he realized just how silly the statement now sounded.

“Where are they, the others aboard this ship?”

“When last I saw them, they were in a feeding room.”

“Where is that?”

“Next level up, next to the stairway exit.”

“Left or right?” The alien seemed confused. “When you come off the stairs, which way do you turn?”

“To the right. Yes, to the right.”

“Tindal, stay with him,” Tobias commanded. “We’re going up. If he’s lying … kill him.”

“No! No! I meant you turn left,” the scared alien corrected.

Tobias smiled, displaying all his pearly-whites at the alien. “That’s better.” And then he brought the butt of the MK-17 down on the head of the Kracori. The force was sufficient to break a hole in the creature’s skull and penetrate the brain. The Kracori officer died instantly.

“Let’s move,” Tobias said as he pressed through the others in the room and out into the corridor, the MK held ready in his right hand.

At a point in the curving corridor they came to the stairway that would lead them to the second level. Again with Tobias and Tindal in the lead, the team of six Humans climbed the stairs and positioned themselves at either side of the doorway just to the left of the stairs.

Rutledge once again tripped the entry pad and the door slid open. The two armed SEALs entered the room in tandem.

It only took a split second for the Humans to see that all three of the other aliens aboard were in the room. They opened fire with their weapons, and a second later all three lay dead, puffs of smoke rising into the room from the clean, level-one bolt-holes burned into their flesh.

Adam turned to Riyad. “Go down and get Kaylor and Jym and meet us on the bridge.” Riyad ran off.

Sherri and Tindal helped Adam up the last flight of stairs leading to the bridge, where he collapsed into one of the side console chairs, much to the relief of his burning ribs. A moment later, Kaylor and Jym followed Riyad into the room. The alien pilot slipped into the command seat and confidently began the preparations for lift off.

“Even this far from the others ships, our leaving will be noticed,” Kaylor said. Jym had taken a position at the nav console and was pulling up star charts even before his ass hit the seat.

“Nothing we can do about that,” Adam said. “Just do it as quietly as possible.”

Kaylor looked back at Adam as if to say are you crazy? “Either we go up on chemical drive — which sounds like a bomb going off — or we go on gravity drive and rip half the landing field away. Either way, I think the Kracori will know we left.”

“Can we use the gravity drive to take out their ships?” Rutledge asked anxiously.

“We’d only destroy a couple and damage a few more. That would still leave the bigger ones near the tents to come after us,” said Kaylor, much to the Chief’s disappointment.

“How fast can we get up?” Tobias asked.

“Once we’re clear of the surface we can switch to gravity drive. But it will still take us a couple of minutes to reach space.”

“Jym,” Adam said, “get all the weapons online and charging. There doesn’t seem to be any way we can do this without fighting our way out-”

Just then a loud explosion reverberated through the spaceship as a brilliant light filled the pilothouse through the forward view port. Another of the Klin saucers had just engaged a chemical drive, sending a tidal wave of smoke and noise across the grass landing field.

“They’re coming after us!” Jym screamed.

“No, it’s the ship taking Hydon to their homeworld!” Adam corrected. “Kaylor, can you get us up using that ship as cover?”

“We’re ready, but the sound will still be significant on the surface, and that other ship will know we’ve followed them.”

“Just do it! We’ll deal with the consequences as they come up. Go!”

Kaylor did his thing, and seconds later the ship was engulfed in its own cloud of white chemical smoke. The landing field fell away quickly as all eyes turned to Jym’s screen, watching for any signs of pursuit. As the seconds increased — and still no other liftoffs — they began to relax.

But then the comm link buzzed.

Jym looked to Adam for guidance. Adam shook his head.

The link buzzed again. Kaylor switched to gravity drive and they experienced the customary surge of vertigo as the internal gravity wells took priority.

After the third buzz Adam nodded for the link to be opened.

“Krylorif, I was not aware you are to accompany us to Eilsion?” said the voice on the link.

“We are not,” Adam answered in quick short words. “Reconnaissance.”

Only a moment went by before the voice came back over the speakers. “I was not aware.” Everyone on the bridge held their breath. “Success with your mission, Krylorif. I envy you. We have three long months before reaching Eilsion, and you know what it is like to traverse the Discourse.”

“Enjoy,” Adam spit out.

“We shall endeavor. And Krylorif, please seek medical attention. You sound as if you may have an affliction of the Juirean Junk, like so many of us.” The Kracori laughed through the speakers and then Jym signified that the link had been cut.

“Juirean Junk, huh,” Sherri said. “Is that anything like Montezuma’s Revenge?”

“Miss Valentine, you seem fixated on bowel movements tonight,” Tobias said with a smile. “Something you’re not telling us?”

“Stay frosty, people,” Adam said. “That was just the first hurdle. You can bet that on the surface they know we shouldn’t have left, and pretty soon they’ll notice that all their prisoners have disappeared. They’ll put two and two together, and then a simple phone call to their ships in orbit and we’re running for our lives.”

“So what’s new?” Riyad said with his patented grin. “That seems to be a one of our favorite past times.”

Chapter 23

Once away from the planet Kaylor initiated a full gravity well and six hours later they were leaving the Juirean stellar system. The space around them was full of all kinds of spacecraft, but very few with the gravity signatures of Klin ships. The vast majority were Juireans, or other species, still fleeing the area after the Kracori invasion. There were literally thousands of them, and the mass of gravity signatures helped to mask that of Adam’s ship from the pursuers he was sure had been alerted.

After seven hours — and easily a dozen or more attempts by the surface to contact the ship — the team began to relax, believing they had actually gotten away clean. They tried to celebrate as best they could, but then were hit with the reminder that if they couldn’t reach the fleet in time, their homeworld would be turned into a radioactive wasteland.

As she had done on too many occasions in the past, Sherri found the ship’s sickbay and patched Adam up as best she could. She didn’t think his ribs were broken, just badly bruised. Either way, it really hurt for him to breathe. There were medicines onboard, but none of those onboard could read Kracori to know what they were for, so they didn’t risk it.

Once he was bandaged up, Adam returned to the bridge. “So Jym, how soon can we attempt to make contact?”

“It’s not as simple as that,” the tiny alien stated. “We are in a Klin-designed ship — ”

“As is the fleet,” Adam interjected.

“That will help,” Jym conceded, “but we have no idea what frequencies they may be monitoring and what relays might be compatible with Klin wormhole technology.”

“What did he just say?” John Tindal asked from a seat at the other side of the bridge. Although the Petty Officer First Class had been traipsing through space for over a year, he had never bothered to inquire into the technology that made communication over light years even possible. As long as it worked, he was happy not knowing. But wormhole technology, that was something new.

Adam ignored him. “Can we send out a broad spectrum broadcast, or send the same thing out over multiple frequencies?

“Yes we can. If you make a recording, I can have it sent out over a million frequencies if you wish. There is still no guarantee that any of them would be picked up and relayed throughout the network. And if any were, they would be in the open and able to be heard by anyone.”

“Good point, Jym. Then I will have to send it in a code of some kind, but not so much that it would be lost to anyone on the fleet who might be listening.”

He thought for a moment, and then the answer became obvious. We’re Humans. Not too many people out here know anything about us.

“Okay, Jym, start recording.” Jym pressed a few buttons and then signaled for Adam to start. “Team Leader to Commander SEAL Team Six. Team Leader to Commander SEAL Team Six. This is A.C., please respond on this frequency. Urgent — I repeat urgent — message to follow. Please respond ST6 Commander.” He nodded for Jym to cut the recording.

“Send that out on as many frequencies as you can in the direction you believe the fleet will be located. Loop it; keep it going until we hear something back.”

“The message will go out, Adam. Whether anyone will be listening within your fleet is an unknown.”

Adam sneered. “I always love your positive attitude, Jym. It always brightens my day.”

Chapter 24

Jonnif Vinn was still struggling to overcome the effects of the sedatives he had been administered the night before. In light of the morning’s devastating news, it was imperative that he do so — and do so quickly.

“How could Kaddof have allowed this to happen?” he said to his aide Mininof walking beside him. “It should have been apparent to him right away that something was not right.”

“We all heard the launches, Jonnif, including yourself,” Mininof countered.

“Yes, but I was not myself. I have very little recollection of the activities of the last night.”

“In defense of Kaddof, he did raise the alarm and attempted to contact the ship. When that was unsuccessful he spoke with Krylorif who informed him the other ship was on a reconnaissance mission.”

“Which was untrue,” Jonnif growled. “And by the time the deception was discovered, the ship was already in a well and merged with the hundreds of other ships fleeing the Cluster. Why wasn’t Adam Cain killed in the arena?”

“You left orders not to, my Ludif, and you were not available to amend those orders.”

“So this is all my fault?”

Mininof did not reply immediately. He waited until he had gathered his thoughts before responding. “It was simply an unfortunate set of circumstances, Jonnif, impossible to have been foreseen.”

“I doubt if the Ludif Council will see it as such.”

Ludif Council, Jonnif thought. What a ridiculous term: Ludif.

Being more-traveled than most Kracori, Jonnif was in the unique position to see the Kracori in a more comparative light. He also knew all Kracori were Ludifs; it was what made them Kracori in the first place.

Ludif was the term used for the mythical gene that made the Kracori the superior creatures upon their homeworld of Eilsion, the one thing that made them different from the animals in the trees. It was loosely translated into meaning the god-gene, and for thousands of years the Kracori did consider themselves as Gods upon their world.

With Eilsion buried deep within a brilliant nebulae comprised of hundreds of stars, the Kracori had gazed up at the fiery swath of red and green with no false illusion that they were the only creatures in the universe — just the most superior. And when they turned their telescopes to their sister world of Olypon, located only slightly more distant from the birth star of Kyrils, they saw a world of vast blue oceans and land of brown and green.

In the early years the Kracori imagined all kind of creatures evolving on Olypon, from deadly threats to benevolent Ludif-like beings in their own right. But when the first Kracori landed upon the surface they found it to be a much younger world than Eilsion, and therefore had lacked the time required for development of any life forms higher than grasses, fishes and small reptiles.

Disappointed, the Kracori nevertheless established settlements on Olypon, a world of considerably lighter surface gravity than their own. At first, the settlers of the planet reveled in the gravity of Olypon, yet as many years passed, and even new generations of Kracori were born on the planet, they realized that these Kracori could never return to their homeworld after having lost the ability to function in the oppressive weight of Eilsion.

By the time the Klin arrived nearly fifteen hundred years before, most of the Kracori colonies on Olypon had been abandoned, with the now lower-class Kracori still living there destined for eventual extinction.

The arrival of the Klin had come as no surprise to the Kracori; it was either going to be aliens contacting the Kracori or they contacting the aliens. The Klin had arrived bearing gifts; advanced technology, engineering and medicines. They also brought with them knowledge of the larger universe beyond the nebulae and of the myriad of races that existed elsewhere.

Yet the most important thing the Klin provided the Kracori with was a destiny, a new legend to be pursued. The aliens informed the Kracori that they were to one day share the galaxy with the Klin, as rulers, as its masters. Out of all the races in the universe that the Klin had encountered, the Kracori had been selected for this honor.

The only caveat: The Kracori must remain hidden from the galaxy until the time was right. In return for a Legend as great as rulers of the universe, the Kracori enthusiastically accepted the Klin’s only restriction.

So the vast majority of Kracori had never ventured beyond the nebulae and never seen the things that Jonnif had seen. Jonnif had been to the Klin headquarters on Marishal. He had also been to the Klin base on Zylim-4 in the Fringe and even walked the markets on Silea — although under heavy hood and disguise.

It had been while exploring these other worlds that Jonnif first realized the Kracori were nothing special within the galaxy. What abilities they did possess were simply a result of evolutionary forces that were at work on every planet. Jonnif didn’t want to be misunderstood, however. He did believe in the superiority of his race; he just did not prescribe any supernatural origins to that superiority.

Which brought him back to the term Ludif….

In a few minutes he would be making contact with the Ludif Council on Eilsion. The Council was the main governing body on the planet, consisting of nine individuals appointed from the Ludif Assembly. Upon Eilsion, there were forty-six tribes of Kracori, which thousands of years in the past had actually meant something. Now, through interbreeding and assimilation, all Kracori were essentially the same. But still, each tribe would send a representative to the Assembly, and from there the Council was selected.

Once the link was established with Eilsion, Jonnif would be speaking with Daninf Kicon, the Langril of the Council. Jonnif was actually related to Daninf, with the mother of one of his mates a direct offspring of Daninf’s. Even though Jonnif was very good at what he did, he acknowledged that having a relative in such a high position had not hindered his ascension in rank and legend.

The link with Eilsion would be in real-time, a fairly recent improvement over the old method of communicating across interstellar distances. Although not universally available throughout the Kracori forces, this kind of link was made possible through a sustained-wormhole technique perfected by the Klin. Unlike traditional communication wormholes, which only existed for mere moments, shuttling communications from one relay station to the next, this improved method allowed for direct wormhole contact between certain ships and land-based stations. Consuming an incredible amount of energy, these links could only stay open for up to an hour or so at a time. After that, the warping of space had to be allowed to return to normal, as well as energy supplies recharged. Still, an hour of instantaneous communication across thousands of light years was very impressive.

Jonnif entered the specialized communication chamber aboard his flagship, which still sat on the landing field atop the Kacoran Plain on Juir. The actual comm transmitter was located in orbit around the planet, yet close enough that the millisecond delay would still appear instantaneous. He slipped into the seat in front of the large viewing screen and motioned for Mininof to establish the link. He could avoid it no longer — in fact, the longer he delayed the link the more catastrophic could be the results.

The aged face of Daninf Kicon appeared on the screen. The Langril had received a traditional link two hours before informing him of the incoming link from Juir. Daninf was in the executive suite of the Council, and in the background, Jonnif could see four other Council members, including Fennork and Becinnof, two of the most powerful — besides Daninf.

“Greetings Jonnif Vinn, what news do you have of Juir that would require such a link.” The Langril’s voice was jovial, almost bouncy, and Jonnif could see the other Council members in the background chugging mugs of intoxicants and cavorting joyfully.

Jonnif took a deep breath and began. “First item, I acquired the Juirean Elder Hydon. I have placed him on a ship which departed Juir for Eilsion last night, local time.”

“Yes, Jonnif, we are aware of Hydon’s capture — and alive. This is a great accomplishment. You are to be congratulated. Your legend will now be greatly enhanced.”

They already know! How can this be? Jonnif was furious. Only he was authorized to speak directly with the Council and Eilsion. But somehow they had been informed, stealing away the one bit of good news that could dampen the effects of the rest of the report he was obligated to make. He gritted his teeth and made a mental note to task Mininof with finding the person who had informed the Council — unless it had been Mininof himself….

“Are you also aware that the being that brought Hydon to us was a Human?”

This caused Daninf to lean in closer to the screen, now paying slightly more attention to the conversation than before. “This I was not. I did not even know there were any Humans on Juir.”

“Neither did I. But they apparently had come to some cooperative agreement just before our attack.”

Two of the other Council members had heard the conversation and now approached the screen to listen. “Prior to our current operation,” Daninf said, “an alliance between the Juireans and the Humans would have been very bad news. Not so much now. Even still, the event is interesting. Is that the extent of your report?”

“No, my Ludif. The Human who brought us Hydon also turned over a group of his fellow beings to us as prisoners, including one called Adam Cain.”

Daninf’s eyes grew larger. “I know this name; I know very few Human names, but this one I do. He is a warrior of some note who has been disrupting Juirean operations near the Fringe, at least up until a few months ago.”

“Correct, my Ludif. The other Human — Ni-Gel McCarthy he is called — turned over Adam Cain and the other members of his team. Ni-Gel McCarthy was the lead Human advisor to the Klin on Marishal until — until the Klin no longer needed him.” Jonnif saw Daninf smile, knowing he was fully aware of the betrayal the Klin had perpetrated on the Humans. “He has offered his services to us in exchange for safety from his fellow Humans and from the Klin, as well as for monetary gain, of course. He is currently in transit on the ship bringing Hydon to you.”

“Credits, of course; I would expect nothing less from Humans. We will welcome him, even though his usefulness to us will not last long.” Daninf looked hard at the screen and frowned. “But I sense there is more you wish to report, news not as welcome.”

“Yes, Daninf. With these being our first Human prisoners, I took it upon myself to test these creatures to help verify some of the information circulating regarding them. I tested Adam Cain last night in the arena.”

Daninf smiled. “I can see from the marks upon your face that the Human provided ample entertainment?”

“He was indeed a worthy opponent. The rumors we’ve heard about their fighting skills are justified, even if they do fight in unorthodox ways. However, during the test, I did reveal to Adam Cain the Kracori plans to strike his homeworld with nuclear devices. I did this to provide psychological torture in addition to the physical contest we were engaged in.”

“I see no harm in that. I take it the Human was sufficiently affected by this news?”

“Yes, my Ludif.”

“But still something is bothering you, Jonnif.”

“There is: I regret to inform you that Adam Cain was not killed in the arena, and that he and the other Human prisoners escaped from my captivity this past evening.”

Daninf was silent for a long moment, his eyes boring directly into those of Jonnif’s from twelve-thousand lights away. All the other Council members had now gathered around the monitor. They were no longer drinking and cavorting.

“Jonnif, tell me he is still on Juir, and that’s just a matter of you locating him.”

“I’m afraid I cannot, my Ludif. He and the others commandeered a starship last night and escaped the planet. We have been unable to locate him as of this time.”

Daninf was silent for another long moment, while several of the other Council members began to shout questions and comments at both Jonnif and the Langril. Finally Daninf raised his hand.

“Silence all of you! Jonnif, does he have the capability of contacting his planet?”

“Not with the vessel he acquired — yet he can contact his fleet.”

Jonnif saw Daninf turn a ghostly white as the blood drained from his head. When Daninf spoke again each word was like a dagger. “Need I remind you, Jonnif, just how damaging this action could be if he does make contact. It was upon your recommendation that the Kracori made the current move upon Juir. If there had been any possibility of the Human fleet arriving in the Alliance Cluster, we would have delayed our assault until we further assessed the Humans’ intentions. This diversion attack on Earth was the deciding factor in favor of the invasion. Without the strong possibility of the Humans breaking off their arrival at Juir, the Council would have never agreed to the invasion.”

“Is there a possibility of moving up the attack on Earth? If we attack now, then what Adam Cain can or can’t do will have no relevance.”

“The strike force is on final approach to Earth and are under communications lockdown. We will attempt, but it is something we cannot rely on.”

Daninf seemed to gather his thoughts, even though Jonnif could see a slight trembling of his head every time he moved. “Jonnif, you realize that to have first taken Juir, and then be forced to retreat, will result in even a greater loss of legend than if we never attempted the invasion in the first place? There is no shame in waiting for the most opportune time to strike a target. Yet you knew the Human fleet was coming, and you still insisted on carrying out this plan, even knowing the risks. If the Kracori are forced to retreat, we may never fully recover from the humiliation, and after only recently revealing ourselves to the Expansion. We have no established legend with them, something that might be able to withstand such devastation. Only eradicating the Humans from the galaxy would ever salvage the Kracori legend — if even then — and we are in no position to attempt such a feat at this time if the attack upon Earth fails.”

“My Ludif, the attack may still be successful. We are assuming that Adam Cain can contact his fleet, and then that the forces on Earth can stop the strike. All that we speak of here may not come to be. We can still prevail.”

Daninf looked from side to side at the other Council members, each nodding in silent agreement. “Jonnif, we will await the final outcome of the attack on Earth; we do not wish to disrupt the command structure within your forces at this time. However, no matter the final outcome of the attack, you will be relieved of your command and recalled to Eilsion. If the attack is a success, you will be allowed to retire to a non-strategic life with no loss of public legend. If it fails, then unfortunately you will be made the face of this failure and your legend will be destroyed as probably none have before it.”

“My Ludif, and other Council members, I fully accept my fate. I would expect nothing less. My first error may have been forgiven had I maintained control of Adam Cain. Compounding my first with my second error — in allowing him to escape — is inexcusable.”

“Excuses are one thing, Jonnif, as are apologies. Catastrophes are another. We must all hope now that the attack on Earth succeeds. If it doesn’t, it is not only your legend which will be destroyed, but also that of the entire Kracori.”

Chapter 25

For Petty Officer First Class (RM1) Caleb Cobb, the thrill of space travel had lost its luster about nine months ago. Unlike all the wild fantasies about space travel that had danced through his head prior to volunteering for the Human Revenge Fleet, Caleb had yet to see any extraterrestrials in the flesh or set foot upon a single exotic alien world. Instead he’d spent the past year cloistered aboard only one starship, the Bunker Hill, the command ship of the fleet. Although the accommodations aboard the craft were better than any he’d ever experienced during his sixteen years in the U.S. Navy, after all this time Caleb Cobb was going stir-crazy. And they still had a very long, open-ended mission ahead of them.

His only diversion came from the fact that he was one of the many bachelors aboard the ship, which also carried its fair share of single female crewmembers, and these women were just as restless as he. In addition, crews from the smaller KFV’s would constantly rotate through the much larger KFV-D, placing their ships within the massive landing bay for week-long stays at a time. This added to the variety of people Caleb met, but by now he’d already scoped out most of the decent possibilities, so even this activity was growing monotonous.

Although Caleb Cobb was never lonely, he was still bored beyond belief.

During the nearly year-long deployment, Caleb had not even seen any real fighting action, except for the brief battle off Falor-Kapel. Of the fifteen hundred ships of the fleet only the KFV-A’s and B’s had seen most of action — and that had only come in brief spurts weeks apart.

Caleb did his best to rationalize the situation, realizing that even if the crews could be granted liberty somewhere, it would be on an alien world completely new to Humanity. Without extensive and time-consuming surveys, covering the full range of scientific, medical and security considerations, no landfall would be coming anytime soon.

Except maybe on Juir.

Caleb knew the capital planet of the Juirean Expansion was their final destination, and even then they were still almost three months out, and once arriving in an area called the Alliance Cluster, they would undoubtedly encounter the most ferocious battle to date. Landing upon the surface of Juir after such a battle would hardly be considered liberty.

Still, at this point Caleb Cobb would welcome any chance to step upon a surface of something other than metal.

And now these cryptic and confusing reports had begun to filter in from all around them. Caleb was a Radioman, specifically a Broadcast Operator aboard the flagship. It was his job to log all incoming and outgoing communications for the fleet. With the arrival of the Klin and all their advanced comm technology, nearly everything he had learned during his Navy career had gone out the window. Now he dealt with links and wormhole relays and transit times. He hadn’t had time to learn how all this new technology worked before they deployed; all he knew for sure was that it did.

His position aboard the flagship also gave him a unique insight into the thinking of the top brass, both here and back on Earth. He saw nearly every message exchanged between the two locations and so had a fairly good feel for how things were going.

The fleet had left Falor-Kapel and entered a major deep-well transit route that the Klin spies — the Saviors — had provided them. Once the Saviors had been revealed for what they really were, many of them had been given a choice: life in prison for espionage, or join the Fleet and provide all assistance possible. Many of the off-world-born Humans had quickly converted. Caleb knew two of these men — now called Second-Generation Humans or simply 2G’s. They were really nice guys, yet very desperate to be accepted by their heretical brothers and sisters.

Command had gone out of their way to explain who the 2G’s were and how they had been born and raised off-planet, while constantly being fed propaganda about the native Humans by the Klin. The transition went smooth enough for most; what conflicts there were usually came from a small minority of the native Human population of the fleet toward the 2G’s, rather than the other way around.

The route they followed to Juir took them just above the galactic plane and into an area deemed optimal for deep-well transit. It was also a route frequented by most of the other long-distance travelers in the galaxy. Yet as the gigantic Human fleet made its way inexorably toward Juir, most of this other interstellar traffic wisely chose to move out of the way.

The Human fleet was the largest concentration of warships in the galaxy since the Juirean Mass over thirty-five hundred years before, even though that fact was not totally accurate. The Mass had consisted of over ten-thousand starships, but when it spread out from Juir, it went off in all directions, assimilating thousands of worlds into the new Juirean Empire at the time. But with that much space to cover, individual units of Juirean warships never numbered much more than twenty or thirty in an area. The Human Fleet consisted of just over fifteen hundred starships, all in one concentration, and now still spread out along the deep-well route for over half a light year. To the untrained eye, half a light year would seem like a vast distance to arrange fifteen hundred starships. Yet at deep-well velocities, the concentration of ships appeared as one brilliant, oblong blob of white-hot energy, ripping nearby space into concentric waves of warped and contorted space.

The approaching Human fleet was impossible to miss.

The cryptic messages had begun about a week ago. They came in across all comm bands and mainly from the direction in which the fleet was headed — from the Alliance Cluster. Universal translation bugs made every message decipherable, and they all spoke about an attack within the Cluster, possibly even of Juir herself.

At first, the intel guys believed the messages to be a ruse, an effort to convince the advancing Humans that Juir had already been destroyed and therefore not worth the trip. But then the sheer number and variety of the messages convinced them that this was no ruse. Juir had been attacked, and from the description of the attackers, the ships appeared to be Klin.

Caleb had been privy to the discussions going back and forth between Earth and the fleet. Had the Klin really attacked Juir ahead of the Humans? By now it was universally believed that the Klin were responsible for the entire Human-Juirean conflict, with the intended purpose of weakening both races to the point where the Klin could then assume control of the Expansion. But then Falor-Kapel happened, leaving the Human Fleet stronger than any galactic force in thirty-five hundred years. The Klin would not stand a chance going up against the Humans.

With the belief that Juir had indeed been attacked, there developed a strong advocacy among certain parties for the fleet to turn around and return to Earth. The Juireans had been destroyed, so the revenge they sought for the attack upon the Earth should now be satisfied. And who cared if the Klin now wanted to make themselves king? Galactic politics were not the responsibility of the Human race.

Others had argued that it had been the Klin who had tricked the Juireans into attacking the Earth, and therefore it was the Klin who Humanity should seek vengeance against. And now, from all accounts, they occupied Juir. To many, it didn’t seem right that the Klin should win, not after all the death and destruction their machinations had caused.

All these discussions had taken place rapidly and nearly continuously for the past week. The dynamics within the galaxy were rapidly changing, and however it all turned out, as far as RM1 Caleb Cobb was concerned, he was ready to go home.

Caleb was alone in the radio shack on the mid-watch — his watch-mate, RM2 Brian Dockins, had just left to grab a snack in the mess hall — when his comm screens began to light up. It was flash traffic from the forward units of the fleet, reporting a new message that had been picked up coming over a multitude of the lower wormhole frequencies. If it hadn’t been for Command’s thirst for more definitive intel on the Klin attack of Juir, most of these frequencies would have gone unscanned. As it was Caleb had now received no less than thirteen copies of the same short message.

And then his own scanner picked up the signal.

Caleb listened to the few short sentences and knew immediately to whom the message was addressed. He encrypted the recording on his computer and then left the radio shack just as Brian walked through the hatchway.

“Take over,” Caleb said as he passed Brian. “I have to report this.”

“Report what?” Brain mumbled after him, his mouth half-full of a roast beef sub. But Caleb was already gone.

The radio shack was located in the Combat Information Center of the ship and only a short distance from Admiral Allen’s underway cabin. Caleb approached the Admiral’s door, and even at this late hour, did not hesitate to knock. The Admiral would want to hear this.

Chapter 26

The past week had been some the busiest time Nate Allen had spent as commander of the Human fleet. The now-confirmed attack on Juir by the Klin had thrown a wrench into all their plans. It’s not that he wasn’t glad to see the Juirean capital destroyed — it meant that many Human lives would now be saved. But now he had to play politics, trying to convince the people back home — as well as several of his top officers — that they should continue with their mission, but this time against their true enemy — the Klin.

An accommodation had finally been reached: They had already come too far at this point to simply turn and walk away. The fleet would continue to Juir, but if the Klin did not readily engage, then the fleet would return to Earth after establishing a tentative government to oversee the administration of the Expansion.

At this time, it was widely accepted that the Human forces were isolated and a very long way from home. This was not a wise move to make militarily. More ships were coming, and others were in production, but every time the bean counters back on Earth ran their figures, they always came up with the same thing: More. More ships, more men, more material, more bases — more commitment.

As it turned out, trying to conquer a galaxy was a pretty big deal.

The one thing Admiral Allen had going for him — and an argument that eventually won over the top brass — was something he called the Medieval Strategy. During the discussions with Earth, Allen compared the current campaign to those experienced by armies in medieval times. Back then, vast land tracts were controlled by a lord and a castle, and on the surrounding lands there could be dozens of settlements all loyal to the castle and whatever noble-person ruled from within its barricades. Advancing armies did not have to stop and subdue each individual settlement. Instead, all they had to do was take over the castle, and then all the surrounding citizenry would naturally pledge allegiance to the new king of the castle. It was as simple as the old Who song: out with the old boss, in with the new boss.

That was the way it was in the Expansion. So far, Allen’s forces had not had to deviate to a single rebellious Expansion world. All they had to do was defeat the Juirean forces and take over Juir — and then the entire Expansion would be under Human control. This agreement had sealed the deal for Allen and his Human fleet. Even now, the politicians on Earth were receiving dozens of overtures from Expansion worlds from the Fringe to the Core, all seeking direction now that the Juireans had left.

For the power brokers back on the once-lowly and backward planet of Earth, this was a golden opportunity to gain some real power. Masters of the Universe — for real! That became the new clarion call. Yet even though Nate Allen believed in peace through strength, and that it was better to control territory than to not, he was hoping they weren’t biting off more than they could chew….

It was oh-one-thirty hours ship’s time when the Admiral left his last meeting and shuffled off to his cabin. He had just kicked off his shoes and fell back on his bunk when a knock came at his door. What now? he wondered. He didn’t bother to get up from the bed.

“Enter.” He was only half-surprised to see petty officer Cobb enter his cabin. Probably just another ‘urgent’ message from Earth; they never seem to grasp the meaning of ‘ship’s time.’

“Sorry to bother you Admiral, but I believe you’re going to want to see this.”

Without asking, Caleb went to the computer terminal on the admiral’s desk and logged into his radioman’s secure screen. Allen moved to the desk and sat down in the chair, as Caleb finished pulling up the audio file. He clicked play and then stood back.

“Team Leader to Commander SEAL Team Six. Team Leader to Commander SEAL Team Six. This is A.C., please respond on this frequency. Urgent, I repeat urgent message to follow. Please respond ST6 Commander.”

Allen’s heart began to pound in his throat. He was commander SEAL Team Six, or at least he had been when Adam Cain had been there, and the AC in the message had to be Cain. Allen looked up at the petty officer standing next to him. Cobb smiled. “I thought you’d want to hear this right away, sir.”

Everybody in the fleet knew Nate Allen’s story: former head of the Navy’s most elite Special Forces SEAL team, then head of the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) at MacDill Air Force Base, and now the Supreme Military Commander, Human Expeditionary Force, Galactic Operations, his current command.

And everyone onboard also knew the name of Adam Cain.

“Can you isolate the frequency?” Admiral Allen asked.

“It’s being broadcast on multiple frequencies, but I can pull out the strongest one for your response.”

“How about direction? Have you determined that yet?”

“It’s definitely coming in front of us, sir, in the direction of Juir.”

“What’s he doing way out here?” Allen asked rhetorically. The last anyone had heard of Adam Cain had been four, maybe five months ago. His small insurgent command in the Fringe had reported that Cain had been operating behind enemy lines at the time, as had Allen’s former adjutant, Lieutenant Andy Tobias. The Chief had been there too, along with Johnny Tindal. Nothing had been heard from any of them for all this time. And now this.

“Cobb, I have no doubt this message came from Cain. Have Commander Arseneault muster all the techs you have in CIC in ten minutes. We’ll craft a response and then wait for a reply. We have no idea of the distance at this time, do we?”

“No sir, not until the first response has time to come back. He may be fifteen minutes away or ten hours, we just don’t know.”

“And we won’t until we respond. Get moving, Cobb — and good work, young man!”

“Thank you, sir.”

Word of the message had traveled quickly throughout the CIC. Admiral David Giddens had also joined Allen in the CIC, along with Captain Brandon Holmes, the commander of the Bunker Hill.

Caleb Cobb was not intimidated by all the brass leaning over his shoulder at the comm station; it was common for his rating. However, he wished only one person would talk at a time.

Finally Admiral Allen took charge. He sat down next to Caleb and nodded. Caleb flicked the recording switch.

“Commander SEAL Team Six to AC. Commander SEAL Team Six, to AC, message received. Allen here. We have locked onto your strongest signal and are awaiting contact for urgent message. Once locked, line should be secure. Will monitor this frequency continuously. Proceed at your earliest. Allen out.”

The message was short and a little anticlimactic for those in the CIC. But it was done; all they could do now was wait.

Since the message had come from the direction of Juir, that would logically mean Cain was located somewhere between the planet and the Fleet. Caleb knew a signal could get to Juir and back in two hours forty-five minutes, since they knew the distance to the planet. So if Cain was on this side of Juir that would be the maximum amount of time they would have to wait for a reply — if Cain is able to pick up their outgoing message without any interference. Once Cain’s reply came back, they could then gauge the time needed between message and response down to within a few minutes. Then, depending on how fast both parties were closing on one another, that time would shorten with each passing day. It would be an awkward way of carrying on a conversation, but it was what they had been dealing with for almost a year, ever since leaving the Earth.

Allen had two cots moved into the CIC and placed near the comm station; one for him and one for Caleb, who insisted on remaining at his station until communications had been fully established with Cain. Coffee was brought in, and even though he was excited about the prospect of making contact with his old team mate — as well as learning about this urgent message Cain had for him — Admiral Nate Allen was soon fast asleep on the cot.

Chapter 27

Kaylor and Jym were the only ones on the bridge, stealing some time for themselves, while the Humans were down on the lower level attempting to sleep. Over the past three days, the two aliens had noticed the steady progression of resignation in the attitudes of their shipmates, along with a growing depression. With each passing hour, they knew their chances of stopping the attack on the Earth grew slimmer. The two aliens tried their best to relate, imagining how they would feel if it were their home planets under attack.

“Yes, it would be horrible, knowing that you have no home to return to,” Jym agreed. “I haven’t been back to Fulqin in over ten standard years, yet I still know I could if I wished.”

“And what will the Expansion be like if these Kracori creatures are able to take control from the Juireans?” Kaylor asked. “We’ve seen what they are like. It’s hard to believe how quickly things have changed.” But then he grinned. “I really enjoyed your comment to Adam about all these changes taking place, and how we probably could have survived with hardly any effect.”

“I see it as truth. We are very far down any galactic hierarchy, so no one would care what we do-” Jym was interrupted by a soft, steady bleeping coming from his console. He twisted around in the seat and investigated the cause.

It was coming from a word-hit, a program he’d set up to scan all the thousands of frequencies Adam’s message had been sent out on, searching for any keywords or phrases that could possibly signal a reply. Adam had provided him with over a hundred Human words and phrase possibilities for his program. It continuously scanned the millions of open messages on these frequencies, looking for a match.

He dialed in the frequency and highlighted the phrase. His eyes grew wide — and then he slapped down on the ship’s intercom system. “Adam, I think we got a hit! Do you hear me? We got a hit!”

Adam couldn’t help but hear Jym’s call; it blared out of every speaker in the ship, jarring him from the hazy edge of sleep he was teetering on. He was fed up with trying to sleep anyway. With the depression he was feeling, what fitful sleep he was able to find was filled with nothing but horrible nightmares bordering on night terrors. All the Humans aboard were suffering from the same malady. Now he could give up the pretense of even trying to sleep.

They may have made contact with the fleet!

Adam thought he had climbed to the bridge in a hurry, yet he found he was actually the next-to-last person to enter. Only Chief Rutledge was slower; he was the oldest person in the crew and had probably been fast asleep.

“What do you have, Jym?” Adam asked as he entered.

“It’s a very strong hit,” Jym replied, his voice bouncing with excitement. “The word is Allen. That’s not your normal alien word — to use something you would say.”

“Bring up the full message. Have you been able to pull it out of all the clutter?”

“The program is just finishing. Here it is….”

“Commander SEAL Team Six to A.C. Commander SEAL Team Six, to A.C. Message received. Allen here. We have locked onto your strongest signal and are awaiting contact for urgent message. Once locked, line should be secure. Will monitor this frequency continuously. Proceed at your earliest. Allen out.”

“That’s it!” Adam confirmed. “That’s it! Lock on, Jym, before it’s gone.”

“Already working on it; only take a second … done.” He looked up at Adam and smiled. Nearly all the Humans were now looming over Jym’s station. “The link should now be secure.”

“Can we tell how far they are from us?” Sherri asked.

“Not yet,” Jym said. “The original message has been broadcasting continually for the past three days. There is no way of telling which of those messages they are responding to. Now that we are locked, there will be a direct link with your fleet. We can tell when they respond again.”

“Send a reply, Adam.” Tobias prompted.

“You got it,” Adam said. “Open the link, Jym.”

“Open.”

“Adam Cain to Allen. Action required on the following message: The Kracori are currently sending a strike force against the Earth to initiate a nuclear attack. I repeat: There is an imminent nuclear attack on the planet Earth.”

“Adam, will they know who the Kracori are?” Sherri asked. He knew her words were also being recorded and sent out simultaneously.

“You’re right. Admiral, the Kracori are a race of beings who have been working with the Klin. They are on their own now and have taken over Juir. They’re attacking the Earth now so that the fleet will return there instead of continuing to Juir. Nate, they intend on making the Earth radioactive, to make it uninhabitable. They have to be stopped.”

“Tell them they’ll probably be in Klin-type ships.” It was Tobias’ turn to amend Adam’s message.

Adam grimaced. That was a crucial piece of information he’d forgotten. “That’s right. They will undoubtedly be in Klin ships — just like the ones we have.”

“Tell him about the time line.” It was Rutledge speaking now.

Adam just grunted, but then said: “And the attack could happen at any time. Please confirm that you have received this message, but send a warning to Earth first. We don’t have any time to lose.”

“Is that it?” Jym asked, looking around at the crowd of Humans.

“I believe so,” Adam said, also scanning the anxious expressions of his companions. When no one else spoke, Adam told him to cut the link. “Now all we have to do is wait.”

“Yeah, that’s all,” Sherri said as she turned away and headed for the bridge exit. “It’s still not over yet, not by a long shot.”

Chapter 28

After catching about an hour’s sleep, Admiral Allen awoke restless and groggy and went to the wardroom for some coffee and a sandwich. It was nearing oh-four-thirty hours and he’d been up for going on thirty hours, all except for the brief nap he’d just taken. The excitement of receiving the message from Adam Cain had diminished somewhat, or it could have just been from his lack of sleep. Nothing much sparked his interest in his current zombie-like state of awareness.

But then the 1-MC in the wardroom sounded. A return message had been received and his presence was requested in CIC, immediately.

Nate knew something was up the moment he entered the room. Even in the dim light of CIC he could see that the solemn grouping of men and women standing around RM1 Cobb at the comm console all appeared to have the blood drained from their faces. Is it just the lighting? Allen wondered as he met the frowns and round eyes of his shipmates.

The Admiral wasn’t one for beating around the bush. “What happened? This doesn’t look good.” He looked down at Cobb.

“Sir, Captain Cain has reported that the Earth is about to be hit with a nuclear strike by another alien race, not the Juireans or the Klin.”

The petty officer’s trembling voice betrayed his attempt at a straight-forward, professional report. Nate Allen was stunned, but he tried not to show it. He placed a hand on the shoulder of the younger enlisted man and said, “Please play the message for me, Mr. Cobb.” He tried to keep his voice as calm and reassuring as possible, however, once the message was through playing, Admiral Nate Allen had joined the rest of those in CIC in having all the blood drain from his face.

“Cobb, open a link to the Earth immediately. I will record a message, and then attach Cain’s to it. Do it now.”

Allen followed Cain’s advice and sent the message off to Earth before recording a return video message to him. It would take four hours for the message to reach Earth, and then another for a response. The fleet was constantly receiving and sending messages back to their homeworld, so any news from Earth would only be four hours behind. So far they’d received no information regarding an attack on the planet. Hopefully the four-hour delay in warning them would not be too late.

But Allen also knew — better than most — that simply receiving the warning didn’t guarantee that the Earth could prevent such an attack. There were so many plans and preparations to be put in place. There was an entire planet to defend, and they had no idea from where the attack would come — except that it would come from space. The attackers would be in ships just like theirs, so how could they be detected? How many ships were in the strike force, and will it be a tactical or a suicide attack? There were just so many unknowns, so many variables.

Allen felt impotent. All he could do was record a bunch of suggestions and send them off to Earth, where thousands of other minds, just a brilliant as he, would be working on the same problem. Being stuck way out here on the other side of the galaxy meant that he would be unable to see real-time data or fully assess the situation, and he wouldn’t be able to witness the results of any plans that were implemented. Everything he would receive — data, sit reps, updates — would all come four hours late, if ever.

If these new aliens — the Kracori, whoever they are — were successful, then Allen would order the fleet back to Earth immediately, followed by nine months of worry, stress and anger which would take a heavy toll on him and his entire fleet.

The message they’d received from Cain had been audio-only, but in the rather disorganized and confused recording he’d heard the voices of both Lt. Andy Tobias and Chief Geoffrey Rutledge, two of the SEALs from ST6 that he’d known intimately for many years. That was really good news — if anything about the message could be considered good. He’d also heard the voice of Sherri Valentine, who Allen knew to be Adam Cain’s on-again, off-again companion. Of the group of Humans who had gone missing several months before, that only left petty officer John Tindal and the civilian Riyad Tarazi unaccounted for. Hopefully they were with Cain as well.

All further communication with Cain and his team would be video and RM1 Cobb had calculated the turn time for messages at around seventy-five minutes. That wasn’t bad, but it did mean they were still a couple of months out from a reunion, if one was even in the cards. If the Earth was successfully attacked then Cain would not have a fleet to rendezvous with. By then, Allen and his fleet would be well on their way back to Earth.

Chapter 29

Even with the dire mood that hung over all the Humans on the bridge, the sight of Admiral Allen’s face on the monitor gave them all just the slightest glimmer of hope.

“Captain Cain, it was such a relief to hear from you again. First off, a message has been dispatched to Earth warning of the attack. If you have any other intel regarding this situation, or can provide more details about the enemy, please send it as soon as possible. Anything could be helpful since you indicate this is a new set of frickin aliens out to harm us now.” Allen flashed a quick, yet sad smile at them through the monitor. Adam could see the lines of stress and concern on his face; they mirrored those on his own.

“I’m glad to hear the voices of Andy, Geoffrey and Ms. Valentine in your recording. What’s the status of John Tindal and Riyad Tarazi? I hope they’ve made it through with you as well.

“I have to be honest with you, Captain, I’m seriously contemplating turning for Earth right now, no matter what the results of our defense against this attack ends up being. Even if we’re able to stop this one, it doesn’t mean they won’t try again. More information about the Kracori would probably go a long way to helping me reach a decision.

“It looks like the fleet and your ship are still about a month and half apart, seeing that we’re both rapidly closing on one another. Unfortunately — according to your initial report — any success in stopping this attack, as well as the status of the fleet, will have been determined long before then.”

Allen left the unspoken consequences of his words linger for a moment before changing the subject. “Let’s keep a steady stream of reports going back and forth, even if they’re mundane ‘nothing new to report’ reports. It will help both of our moods knowing that the latest intel we have will be the most up-to-date possible.”

Then Allen leaned in a little closer to the screen. “Adam, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for your warning. Even though the news was shocking, it would have been infinitely worse to have received a message from the Earth describing the horror taking place there, and with no warning at all. You’ve given us hope — and a chance. Let’s keep our fingers, toes and whatever else crossed. Awaiting your next message — Allen out.”

There was a collective sigh of relief from all on the bridge. “So no attack yet, at least not as of four hours ago,” John Tindal said. “That’s encouraging.”

They all nodded and then Adam began to compose the first video message for the Fleet. All the Humans gathered around the camera, including Tindal and Riyad, showing their smiling faces for Allen and anyone else interested in their well-being.

The team was still intact, Adam noted — including Kaylor and Jym. It was a miracle that he could say that, considering all they’d been through over the past five months. They’d gone from the planet Hyben, to a Juirean Class-3 warship, and then to the Klin stronghold on Marishal … and now even to the planet Juir herself. They’d certainly been through a lot. Luck — and fate — had been with them so far. But now they faced the greatest threat mankind had ever encountered, and with only a few days — or even hours — to prevent it. Yes, Adam’s team had all survived this long, but now, after all they had been through, they wondered if they would have anything to return to after all their luck had been used up?

The answer to that question would depend on what happened on the far-distant world of Earth.

Chapter 30

Although no sirens sounded in the Pentagon, the sudden upsurge in activity within the south-facing section of the massive building was like fire alarms going off throughout the structure.

The moment the message from Admiral Nathanial Allen had been received, hundreds of people in the building — as well as thousands more around the world — had sprung into action. Initially, no one knew what to do, but the simple act of having their bodies in motion helped to maintain a sense of sanity and purpose.

Admiral Bill Keller was in his private quarters when the message came through. For the past three years, he had voluntarily sequestered himself within the section of the Pentagon called the Complex, the cluster of offices, conference rooms and intel centers that made up the nerve-center of the planet’s central military space command. Since the devastating attack by the Juireans, Keller had opted to live his life exclusively from the Complex. His responsibility was 24/7, so it only made sense for him to be at work 24/7.

The truth of the matter was he had nowhere else to go. His home in Fairfax, Virginia, had been destroyed by the raging inferno caused by the Juirean energy bombs, even though no bombs had struck close to his residence. Yet with all emergency services completely overwhelmed, his 1928-built, 4,800-square-foot Colonial had ended up being just so much additional fuel for the fires that spread out from the center of D.C., consuming the affluent suburbs of Fairfax, Falls Church and even as far north as Rockville, Maryland.

Just prior to the Juirean attack, Bill Keller had the foresight and opportunity to send his family away from the high-target zone that was Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, that still did not prevent their deaths from a rogue cluster of Juirean bombs that hit the tiny hamlet in western Pennsylvania where they’d sought refuge. They would have been safer to have come to the Pentagon, yet Keller had no way of knowing that at the time.

It was just after five in the afternoon when the message came through, and dozens, if not hundreds of staffers who had just left for the day, made wild U-turns and returned to work.

“What do we know?” Keller asked as he entered the main situation room for the Complex. Already present were seventeen other high ranking officers and intel types, including Air Force General Richard Blake, commander of all the Earth’s space-based forces. General Blake had been a big-wig at NORAD until the Juirean attack. Now his territory of responsibility had blossomed to comprise everything from the Earth all the way to an area of space called the Barrier, at the very beginning of what the Juireans called the Far Arm of the galaxy.

“Nothing more than what the initial report indicated, Admiral,” Blake said. “We’ve heightened all awareness and detection resources but haven’t found any abnormal activity.”

Keller was afraid of this. A small group of infiltrators, using the same type of ships as they had, would be almost impossible to detect within the organized chaos that was space travel these days. With literally hundreds of military, corporate and even some civilian spacecraft flitting around the planet at any given moment, Blake’s command was like that of an air traffic controller, trying to juggle all these disparate interests for the mutual satisfaction of all.

Keller grimaced as he surveyed the main status screen, which took up nearly the entire south wall of the situation room. It showed the planet Earth in the center with a literal haze of constantly-moving white contacts encircling the planet.

The shipbuilders were still cranking out over five new warcraft a day, all of which had to be flight-tested within the solar system and beyond. At the same time, civilian contractors were continually testing new prototypes and innovations with other spacecraft, also within the space around the planet. Even a few of the very-rich had managed to obtain private spacecraft of their own, usually through special arrangements with their host governments.

And all of these spacecraft carried with them one unifying — and terrifying — distinction: they all resembled the ubiquitous Klin flying saucers in appearance.

How, through all this mess, was Keller to find a few invaders carrying nuclear weapons and bent on the destruction of his world?

He wished he knew….

“We need to ground all corporate and civilian spaceships immediately,” General Blake was saying.

Keller nodded. “I concur. Then we need to set up a challenge-and-response code for our military craft.” He walked up to the large screen and motioned with his hand in a big circle. “We then need to form a shield around the planet, tighter than anything before.”

“Admiral, with the velocities we’re talking about, we’re going to have to establish the perimeter pretty far out,” said Carla Ferguson, the president’s senior science advisor. “Do we have enough ships to form an effective shield?”

“Sadly, no,” Keller said. “And you’re right, Carla, the further out we go, the larger the gaps between our ships. That’s why we need to monitor every contact approaching, and if the challenge isn’t answered properly in a millisecond, we blast the contact out of existence. There may be some collateral damage, but that’s just the price we’re going to have to pay for saving the planet.”

“These damn aliens probably already know our weaknesses and are ready to exploit them,” Blake said.

“Hopefully they won’t know we’re expecting them. That could be our ace-in-the-hole. General Blake, coordinate the deployment of the ships; I’ll get with intel and work on the challenge/response codes. We need to figure a secure way of delivering these to all of our warships. Right after I brief the President, I’ll also shoot a message back to Admiral Allen letting him know our plans. He might have some input — and I’m sure they’re worried sick out there, being that far from home and not being able to help. I know I would. Let’s get to work.”

Within minutes of informing the President of the situation, a dozen major governments around the world joined in a massive effort in grounding all non-military spacecraft and to place all their land-based defenses on full alert. They had no idea when the attack would occur, so no one knew how long the troops would have to stay on high alert. It would be nerve-racking on the military personnel attached to the defending units, both on the surface and in space, but they would have to stay vigilant.

The politicians and military brass decided not to tell the corporate and private ship owners why they were being grounded, just that it was vital that all non-military vessels clear the area. Not surprisingly, no one complained. After the Juirean attack on the Earth, they all knew that this action would not be called for unless there was a dire emergency of some kind — and the meaning of dire emergency these days had been elevated to the level of a planet-buster in the minds of most Humans on the planet Earth. No one bluffed about these things anymore.

Nine hours later, all non-military spaceships were on the ground, and General Blake’s shield was ballooning out from the planet. Carla Ferguson had been right; the number of available defenders was woefully inadequate. Blake’s four hundred sixty-six ships had to encompass the entire planet, since no one knew from what track the attackers would take. In fact, they may split up and come at the planet from all directions. All they could hope for was to detect the attackers early enough so as to concentrate enough firepower to repel them.

Some within the inner circle, those who knew the full story, began to plan for strike-contingencies, including shelters, radiation treatment centers and medical triage. After all, how bad could it be? There had been over twenty-one hundred nuclear tests conducted on the Earth over the years and still the planet survived. So what if a few attackers got through; there would be damage and considerable loss of life, but could it be any worse than the Juirean attack from a few years ago?

Carla Ferguson pointed out that the technology of the Klin was so far advanced compared to that of Earth that it only stood to reason that their nuclear technology would be just as advanced. Where the largest nuclear device ever detonated on the Earth was in the range of 50 megatons, this Kracori race — proteges of the Klin — could have devices at several multiples of this. They may only need a few to get through to cause unimaginable damage. Or, as she explained, these weapons may be more on the line of neutron bombs, cascading deadly amounts of radiation on the planet. If it was the Kracori’s goal to destroy the homeworld of the Humans for the long-term, then a neutron radiation attack would be the better choice, and if that were the case, then no amount of preparation could protect against a decades-long cloud of deadly radiation encircling the globe.

Keller had left the meeting feeling even more depressed than when he entered. So it all comes down to this: stop them in space, or perish. No other options seemed to be available.

Chapter 31

Thirty-four hours after receiving the warning from Admiral Allen, the Human shield was in place, forming a thin veil around the planet out to around a million kilometers. Nunif Juikil had watched the mad scramble of spaceships — either bolting to the planet’s surface or out to form the defensive line — with both a sense of amusement and confusion.

His confusion came from the question of how did the Humans learn of his attack? As far as he knew there had been no direct contact between the Kracori and the Humans, or any of their allies. Besides, those who knew of the plan were very few and exclusively Kracori. Even the nasty Klin had been vanquished and were no longer involved in any Kracori operations.

His amusement came from knowing that the Humans had learned too late of the Kracori plans; in fact, this latest maneuver had actually cleared the path even more for his small fleet of nine spaceships.

Originally there had been ten ships assigned to the mission, yet when Nunif saw the actions the Humans were taking, he had sent a coded burst-message to the tenth ship ordering them to break off their approach. The other nine ships were already on station and drifting in dark mode just outside the orbital distance of the planet’s moon. They had all arrived from different directions in order to strike at all areas of the planet at once. Number ten had taken the longest route to its station, and therefore had not arrived by the time the Humans had learned of the attack.

Nunif smiled. The fact that the Humans had sent their ships away from the planet meant that they did not know the details of the attack, just that one was imminent. And now there was not a single Human vessel in the space between Nunif’s forces and the planet. There was nothing they could do to stop him.

At the predetermined time, Nunif ordered that the nineteen high-energy neutron and twenty-four traditional hydrogen bombs he had aboard be armed. Even subtracting the weapons in ship number ten from the total, his small fleet still carried within it one-hundred seventy-one neutrons and two-hundred sixteen traditional devices. These were very special weapons, with the neutron devices being the most-powerful of their kind ever built. Coupled with the destructive power of the traditional bombs and the searing radiation from the others, the planet Earth would be turned into a nuclear wasteland … beginning in approximately twenty minutes.

Nunif’s established a shallow well and headed for Earth. The original plan had called for his fleet to use gas jets to slowly drift to the planet’s atmosphere before revealing their presence. It even had an option for conversion to a suicide mission should they be detected prematurely.

But seeing that there were no forces available to oppose them, Nunif opted for revealing his presence now, especially seeing that the Humans were expecting him. Their detection devices on the planet would immediately pick up his gravity signature, along with those of his other eight ships. They would know immediately what was coming and they would be powerless to prevent it.

At precisely the moment Nunif activated the arming computers on his bombs, a small secondary timer — one hidden deep within the maze of electronics of one of the hydrogen weapons — was also brought to life. There was one just like it on each of Nunif’s other ships. The tiny device was very simple, just a timer attached to the bomb’s detonator mechanism. Once activated, the device was independent of all outside signals and power sources — and it would rundown in exactly five minutes….

Chapter 32

“Contacts, Admiral! In orbit!” The tech sergeant’s voice was pure panic; he was fully aware of the consequences of his statement.

Keller literally ran up to the station. There were nine very bright and blatant contacts on the screen — gravity signatures — and they appeared to be tracing a leisurely path toward the Earth. They had appeared out of nowhere and well within the planet’s defensive perimeter.

A phone squawked next to him; it was President Sean McLaren, the immediate successor to Danny Ryan, one of Keller’s closest friends. Ryan had been a great president, unfortunately in office during the time of the Juirean attack on the planet. But McLaren was running a very close second to Ryan. He was strong and decisive and incredibly intelligent, and also headed up the Planetary Governing Council that had been put in place right after the Juirean attack. Keller felt sorry for him, as he heard his worried voice on the phone. It looked as though Sean McLaren was destined to be America’s last President.

“Yes, sir,” Keller said, answering McLaren’s questions. “They are alien in origin, and we have nothing to stop them with. It looks like they know it, too, because they’re being pretty damn nonchalant with their approach.”

“It would be foolish to ask at this point how they did it,” McLaren said. “What people do survive — and there will be many to rebuild the race — we’ll let them answer that question. I’m just glad there are Humans off the planet and in spaceships who will be safe.”

“We can probably still get you aboard a ship and out of harm’s way, Mr. President.”

“Let’s not even go there, Bill. Let’s instead concentrate on sending everything we have up at these bastards.”

“Already underway, sir. But I really recommend we get you to a safe place. Your leadership will-”

Keller jerked the phone away from his ear as he heard a horrible screech blast from it. Then all the lights in the situation room went out briefly, before emergency backups kicked on. All the screens on the walls were filled with static. Admiral Keller was a high-ranking military officer in the nuclear age; he knew exactly what had happened.

EMP! Electronic Magnetic Pulse. The aliens had detonated a nuclear device, more-than-likely a high altitude detonation. Although a fair amount of the Pentagon’s deeper communications and electronics had been hardened against such attacks, Keller also knew that the rest of the country’s infrastructure was not, and that went for most of the world. As the EMP’s from the various explosions spread around the globe, the planet Earth would be cast into a new and literal dark ages. Computers, lights, generators, relays, cellphones and so much more would now be useless. And depending on the number of HEMPs, or High-Altitude Electronic Pulse devices the aliens had detonated, that would determine the extent and severity of the damage. And that was just from the EMP.

So it begins,

Keller thought. The beginning of the end….

Chapter 33

RM1 Caleb Cobb had been camped out in the radio shack for almost thirty-six hours. He had napped a little, but adrenalin was now keeping him going. Ever since warning the Earth of the impending attack, there had been a constant stream of incoming and outgoing messages. Sure, there was a four-hour delay, but this type of constant contact made them all feel more attached to their far-distant home.

Caleb queued up the latest message — just a routine update on the latest deployments — and began listening, when suddenly the link went dead. The speaker had been in mid-sentence when it occurred.

Panicked, Caleb quickly ran through his checklist; everything on his end was functioning properly. He replayed the message. Same thing, it just ended abruptly.

Caleb felt a cold shiver rack his body; his breathing grew short and he began to sweat. Vincent Holder, another of the radiomen in the shack at the time, had also heard the message and watched Caleb’s frantic efforts to decipher the problem. But when his senior petty officer looked over at him with wild, panicked eyes, Vincent knew what had happened.

Four hours ago, the planet Earth had been destroyed.

Chapter 34

Admiral William Keller walked calmly to the exit of the situation room within the Complex. With all or most of the electronics knocked out, and only dim red light to illuminate the room, he saw no reason to remain.

He led a parade of fourteen other solemn people out into the wide corridor; some were crying, even the men. Other than the sounds of sobbing, no one said a word. In the hallway, they were joined by more people, moving in zombie-like fashion toward the nearest exit. It took ten minutes before they were able to push open the security doors and step outside to join the hundreds of others who had already left the building.

As he stepped into the late autumn sunshine, he noticed that most of people in the vast Pentagon parking lot were staring upward. He followed their gazes.

There, far up in the sky, was a rapidly expanding circle of yellow and blue — the remnants of a nuclear explosion. Keller frowned; there was something strange about the circle. Others of his team noticed it, too.

The explosion was a distant circle, barely more than a dot in the distant sky. Keller knew that EMP detonations were effective at distances of three to four hundred kilometers, well out into space. But then he thought: why? Why attack with EMP’s when they had a clear path into the atmosphere, where the deadly heat, concussion and radiation from the explosions would be far more devastating? Electronics could be repaired; a radioactive planet not so easily.

Chapter 35

Xuv had not yet been born when the Klin first arrived on the planet the otherworlders would call Glasien-4. Neither were his parents, yet his ancestors of two-back had told the stories. To this day, Xuv and his people still called their world Giel, meaning the Soil of God. The Klin never called it that, which had always been a point of contention to many Gielians, like Xuv.

The tall silver creatures had appeared one day from the sky and proceeded to reassure the natives that they meant them no harm. All they requested from the Gielians was permission to establish a small base from which to carry out their explorations of this part of the galaxy. Giel/Glasien-4, they were told, was very similar to the Klin’s homeworld and they would very much welcome the opportunity to stay.

As otherworlders with advanced technology and knowledge of things beyond Giel, the natives gladly welcomed the aliens, hoping they would soon begin to share with them the wonders of their advancements. But that never came to be, at least not to any significant degree. There had been only minimal exchange of information, and most of that came after the intelligent Gielians began to piece together the workings of the technology they witnessed.

Rather than share with the natives of Giel all the wonders that the universe had to offer, the Klin simply used their planet as a galactic rest stop.

However, the Klin did introduce the natives of Giel to the Kracori.

These massive beasts outnumbered the Klin a hundred-to-one at the vast island base the Gielians had donated to the aliens. In fact, Xuv and many of his associates rarely saw a Klin in person, either on the base or out in the world. The Kracori were far more prevalent.

Xuv had no particular problem with the Klin, or the Kracori for that matter. He was actually one of the few Gielians to find work on the Island. He was an electronics expert, and as such, also knew more about alien technology than just about anyone else on his planet.

And so it came as a surprise to him when suddenly even the occasional Klin disappeared altogether, never to be seen again. He, and others like him, had made inquiries with the Kracori, who rudely informed them that the Klin were no longer in charge of the Island. From here on out, they would deal exclusively with the Kracori.

Three months ago, the Kracori had begun a drawdown of their forces at the base, until now only about fifty or so remained. Those left were highly skilled technicians in the process of prepping a small number of the flying disks for some unknown mission. They had enlisted the assistance of Xuv for the job, along with a few of his associates. That had been okay with Xuv; it meant more pay for him, as well as better acceptance from the remaining Kracori on the Island.

But then the Klin had contacted Xuv directly.

It had been four weeks earlier, and Xuv had been in his residence when the communication came through his terminal. The Gielians had fairly advanced planetary communications at the time, even without the help of the Klin. Yet what startled Xuv the most — other than the fact that a Klin was facing him on the screen — was that this offworlder knew his name, his family and where he worked. He had no idea he had even been noticed.

“Greetings Master Xuv,” the Klin had said in a serious tone, his face appearing sad. “I am Suneso of the Klin. The message I bring you will be very disturbing. If you wish to send your mate Zees out of the room, it might be recommended.”

Xuv had done so and then returned to the screen. “Why are you contacting me, Suneso? I am not a diplomat or involved in any trade missions.”

“We understand that, but you are in a unique position to assist not only the Klin, but your entire race as well.”

“Please explain yourself. I do not wish to become involved in anything that can bring harm to my family.”

“That is the very reason we Klin are contacting you. I will explain, but first I must digress. Do you recall a horrific accident that occurred on one of your transport lines about six months past? It left thirty-five children dead, if I recall.”

“Yes, I remember; we all do. It was the worst loss of life among our children in over twenty years.” Children were at the center of Gielian life, even more so than the welfare of the adults.

The Klin nodded, his face still carrying the sad expression. “I regret I have to do this, but I must. I will now play a series of vids for you, Xuv. They will be disturbing, but it is necessary that you see them.”

The image of the Klin was replaced with a vid from a media crew at the scene of the deadly crash. The transport carrying the children had collided with a fuel truck and then burst into flames. Most of the children had been burned beyond recognition. Xuv found the vid to be sickening, yet he had seen it at least a dozen times before.

The next vid showed the burned bodies of the children in a sterile, metal-lined examining room, probably that of the medical officials who had assumed control over the bodies. From the angle of the vid, this was apparently from a security monitor within the room. Most of the bodies were covered with white cloth, yet a few still lay uncovered on cold-looking metal tables. There was no audio associated with the vid, yet it showed a couple of technicians moving about the room, each with grim looks on their faces.

The scene flickered, and Xuv could see that it was the same room and taken from the same security monitor, but now with fewer lights on and no technicians present. And then there was a movement from under the camera position — as three gray Kracori walked into the room.

Xuv was confused. What are Kracori doing in the medical examination room?

Mesmerized, Xuv leaned in a little closer to the screen.

The Kracori walked up to several of the bodies and pulled the covers away. They appeared to be laughing and enjoying themselves, right in the middle of such incredible loss and tragedy.

Then one of the Kracori reached over to a body and pulled a small, charred arm from the corpse. Xuv almost vomited; he finally did so when the Kracori lifted the tiny arm to his mouth and took a generous bit of the dead child’s flesh.

Xuv was sweating and weak, with spittle drooling from his mouth when the next vid appeared. It was also from a surveillance camera, yet this one showed a banquet hall, with a long table trailing off to the other end of the room; around it sat a dozen boisterous Kracori, laughing, drinking, celebrating. Xuv nearly fainted when he realized that lining the center of the table and filling the plates of the Kracori, were the burned remains of four of the children from the accident — and the Kracori were feasting on them!

To his salvation, the screen mercifully switched back to the image of the Klin, conveying a look of extreme sadness. “I am hoping you have found the behavior of the Kracori as appalling as we do.”

“Of course! How could I not? But why are you showing me this?”

“I’m sure you are aware, Xuv, that the Kracori have recently turned against the Klin and purged us from Glai-I mean Giel. Up until that time, we had been their restraints when it came to your kind.” The Klin paused, a deep moment of silence that drew Xuv in closer to the screen. Then he spoke: “The Kracori intend to use your race for food, Xuv, unless you do something to stop them.”

It took the Gielian several moments to recover from the Klin’s last statement. “Food? They intend to eat us?” His words came out in a sharp staccato.

“I’m afraid so.”

“Why … how do we prevent this?”

“That is the purpose of this communication,” said the Klin. “You, Xuv, must lead a revolt against the Kracori before they can bring in reinforcements.”

“But we can’t revolt. How can we? They are like you, advanced otherworlders.”

“You must, Xuv. You have intimate knowledge of the Island. Also, there are presently only forty-eight Kracori on the planet. That will not last long, unless you act.”

“And what’s to prevent them from coming back, with more forces?”

The Klin actually cracked a small smile. “We have allies in the region — a race of beings called Humans. They are superior to the Kracori and will be able to protect you. However, this is another reason why I have contacted you personally.” He paused again before continuing. “As we speak, the Kracori are planning an attack upon the homeworld of the Humans. The beasts are soon to have delivered to Giel, a cache of nuclear devices which they intend to send against the Humans. You must prevent this from happening.”

“How?”

“You will soon be assisting the Kracori with the assimilation of the weapons aboard their attack ships. You have been working on these vessels for the past few weeks, is this correct?”

“I have been helping in the preparation of ten ships. I do not know their purpose.”

“Now you do. Xuv, you can prevent this attack by placing a diverter on the triggering device of one of the bombs on each of the ships. Once you have, then as the bombs are armed, there will be a timed detonation long before the Kracori can make good on their strike.”

“I am proficient in basic Gielian electronics, but not with advanced Klin or Kracori technology. I cannot do this.”

Again the sly smile from the Klin. “I will soon be transmitting instructions on how to construct such a trigger bypass. These will be fairly simple devices, serving only one basic purpose. You will need to construct and place ten of them in the Kracori ships. You can do this, Xuv. We have confidence in your abilities.”

“Suppose I do, what about this revolt you want me to lead?”

“All you need to do is show the same series of vids to a number of your associates, namely those who work on the Island with you. There are many more Gielians working on the Island now, as a large number of the normal Kracori contingent have left. You will find allies. But you must be cautious. The Kracori are fierce and accomplished warriors. If they learn of your plans, it could be dangerous.” The Klin smiled again. “You will have the element of surprise on your side, Xuv. The Kracori will not be expecting any such attack, and we Klin have research that confirms the Gielians do possess weapons which can kill Kracori.”

It was Xuv’s turn to pause. He looked down at his feet for several moments, trying to erase the image of the Kracori beasts feasting on the bodies of Gielian young. He knew his companions would have a similar reaction to the vids. He would indeed find his allies — if he chose to do this.

But what choice did he have? He thought of his own children, and also of his mate. If the Kracori did come to Giel — and use the natives as a food source — then they would all be vulnerable, and not just the children. They could all end up on the Kracori banquet table.

“I will do it,” he said finally.

The Klin simply nodded. “We were hoping you would, Xuv. You were our only hope. With your decision today, you have not only saved your own race, but also the Humans. Your selfless act will be remembered throughout time. Now I will transmit the plans for the trigger bypass.”

Xuv now stood at the closed door of the base communications center and surveyed his handiwork. There were five Kracori in the room with him, each with a series of deep, bloody gashes coursing across their backs. Two of the now-dead Kracori nearly had their heads severed when the olip-whip had struck them higher up than the others. The strong smell of ozone still lingered in the air from the intense electric charge of the whip, still held firmly in Xuv’s right hand.

His presence in the comm center had not been unusual, yet the weapon he carried in with him three minutes earlier surely was. Xuv’s attack was only one of a dozen such assassinations taking place simultaneously across the Island. He had no doubt that by now not a single living Kracori remained on the planet Giel.

The olip-whip had flung Kracori blood all around the room, including the walls and ceiling. Xuv didn’t care. All he could see when he looked at the dead Kracori was that one horrid image where the beast had ripped the tiny arm from the dead child’s body and eaten it. Well, nevermore, at least not here on Giel!

There was a large timer on the wall in front of him, now speckled with Kracori blood. Xuv knew the device showed the time until the strike upon the Human homeworld. The timer continued to click off, and Xuv smiled. He knew that five minutes before, ten nuclear detonations had occurred somewhere in a far-off star system — ten explosions about fifteen minutes ahead of schedule.

Chapter 36

Admiral William Keller continued to stare into the sky until the last remnants of the distance explosion had dissipated. He waited, as did all the others, for a follow-up burst of blinding light, an indicator of a nuclear blast within the atmosphere. He was sure D.C. would be one of the Kracori’s primary targets, even though their stated purpose was to irradiate the planet rather than destroy strategic targets. But still he waited.

And he waited.

After about an hour in the cool air of late November, with the light fading from a tranquil and swollen orange sun on the Western horizon, Keller finally laughed out loud. He had seen the relative position of the Kracori spaceships on the large monitor screen, just before the EMP struck. He knew they had been only minutes away from launching their attack.

Was it possible that the attack had not occurred? He couldn’t be sure, since he was standing in only once solitary position on the planet. But if they had attacked, wouldn’t he have felt something?

To answer his question, an Air Force senior master sergeant came running out of the nearest Pentagon door and scanned the massive crowd standing outside. Keller, with his prominent gold shoulder boards of his dress uniform, stood out amongst all the rest. The sergeant ran up to him with a paper in his hand. The forty-six-year-old E-8 was out of breath.

“Sir, the EMP was not as strong as initially suspected — probably from a fusion device — and we still have comm hardened against such events.” He took a couple of deep breaths before continuing. “Reports show no, I repeat no, nuclear explosions within the atmosphere or impacting the surface!”

He handed the sheet of paper to Keller, who saw it was all in a mass of teletype text, hardly readable without deciphering it line-by-line. Keller was good at reading this kind of message — seeing that it was standard for most military orders — but he had no time for that now.

“No impacts, no air bursts reported?” he queried the master sergeant.

“That’s correct, sir. Apparently all the alien ships exploded in space. That was what caused the EMP.”

As was unbefitting a full-admiral, Keller sat down on the warm black asphalt of the Pentagon parking lot and crossed his legs. Word was spreading like wildfire throughout the thousands of others with him and soon there was such a cacophony of cheers and celebration that all military decorum broke down completely. People were coming up to him, patting his back and reaching down to shake his hand, believing that he had had something to do with their salvation. He accepted their accolades, for even Admiral William Keller, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, didn’t know what had just happened.

Chapter 37

Adam was in the kitchen of the Kracori spaceship checking the processor supplies when Tindal called him to the bridge. A message had been received from the fleet indicating that a longer, more detailed update to the situation on Earth was to be received in five minutes and that all crewmembers should be present.

If the preliminary message was meant to prepare them for bad news, it did just the opposite. As all the Humans met on the bridge, to the person they were white as sheets and nearly sick to their stomachs. It was the longest five minutes in all their lives.

Adam knew immediately that the worst had occurred the moment he saw Admiral Allen’s face. It was drawn and hollow, the bags under his eyes doubly-pronounced from the last video of him they’d received.

“I won’t sugarcoat this you guys,” Allen began. “We lost contact with the Earth about two hours ago. It was in mid-message, and since then, nothing.” He appeared to choke up, but then gathered himself and continued. “We don’t have any actual confirmation of the attack, but I have to tell you this is the first time since we left the planet that we’ve been out of communications for this long.” He attempted to smile. “It would be a real bitch if this was some glitch that just happened to come at the most inopportune time. You know these things happen; I’m surprised we haven’t had a breakdown in comm before this.”

The sickly-looking smile vanished as quickly as it came and Admiral Allen continued, his voice now deadly serious. “As you’ve probably already guessed, I’ve turned the fleet and we are heading home. I’m sorry about this, but I had no choice. Even without concrete confirmation of an attack, I couldn’t delay it any longer. The word has spread throughout the fleet, and if I hadn’t done something soon, I would have had a mutiny on my hands.” Again the wry smile.

“Adam, you and Andy — and all the rest of you — are very resourceful people, in fact more capable than any other sailors I’ve had the privilege of serving with. I’m sure you will find your way home. Hell, not even a galactic empire has been able to stop you yet!

“We’ll update you with any new intel that comes in. I’m sure that eventually they’ll be able to restore some sort of comm with us. In fact, I’m surprised that comm is down. If the frickin Kracori wanted the fleet to return to Earth, we would need to be aware that an attack has occurred. Without comm, it kinda defeats their purpose. But this may be just some collateral damage they hadn’t counted on. Either way, the fleet is hard to miss. They should know of our movement by now.”

Admiral Allen paused for a moment, once more composing himself. Then Adam saw his jaw firm and the veins in his neck tighten. “One last thing: HooYah!”

Instinctively, all four of the Navy SEALs repeated the Navy’s battle cry, startling everyone else on the bridge. But then attention returned to the video.

“Good luck, gentlemen — and lady — and God’s speed. Allen out.”

The room was silent for a good two to three minutes, with each of the Humans lost in their own contemplations. For the past three days the crew had more-or-less already come to grips with these feelings. Even though the planet had been warned, the odds of stopping an attack this far advanced were iffy from the beginning. Yet even with their expectations, it still didn’t stop the occasional tear from escaping from glassy eyes. It was Jym who finally broke the awkward silence.

“Do you want to record a return message?” he asked solemnly.

“Not right now, Jym,” Adam’s trembling voice answered. He had hoped he wouldn’t have to speak for a while, knowing that his emotions would be revealed in his timbre. “In a few minutes — I think we all need to have a moment.” But then a strong emotion rose up in his chest and he leaned in closer to the small, bear-like alien. “But you can start looking for a place where I can find a Class-5 starship. We’re going to need something with a little more horsepower than this tub if we expect to get back home.”

“Horse-power?”

The other Humans had perked up at Adam’s comment; he could see the fire burning in all their blood-shot eyes. “Yeah, something with some muscle. I don’t plan on being stranded out here any longer than is necessary.”

Chapter 38

The Kracori are an emotional race, unlike the more placid Klin. So when Jonnif received notification that a sustained-wormhole (S/W) was opening up with Eilsion, he screamed an ancient Kracori battle cry, pumped his fists and bared his teeth. Unfortunately, he was alone in his cabin when he displayed these emotions, so none of his crew could see the raw power he exhibited. However, the release of tension did calm his nerves for the short trek to the communication room.

Being fully aware of the timetable for the attack upon Earth, he had been expecting this link for several hours. By now the outcome should be known, and for Jonnif there wasn’t much riding on this information — nothing except the survival of his legend, and by extension, that of his entire race.

He had all the techs leave the room; he even told Kaddof and Mininof were told to wait outside. Unfortunately, when the face of Daninf Kicon appeared on the large screen, Jonnif knew immediately the outcome of the mission.

Even before Daninf could speak, Jonnif was already talking: “What happened? How could they have stopped us?”

Daninf did not answer immediately, instead irritated by the disrespectful hijacking of his conversation. “There is more to tell you than simply that the attack has failed, Jonnif. One of the ships did survive and was able to report.”

Daninf was visibly shaking, his own emotions boiling up inside, barely able to be contained. Jonnif watched him with a surprising detachment. He knew that with the failure of the mission, his life was essentially over. But not only that, now his Legend would be ravaged and all those within his line would suffer as well. The name of Vinn would have to be changed so future generations would not share in his humiliation, and nevermore would a child born on Eilsion carry the name of Jonnif. And all because of an impulsive slip of the tongue on a burned-out world, twenty thousand light years from the location of the event that caused such tragedy.

In light of his future prospects, Jonnif did not feel the need to follow neither protocol nor decorum with the Langril. The members of the Ludif Council had gone along with his plan — in fact, they had endorsed it whole-heartedly. Now they act as if they had to be coerced into voting for it, as if they had been skeptical from the start. It wasn’t fair, and now Jonnif and his entire line would be made to pay the ultimate price, and just to divert some of the blame from the Ludifs.

Daninf was able to regain his composure. “I will give you a brief summary of what is known at this time; information is still coming in. For your benefit, the Humans were warned, so Adam Cain was able to contact his fleet. However, it was not the Humans who prevented the attack.”

Jonnif was stunned, but even then only one name screamed out in his head. “The Klin! They stopped it?”

“That remains to be determined,” Daninf answered, exasperation painting his face at Jonnif’s insolent behavior. “What we do know was that the nuclear weapons aboard nine of the attack vessels exploded prematurely, apparently from an act of sabotage perpetrated by the natives of Glasien-4.”

“The Gielians, in collusion with the Klin?”

“That is one of the items we are attempting to validate.”

“So it was not my revelation that caused the mission to fail! The attack was pre-destined for failure.” Jonnif’s emotions soared, his joy ecstatic. How could they now place the blame upon his legend? No spoken word of his caused the mission’s failure!

“Then I have been exonerated, Daninf.”

“No, that is not the case — if anything, it is worse.”

Jonnif was taken aback. “I do not understand. The Humans did not prevent the attack.”

“Yes,but now they know who we are.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Respect, Jonnif! You will afford me respect!”

“How can I?” Jonnif countered, his own anger matching that of Daninf’s. “You have just said that my actions were not responsible for the demise of the mission, yet still you wish to persecute me.”

“Your actions indeed did not cause the failure of the nuclear strike on Earth, yet they have allowed the Humans to know who attempted it.”

Jonnif suddenly grew weak. He didn’t know exactly why, but Daninf’s words had some subliminal impact on him. “I do not understand,” he finally managed to mumble.

“You myiloc scum! There is so much you do not understand.” Daninf screamed. “If the attack had succeeded without warning, the Humans would have naturally assumed it came from either the Klin or the Juireans. Their fleet would have turned, never knowing that it was the Kracori who had attacked their planet, as well as the planet Juir. Even in failure, the Humans would have still suspected the others since, up until the time of your stupid revelation, they had no knowledge of the Kracori. Now they have a new enemy — and that enemy is us! And furthermore, with the failure of the mission, the Human military and industrial capacity is still fully intact. What do you think the Humans will do now with the knowledge you have revealed in your careless moment?”

Jonnif could not even find the breath to utter a defense. He slumped in the chair, cowering before the over-size image of Daninf Kicon glaring out at him from the monitor. Daninf let him suffer in his loss of legend, but only for a moment.

“If the mission had succeeded, then the Humans would have learned who was responsible because we would have broadcast it across the galaxy! But now, not only has our mission on Earth failed, but we must also abandon Juir and the Alliance Cluster. The Legend of the Kracori could not have suffered more, Jonnif. The effect this will have on your own pitiful legend is nothing compared to what you have done to your race! I find it almost inconceivable that one Kracori could have had such a deleterious impact on an entire race of beings.”

Jonnif could barely bring himself to look the Langril in the eye, but somehow he managed to speak. “What do you wish me to do, my Ludif? I had no idea it could be so … so catastrophic.”

“All we wish of you now, Jonnif, is that you prepare your forces for the withdrawal from the Cluster. We do not want to risk any more Kracori lives in such a fruitless endeavor. The loss of life may not have been much to date, yet we have all seen what the Humans are capable of doing when they are attacked — whether successfully or not. They do not react well to threats or acts of violence against them. It may not be now, but in ages to come, your actions will have cost the lives of millions upon millions of Kracori.”

“I will prepare for departure. After that, my Ludif, I am at your mercy.”

“There will be no mercy, Jonnif. A Kracori without legend is less than living. It is you who will need to face that reality. I have nothing more to say to you.”

The screen went blank, as did Jonnif’s emotions. He was drained, empty of all senses and awareness. He remained in this vegetative state for several minutes before finally rising from the chair and leaving the room.

Kaddof — his second-in-command — was in the hallway standing next to Mininof when Jonnif exited the communication center. He recognized the look of utter defeat the moment he saw his commander. “Regrets, my Ludif,” he said while not asking for a recounting of the conversation. “What are my orders?”

“You are to prepare all our forces for departure from the Cluster. All ground actions are to cease immediately. Allow no further loss of Kracori life. When ready, return to Eilsion by the shortest route. Do not allow yourself to be followed; the Humans must not learn the location of Eilsion.”

“Yes, my Ludif. I will begin preparations immediately.”

Kaddof and Mininof watched as Jonnif walked past them in a daze and disappeared down the corridor, lost in the curvature of the ship. Neither said anything further, nor did they accompany him when he left the shining Klin-designed flying saucer and walked out onto the grass of the Kacoran Plain.

And neither were they present when Jonnif Vinn walked to the edge of the high prominence and hurled himself onto the craggy rocks hundreds of meters below….

Chapter 39

The Klin flying saucer blended in perfectly with the monochromatic gray of the moon’s surface, and except for the unnaturally round shadow the craft cast, the starship would have been completely invisible to any prying eyes. As it was, no one was paying much attention to the moon at this time; the Human’s focus had been directed outward, toward the outer reaches of the solar system, and for any intruders they could detect.

Senior Fellow Suneso Huvilin of the Klin had been in place on the large, singular companion to the planet Earth for several weeks, watching as the Kracori ships slipped into the system and went dark before anyone was alerted to their presence. He was surprised, however, when the Humans did get wind of the impending attack and began all manner of defensive moves to stop the Kracori. After all the preparations Suneso and the other Klin had already taken, he found the Human’s makeshift activities slightly amusing. The Kracori were already there and all the Humans did was make it easier for them to fulfill their mission — if the Klin had not already acted.

When the nine massive explosions occurred, Suneso did his best to visualize the confused conversations that must have taken place on the planet below. It would have only taken minutes for the Humans to realize that their efforts had nothing to do with the destruction of the Kracori ships.

If it not them, then who? Many on the planet would naturally suspect the Klin, but then they would ask why would the Klin stop an attack on Earth, especially in light of events unfolding tens of thousands of light years away? Suneso wished he still had spies within the Human population; it would have been incredibly entertaining to watch the confused and scared Humans scurry about for answers of which they could only speculate.

However, Suneso was not without his questions, so when the image of Pleabaen Linuso Summlin appeared on the S/W comm screen, he was hoping he would get his answers as well.

“Greetings Pleabaen, I have success to report,” he said to the supreme leader of the Klin race.

“That is indeed good news. What do you know at this point?” Suneso could see that Linuso was still recovering from the injuries he’d suffered over two months before, when their headquarters on Marishal had been damaged. He appeared gaunt and paler than normal and he still carried a thin oxygen tube attached to his nose. “The ships did explode as planned — at least nine of them did. The tenth ship was not in position for the attack and has since retreated. I can also report that the rebellion on Glasien-4 has also succeeded. There should only be a few Kracori left within the Arm at this time and we are monitoring them.”

“Excellent, but I have reports that the Humans were forewarned of the attack?”

“Apparently so, Pleabaen.”

“That is acceptable; it saves us the necessity of revealing the Kracori to them.”

“Linuso, I have been meaning to ask a very direct question regarding this entire matter,” Suneso said.

Linuso smiled. “Why? “Why we have saved the Humans from destruction?”

“Precisely. The Humans have deceived us and are now the strongest force in the galaxy. They even caused great injury to your body, along with the deaths of hundreds of Klin.”

Linuso nodded. “This has all been part of a decision made immediately after the Humans escaped from Marishal. It was not our optimal plan, but considering the Kracori’s premature arrival at Juir, it was the best option we had available.”

“Now I am even more confused, Pleabaen.”

“That is understandable, since you were not made aware of the ultimate plans of the Forum. It was decided that we could not allow the Humans to be destroyed; they could still be of use to us. And then when the Kracori transited the Core and arrived at Juir ahead of schedule, it was seen that only the Humans could drive the Kracori from the Alliance Cluster.”

“But the Kracori have destroyed Juir. Our vengeance should be satisfied. We should welcome this outcome.”

“Much to the contrary, Senior Fellow,” Linuso countered. “It had always been our desire to be the direct instrument of the Juirean’s downfall and not simply a passive observer. Much of our gratification in the destruction of Juir has been taken from us by the Kracori. We must not let them remain in control of Cluster — and by extension — the Expansion.”

“But now it will be Humans who are in control….”

“Exactly, Suneso. That has also been by design.”

“But the Humans are even stronger than the Kracori.”

“That may appear to be the case, but please consider that we have been preparing the Kracori for generations to be co-leaders of the Expansion, along with us. If they remain in possession of the Cluster, they will ingrain themselves so much into the operations of the new Expansion that they will be almost impossible to remove.

“The Humans, on the other hand, are a completely different matter. They are naive in the ways of the Expansion and will be at a complete loss as to what is involved in governing. In addition, their homeworld is located much too far away to serve as an effective capital of the Expansion, and even supplying a capital such as Juir from Earth will serve to be a major burden for them.

“And finally, the Humans have not aspired for control of the Expansion, as have the Klin and the Kracori. When the time comes, they will be much easier to extract from their leadership position. You must understand, Suneso, it has never been the Klin’s goal to simply exact revenge against the Juireans for the destruction of Klinmon. Ultimately, our goal has been to claim our rightful title as leaders of the galaxy. That has always been our goal. The destruction of the Juireans was simply a means to an end.”

Suneso saw the logic in the argument — to a point. “So the Kracori are driven from the Cluster and the Humans move in. How does that help the Klin cause? The Humans will remain a power for — well forever, and the Kracori will still be a power in their own right, and far more technologically-advanced than the Humans. How will it ever be that the Klin can assume leadership of the Expansion?”

The small smile vanished from Linuso’s weary face. “That has not been completely foreseen, yet with the chaotic events of the past several months, the Forum has been doing its best to come up with the best alternatives. What we do know is that it would be easier to expel — or persuade — the Humans to relinquish control of the Expansion than it would with the Kracori. However, we do realize that without a powerful ally, the Klin cannot rule alone.”

“If not the Kracori — or the Humans — who then, Pleabaen?”

“The Klin have been exploring the galaxy for over four thousand years and we have discovered literally thousands of races. There are always others, always alternatives. Some have been nurtured along slowly — such as the Kracori — while others have played a more limited and immediate role. We Klin are never without alternatives, although some may not be ready to be revealed at this time. If it had not been for the activities of the Humans — and particularly of Adam Cain — we would have had twenty additional years to more fully develop our alternatives prior to the events leading to the Juirean/Human war. As it is, we will have to speed up the process and adapt along the way.”

Linuso’s weak smile returned and he looked straight into the eyes of his subordinate. “The Klin are still viable, Suneso. We are patient; we will be heard from again. Of that you can be sure.”

Chapter 40

Kaddof had not had time to catch his breath over the past two days. With his friend and mentor Jonnif Vinn now dead, command of the Kracori forces in the Alliance Cluster fell to him, and along with it, the need to coordinate their untimely withdrawal.

He was furious at the very thought of retreat and humiliated in its execution. The Kracori had accomplished so much, yet with so much more to do. There was still an estimated one-million or more Juireans alive on the planet, many in long refugee lines streaming out from their destroyed cities. They would be easy prey for the Kracori ground troops and conventional air units; already thousands of Juireans had been killed by aerial strafing. And now the ground troops had offloaded their heavy equipment — tanks and artillery — and were only a day or so from being fully functional.

Now that effort — along with all its potential for so much more death and destruction throughout the Cluster — was all for naught. Kaddof was now tasked with surrendering all the ground they’d gained, and to give it back to the Juireans — or worse — to the advancing Humans.

Kaddof was in the command center aboard the largest flying disk sitting on the surface of Juir, arranging for the hundreds of shuttle flights it would take to ferry his thirty-thousand troops and equipment back to the transports in orbit. His warriors were furious, but they would obey, as would Kaddof.

A tone sounded within the center, indicating an incoming sustained-wormhole communication. Everyone in the room looked to Kaddof knowing that the message could only be coming from Eilsion. He acknowledged the notice and then proceeded to the secure room that was set up for S/W communications.

This would be his first direct contact with the Ludif Council since Jonnif’s death and Kaddof’s assumption of command. As he entered the comm center, the large head of Daninf Kicon, Langril of the Council, was already showing on the large screen.

“Greetings Ludif Daninf. I have been expecting contact with the Council, I assume you are looking for an update as to our evacuation progress-”

“That is not the primary reason for this communication, Kaddof,” Daninf interrupted, “yet I will ask, has the body been recovered yet?”

“Yes, my Ludif, early yesterday we were able to locate Jonnif’s body through the activities of carrion birds. It was fairly well-hidden between several large boulders and had been picked apart by the beasts.”

“It is good that the body has been recovered. Now for the most pressing matter at hand: You are to cease all evacuation procedures immediately and resume full suppression activities within the Cluster.”

Kaddof was stunned; he wasn’t sure he had heard the Langril correctly. “Forgive me, my Ludif, but could you please repeat that?”

“You are to cease all evacuation operations, Kaddof. The Kracori are to remain in control of Juir and the Alliance Cluster!”

Kaddof could see that the Langril was physically excited. His face beamed, his eyes were alight with joy. “What has happened to cause this change?”

“Our scouts have only just now reported that the Human fleet has turned and is headed back toward their home planet.”

“But … but they have no need,” Kaddof stammered. Finally he just asked simply: “Why?”

“The reason baffles even the Council. The Humans may feel the need to return to protect against any future attack,” Daninf offered. “Or they may not believe continuing to Juir a necessity now that the planet has been ransacked.”

Kaddof suddenly grew cold inside and he visibly shivered. “And then Jonnif — his death was in vain! His actions have had no ill-affect.”

Daninf’s expression changed. “That is not so,” he stated firmly. “Jonnif is still responsible for revealing the name of the Human’s attackers. Even though they are returning to Earth, it does not mean they will not return.”

“But we will be ready for them by then, my Ludif, and the Kracori Legend has not been harmed by Jonnif’s actions. His legend did not have to suffer so.”

“In light of these recent developments, you may be correct, Kaddof. But even if the Kracori Legend has not suffered, the Legend of Jonnif Vinn would have still. The planet Earth remains habitable and capable of supporting all future Human military actions, and their fleet is still the largest in the galaxy. They will not let the attempted destruction of their homeworld go unpunished — and with the name Kracori on their tongues, they will be back and looking for us. It was Jonnif who has given a name to their enemy.”

Kaddof was quiet for a moment, trying his best to put the Langril’s words into perspective. He was right, of course. Jonnif’s Legend had to be destroyed.

“And Kaddof,” Daninf continued, “it was Jonnif’s decision to end his life, not that of the Council.”

“Of course, my Ludif. I meant you no disrespect.”

“That is better, Kaddof. Insubordination is something we on the Council will not tolerate; that was something Jonnif was prone to exhibit on a regular basis. I hope we will find no such repeat with our new Fleet Commander.”

“No, my Ludif, you will not. What are my orders now? I was not in Jonnif’s position to know the full extent of his orders prior — prior to his demise.”

“Your orders at this time are to simply return to the clean-up operations that have begun, both on Juir and on the other worlds of the Cluster. Following that, a permanent Kracori colony must be established on Juir for all the Expansion to see. Soon the members will come looking to the Kracori for leadership. Our governing administrators will be leaving Eilsion soon to take over this responsibility from you and your military forces. At that time you must reinforce the Cluster against any hostile attacks, either from a Juirean counterstrike — or now — from the Humans as well. Later we will dispatch the search and destroy units to hunt down all surviving Juireans in other parts of the galaxy.”

He paused and the jovial expression returned to his face. “Kaddof, we on the Council cannot express strongly enough how relieved we are that the Kracori shall remain in the Cluster. And far greater than the destruction of a single Kracori’s legend, it was the harm to the legend of the entire race that was weighing on us more. Now the Legend of the Kracori will survive.”

“My Ludif,” Kaddof said, “of course the Kracori Legend is more important than that of Jonnif’s, and I too am relieved. I will carry out your orders faithfully. All the Juireans upon Juir will die.”

“Excellent, Kaddof. Proceed with your tasks.”

Chapter 41

News that Juir had been sacked had spread rapidly throughout the galaxy as untold trillions of beings fell into a uniform state of shock. Near the Cluster Alliance it was even worse, with thousands of spaceships leaving the area as fast as their drives would carry them.

Whether intentional or not, Adam’s sudden fixation with finding a larger vessel to take them home had galvanized the Humans, taking their minds off the inconceivable event that had just taken place. They hounded Kaylor and Jym over the next fourteen hours to find them a ship — any ship — as long it was a Class-5 or larger.

“Primus-Lur is our best option, as far as I can tell,” Kaylor was saying. “I have never been to this side of the galaxy so I don’t have any first-hand knowledge to contribute, just what is in the Library.”

“Tell me about Primus-Lur,” Adam commanded a little too forcefully.

“From what I can find, it is one of the major commercial centers for this sector. It was in the second wave of consolidation, right after the Alliance Cluster, so it has been a part of the Juirean empire nearly from the start.”

“But do they have ships?” Riyad asked, anxious to contribute his years of pirating experience to the effort.

“It should — it did — before all this turmoil. According to the Library, representatives of all the major shipping companies are located there. How many of their ships remain, I do not know, and a number of them may have been called into action by the Juireans for their evacuation. The ships may be scattered throughout a thousand light years by now.”

“Screw it,” Adam said. “We won’t get anywhere just sitting around debating. Kaylor, get us over there as fast as you can. We’ll just go in and see for ourselves.”

Kaylor looked at Riyad. “Systems on this side of the galaxy are not as experienced with pirate activity as they are in the Fringe. I don’t think they’ve had any such activity in thousands of years.”

Riyad smiled. “Good. Then they won’t be expecting anything.”

“What I mean is the authorities will likely pursue much harder.”

“Let them pursue us all the way to back to Earth,” Adam said. “I don’t care much about following the law. Just get us there Kaylor; we’ll do the rest.”

“Yes, Adam. And that also brings up a subject Jym and I have been discussing.”

Adam frowned at the tall alien. “Go on.”

“Jym and I will not be accompanying you to Earth. We cannot; it is such a long journey there and back. And with the galaxy in such disarray, we have decided to return to our home worlds to see if we can be of any assistance.”

Adam could find no argument to counter Kaylor’s heart-felt confession. The Humans aboard the small ship were themselves in a frantic quest to return to their home — what there was left of it. He should expect nothing less from Kaylor and Jym.

“I understand, Kaylor. All I ask is that you help us locate another ship, and then you can take this one back to your planets.” He smiled as he placed a reassuring hand on Kaylor’s shoulder. “We may also need a quick lesson or two on how to run the new ship. I’m sure it’s different from the Juirean battlecruiser we took back to Earth the last time.”

“This one will more likely be a freighter. I believe there are very few warships left in this part of the Expansion.”

“That’s fine. Let’s just hope all the ships haven’t bolted. Set the course, Kaylor.”

“A freighter, you say?” Riyad said. “That should make for an easier acquisition.”

Chapter 42

Kaddof was outside the headquarters spaceship enjoying a few moments of natural air and starshine when his personal communicator sounded. There was an urgent message coming in from Eilsion that required his immediate attention. He rushed back into the large disk and proceeded to the S/W comm room.

The monitor blipped once and then Daninf’s head appeared. In the past three days Kaddof had not had any further communications with the Langril. Instead, he had redeployed his forces and only hours ago had received word that over five thousand more Juireans had been killed across the planet just from their initial strikes. It was going to be a good day on Juir.

“Kaddof!” Daninf Kicon called out. “The Humans have turned back toward Juir!”

Kaddof felt himself go weak. “This cannot be, my Ludif. Are you sure?”

“Of course. And not only have they turned, but approximately six hundred of their fastest units have broken off from the main fleet and are proceeding towards Juir at maximum well.”

“When will they arrive?”

“In just over thirty days, which is nearly a month sooner than originally expected.”

Kaddof’s mind was racing. Six-hundred Human ships….

“Only six hundred, my Ludif, our forces may be able to defeat them. I can muster over four hundred — and we are Kracori!”

“And even if you could defeat them, after a pitched battle with the Humans, what forces would you have to stand against their other nine-hundred ships when they arrive a month later?” Daninf asked, shaking his head. “I am disappointed in you, Kaddof. I would have thought the Academy would have trained our officers better.”

“But Daninf,” Kaddof began, forgetting the formal greeting for the head of the Ludif Council, “that would mean we must again prepare to evacuate.”

“Precisely, and not only prepare, but to execute.”

“We still have time to inflict great suffering on the Juireans here on the planet. I will double our efforts and still have time to pull the forces-”

“No!” Daninf said. “Begin the withdrawal immediately. All forces must be clear of the area well before the Humans arrive. We cannot leave any trace gravity waves that can lead them to us. Survival of our planet is more important than kill a few more Juireans. Pull your troops now, Kaddof.”

Kaddof sat staring at Daninf’s stoic face on the monitor. He knew there was no use in arguing; the Council had decided and now he must obey. He nodded slightly to Daninf.

Impatient, Daninf himself nodded and then cut the transmission.

Kaddof lifted himself from the seat slowly and made his way to the exit. Mininof, Jonnif’s aide — and now his — was waiting in the corridor. “The Humans are coming this way,” Kaddof mumbled. “Resume all evacuation procedures.”

“Why are they playing such games with us, these Humans?”

“I do not know, Mininof, but now the Kracori will lose our legend. It will be tragic.”

“Yes, my Ludif. I will send out your orders.”

Kaddof left the spaceship and returned to the edge of the cliff, very near where Jonnif had thrown himself off into the abyss. The remains of Juir City still smoldered far below, yet now he could see large concentrations of his ground troops clustered off to the left of the ruins. Soon the shuttles would start ferrying them back to their troop carriers for the long journey back home. They had only been on-planet for six days; they would not welcome being stuffed back into the giant spaceships, especially after not having accomplished their mission — or feasted much upon the flesh of Juireans.

In frustration Kaddof bent down and lifted a large rock from the ground. He held it in his hand, marveling at how light it felt for its size. With the gravity of Juir about one-quarter less than that of Eilsion, Kaddof felt an exhilarating physical strength on this planet of the Juireans. He would have welcomed the chance to kill a native with his bare hands, just to feel his superiority over the Juirean. His orders were to begin the evacuation immediately, but he was sure he still had time for one of the ground units to bring him a captive Juirean to kill. He would welcome that — and it would also make for an appropriate departing meal for him and his fellow officers.

As he peered over the edge of the cliff, Kaddof also thought of Jonnif and what joy he would have received from engaging in the same act. Jonnif Vinn had been Kaddof’s mentor, and more like a father to him than simply a commander.

Jonnif was of the Kiconnif clan and had been raised with all the political privileges that came with his birthright. And even though he had been born with the strongest of legends, Jonnif Vinn was also a very good commander, having proven himself in many a contest and through extensive advanced training. In addition, he was also related to the Langril, so when the time came to lead the finally assault upon the Juireans and the Expansion, it was Jonnif who was naturally chosen to command.

Kaddof, on the other hand, was from the Hilfoif Tribe, and as such had not shared the same path to his present rank as had Jonnif. Jonnif had met Kaddof seventeen years before and had immediately spotted an exceptional fire burning within the younger Kracori officer. It was also no secret that Jonnif enjoyed Kaddof’s almost Ludif-like worship of his commander. He had contacts and influence and he had traveled extensively off-planet. Kaddof had been more than happy to serve as Jonnif’s understudy.

But now the broken and mutilated body of Jonnif Vinn lay in a freezer aboard the headquarters ship, awaiting return to Eilsion where it would be undoubtedly cast into an unmarked grave without fanfare or regard for legend. The line of Jonnif Vinn would end with him and it would end with shame.

Kaddof had to admit that Jonnif’s actions would bring about the destruction of the Kracori Legend, yet he was also sure that Jonnif had not meant that to be the case. But now he would be cast as the destroyer of the Kracori, and all because of a simple mistake. It just wasn’t fair.

And now, in spite of it all, Juireans still lived on the planet Juir….

As the anger grew within him, Kaddof reeled back and heaved the large rock into the air, out far beyond the edge of the cliff, further than any Juirean could have thrown. He watched as the stone arched out over empty space and then began the long fall toward the surface below. It landed with a series of echoing pings far down the cliff face, ricocheting and chipping other rocks in the process. Soon a mini-avalanche had formed, but one that quickly subsided.

However, as he watched the journey of the stone, Kaddof suddenly had an idea. His chest welled up, and as his head turned toward the sky, he let out a loud, primal Kracori battle cry, the angry sound echoing off into the distance.

He turned and hurried back to the spaceship. Kaddof had a plan, but he only had so much time to bring it to fruition.

Chapter 43

They entered the Primus-Lur system two days later and immediately picked up a score of gravity signatures heading in the opposite direction.

“Any of these contacts Class-5’s?” Riyad asked.

“I have not detected any yet,” Jym said from his station. “And I have a question for you, Riyad. Since no Class-5 can make landfall, this action will have to take place in space. How do you plan on accomplishing this?”

Tobias and Sherri were on the bridge with the aliens; they looked to Riyad and raised their eyebrows.

For an answer, Riyad tapped the top of Jym’s console. “We use this. We’re in a ship belonging to the race of beings who have just conquered the almighty planet Juir. We just make contact and demand they stop. If they don’t, then we will blast them from space.”

“But that would defeat your purpose. You want the ship intact and undamaged.”

“We would not actually fire upon the ship, my little friend. They just have to believe that we would.”

“But a Class-5 is very fast. They may choose to run.”

“Let’s just hope they don’t.”

“Suppose you did not come off so threatening?” Jym offered. “Then the pilot may not run and risk being fired upon.”

“Great idea, Jym. I will certainly consider that — once we find a candidate.”

Jym always seemed to perk up when complimented by the Humans. He turned to his console and renewed his scanning, but now with almost a whistle in his movements.

He suddenly leaned forward. “I believe I have found such a vessel, possibly two, moving in tandem.”

The word went out throughout the ship and the crew began their preparations. The task of taking the other ship was made more difficult from the fact that they did not want to damage it. It would have to be boarded and the crew subdued.

The KFV-A did carry a small shuttle — a very small shuttle — which could only carry four passengers, plus the pilot. It wasn’t fast and didn’t have any docking hatch. If they used the shuttle to access the freighter, they would either have to do it through the ship’s main landing bay or evacuate the atmosphere in the shuttle and spacewalk to the surface of the other ship. They were prepared for either eventuality, with the four SEALs already in the shuttle dressed in spacesuits they had found in the KFV’s cargo hold. Luckily for them, the Kracori were of similar size and bulk as the Humans so the suits fit quite well.

Riyad would stay on the bridge and attempt to talk his way into stopping the ship and to gain access. Sherri was on the bridge as well, yet she was armed with an emergency kit containing all the generic medical supplies she could find in the Kracori ship, just in case.

There were ample weapons within the KFV, all of the energy-bolt variety, which should suffice against aliens. The SEAL’s were ready — in fact anxious — for some action. Adam’s ribs still hurt terribly, but he toughed it out. Hopefully the gravity aboard the freighter would be light. That would certainly help.

As the two large contacts came within extreme visual range, the furthest one out from the KFV veered off and bolted away. The other one hesitated and Kaylor was able to move within weapon’s range. The Class-5 was fast, but it was still within a planetary system and therefore could not engage its deep wells. This allowed the KFV to move even closer.

Riyad fingered the comm button. “This is Kracori vessel double-oh-seven calling the Class-5 freighter on my screens. Please respond.”

Jym looked at Riyad with a quizzical look, and then he whispered, “I do not see such a designation for this ship?

“It’s a top secret designation, my friend,” Riyad answered. He looked over to see Sherri grinning from ear to ear.

After few moments of silence, the comm speaker crackled just before a voice could be heard. “This is the Leerin Vessel 7786. What is your message, Kra … Kracori vessel zero-zero-seven?”

“Greetings,” Riyad said joyfully, following Jym’s advice about being more congenial. “As you are obviously aware, the Kracori race now controls the region, so I am here inquiring about your cargo and destination?”

There was another long pause before those aboard the freighter responded. “We currently carry no cargo, and we were in the process of evacuating the area so as to avoid any conflict.”

“That is understandable,” Riyad said reassuringly. “With your permission, we would like to send a shuttle over to discuss the terms of possibly hiring your vessel for the shipment of some supplies to our forces off Juir. Would you consider receiving a hefty sum in return for your services?”

“In what form of currency would this fee be made?”

Riyad was taken aback. This alien had cut right to the chase, and he was aware that with the fall of Juir, all Juirean credits were useless. He also figured that any currency the Kracori might use would be equally worthless at this time. Riyad smiled and responded. “We are prepared to pay in gold certificates, a precious metal currently traded in many systems throughout the Expansion.”

“We are aware of gold. That will suffice. Send over your shuttle.”

Jym cut the line and Riyad turned to Sherri with a wide grin. “That was easier than I thought.”

Fifteen minutes later the tiny shuttle skidded to a stop in the cavernous cargo bay of the freighter. Adam was at the pilot controls and he gasped, having never seen a room as large as this one aboard a starship.

Once the atmosphere was replaced in the huge chamber, Lt. Tobias cracked the hatch and they all stepped out into the room. The gravity here was very light, either because that’s the way the crew liked it, or because it made maneuvering cargo easier. Either way it made the bulky spacesuits the SEALs wore easier to operate.

There was no crew visible so they moved quickly to one of the airlocks doors off the landing bay and entered another, smaller room.

Still no crew.

“Adam to Riyad, come in.”

“Riyad here.”

“I thought you said they’d be glad to see us? We’re supposed to give them a shit-load of money after all. You’d think they’d send someone down here to get it, wouldn’t you?”

“One would think. I will call the ship again and check.”

Adam and the other SEALs were in one of the control rooms for the landing bay; Tindal tried one of the side doors and found it to be unlocked.

“There’s a really wide passageway out here; must be for hauling forklifts full of cargo around. I think I see someone at the other end.”

“Be careful, John,” Adam said. “Remember, these things think we’re Kracori.”

The four of them moved out into the passageway, which was indeed huge in its own right, easily fifteen meters wide. “There’s someone,” Chief Rutledge called out. There was a tall, slender creature about fifty meters away waving at them.

The SEALs formed up with their flash rifles ready. Adam knew it would be hard to appear non-threatening while cradling the weapons in ready-position. But they were aboard the ship now, so whatever happens from now on should be-

Suddenly a dozen or more flash bolts lashed out at them from various points at the other end of the passageway. Both Lt. Tobias and Adam were hit, but the bolts were at level-two and through the thick fabric of the spacesuits, all they managed to do was knock them off their feet.

All the Humans opened up with their own weapons, their bolts much more accurate than those of the freighter crew. The passageway was lined with dozens of crates and the SEALs scrambled for cover behind some of the closer ones. At the other end of the passageway, about two dozen armed aliens were also weaving their way through the crates toward them. And that’s when Adam first spotted the Juirean.

“Do you see that?” he called out to the others.

“Yeah, I see four or five more. What are they doing here?” Tobias asked through his comm.

“They’re probably hitching a ride, too. No telling how many are here. John, see if you can make it to that stack of crates on the left. That should give you the high ground,” Adam said.

“On it!” The other SEALs laid down cover fire while Tindal literally jumped the ten meters or so to the stack of crates in question. The gravity — or lack of — made them all feel like they could fly.

Several of the aliens had fallen to the fire of the Humans, including a couple of the Juireans. Adam and Tobias moved a little closer on the right as Tindal covered for them. His aim was true and three more aliens died.

The Juireans and ship’s crew began to fall back, and the SEALs took the opportunity to rush the end of the passageway. There was a narrow exit there where about a dozen aliens were all trying to squeeze through. Adam and Tobias opened up, sending indiscriminate bolts of blue energy into the mass of aliens. It was a slaughter. Within a minute a large pile of dead aliens had formed at the doorway.

Tobias climbed onto the bloody mass and looked into the connecting corridor. He saw three aliens running as fast as they could in the opposite direction. There didn’t seem to be any more around.

Adam searched through the stack of dead and pulled out six dead Juireans. The rest of the dead were of two other races he did not recognize, but they had died just as easily as the Juireans.

Adam was covered with blood, as were the other SEALs. They stood among the bodies, panting heavily from the exhilaration of battle. Just then his comm buzzed.

“Cain here,” he said between breaths. “We’ve suppressed most of the resistance. Approximately fifteen aliens down. It looks like the others aren’t itching for a fight. The ship should be ours.”

“Eh, that’s great news, Adam,” Riyad said, even though the tone of his voice did not match his words.

“What’s up, Riyad, you sound odd?”

“It’s because we just got a message in from the fleet.”

Adam’s heart skipped a beat. Normally any contact with the fleet would be good news. But lately….

“Go ahead. What did it say?”

“This is a little awkward, but it seems as though they have made contact with Earth. The attack failed, Adam. It failed. The Earth is okay.”

Adam looked around at the other SEALs, all their expressions displaying a look of shock, yet slowing moving toward glee.

“Oh, and Adam, the fleet has turned back toward Juir, and they’ve dispatched a forward strike force at maximum well. They should be picking us up in about two weeks-”

If Riyad had said more, Adam couldn’t hear it over the cheers of the SEALs. They clasped each other and slapped backs. They would soon be picked up by their fleet and be back among their own kind!

Finally, once the celebration had died down some — and the SEALs remembered where they were — Tindal and Tobias took up defensive positions at the doorway, weary of any counterattack.

Adam looked down at the mass of bloody bodies lying at his feet, looked up at Chief Rutledge and simply said, “Oops!”

Chapter 44

Three of the larger Kracori starships positioned themselves at equal distance from the giant space rock, lined up at about nine hundred meters apart. The rock itself was only about half a kilometer in width, and nearly the same in depth, however, even with gravity drive, the three ships would have difficulty moving the massive boulder.

The problem with moving the rock came not with the power of the ships pulling it, but rather with the proximity of the ships to one another. Nine hundred meters was way too close to create effective singularities. They would have to be very shallow and constantly monitored for any crossover. Still, with three ships pulling, the rock would move.

Each ship sent down forty massive cables to the surface and secured them with explosives charges, sending the grapples deep into the solid nickel and iron asteroid. No one in the fleet had ever attempted such a feat, unlike the massive mining ships that were specially designed for this kind of work. But nevertheless they tried, and soon the tiny wells were engaged … and the rock began to move.

The tiny asteroid field was located about two million kilometers from Juir and if Kaddof had any chance of his plan succeeding in time he would have to have the asteroid in position in less than three weeks. The bulk of his forces was already embarking on their various starships and would be bolting out of the area in four days. Kaddof and a small contingent would remain in-system to see his final solution to the Juirean problem all the way to the end.

His remaining six ships would not leave any lasting gravity waves for the Humans to follow, so Kaddof felt secure in his actions. He had not even informed the Ludif Council of his plan.

As the momentum of the small asteroid grew, the transit time toward Juir began to shorten. His own ship stayed off at a distance and watched the tow units, and with each successive day, Kaddof grew more excited. Soon the planet Juir loomed ahead.

Kaddof had tried to have the scientists attached his fleet provide him with the best trajectory and timing that would send the asteroid directly down onto the Kacoran Plain, but they had been unable to do the proper calculations. And besides, even if they had, he doubted if he would have that much control over the rock the closer it got to Juir. The best the scientists could provide was an estimate. It would have to do.

At the proper moment, the three tow ships detonated explosive bolts that released the massive cables and the rock was free. Over the intervening two weeks, the asteroid had increasingly gained speed and momentum until it was now traveling at close to ten thousand kilometers per hour. This was far below the normal velocity for a traditional impact event, but it would have to do. It would not be a planet-killer, but it would cause considerable dishevel across the entire surface, lasting long enough for most of the surviving Juireans to die in the aftermath.

The asteroid entered the atmosphere and immediately began to heat up, its leading edge glowing molten red, with great plumes of fiery material trailing off and creating a long tail of black and white clouds behind it. The actual impact took place about one hundred kilometers out to sea and off the coast of Juir City. Kaddof would have to be satisfied with that.

The ocean at the point of impact was about two kilometers in depth so it was only a millisecond from the time the asteroid contacted the ocean’s surface before in plunged deep into the rocky surface of the planet itself. Instantly, billions of liters of seawater were flashed into steam as the giant rock continued into bury itself deep into the planet to a depth of over two kilometers. A great outpouring of molten ejecta flew out of the massive crater in all directions, sending projectiles of fire onto land surfaces at a distance of over five hundred kilometers from the impact zone. These fireballs ignited massive conflagrations in the forests of Juir and soon it looked as though half the planet was on fire.

Kaddof watched from orbit with a wicked grin. He saw the great gray cloud of ash, rock and water vapor erupt out from the impact crater, to be caught up in the planet’s prevailing winds. Over the next two days he watched as the deadly cloud encircled the planet and spread from pole to pole. Soon the entire surface of Juir was obscured by a uniform gray cover — a color appropriately matching that of Kracori skin

Satisfied, Kaddof gave the order. It was time to return home.

The impact event had set off massive earthquakes within a thousand kilometers, followed immediately by incredible series of waves, many over a hundred meters high, that spread out in circular ripples, sweeping across islands and shoreline all around the Southern Sea.

Within minutes of the impact, the first great wave sweep in over the white sand beaches located two kilometers from the outer suburbs of Juir City — what was left of it — and traveled inland at over a hundred kilometers per hour. It washed over the smoldering ruins of the city, scrapping away everything down to a depth of ten meters. Then the giant wave ran up to the very base of the Kacoran Plain and slid upwards to half the mountain’s height. When the water receded, it took with it millions of tons of boulders and soil, now deposited on the long sloping plain leading back to the ocean.

All around the planet, the long strings of refugees fleeing their burning cities and already suffering from days of being without food or shelter, were suddenly choking on the suffocating ash and smoke cloud that was everywhere. Those within five hundred kilometers of the impact also experienced rain of fire and a blistering heat wave that swept over the area, killing them instantly. And these were the lucky ones.

Although Kaddof had already departed for Eilsion by this time, he knew that the next phase of his plan would be the most long-lasting and devastating for the planet Juir. With the entire surface of the planet now covered in a thick cloud of ash and smoke, temperatures began to drop precipitously. Within a week of the impact, temperatures had plunged twenty degrees below normal. And then the snows began to fall.

Within a month of the attack, the cloud encircling the planet had all but dissipated, but now a great sheet of ice and snow covered much of the planet. With the reflective quality of this white sheet, stellar radiation was sent back off into space. Temperatures dropped even more.

By the time the Humans arrived, the planet Juir was a nearly-uniform ball of thin, white ice. Any Juireans who had survived the initial Kracori attack were now long-dead, either from starvation or the cold.

Kaddof had done it. He had killed off the last of the Juireans on Juir. He was sure Jonnif Vinn would have been pleased with his results.

Chapter 45

Six Months Later…

Snow was falling on the Kacoran Plain; this was not unusual these days, even though at this time of year it would have been summer in these latitudes. The entire shear top of the mountain was now a nearly-continuous sheet of white, broken only for the occasional outcropping of the craggy, skeletal remains of the various buildings that had once towered above its surface. Even the trees were absent, either blown apart by the Kracori invasion eight months earlier or burned by the fireballs that had rained down upon the top of the mountain as a result of the giant rock the Kracori had dropped on the planet.

The main Human fleet had arrived at Juir six months before and found the planet to be a chaotic mess of gigantic winter storms raging across its surface. The fires that had burned most of the forests had been snuffed out by the falling snows and falling temperatures. Now it was just the cold they had to contend with.

However, there were signs that the planet was beginning to heal itself. As it turned out, the impact event was not as powerful as first suspected; the cloud that enveloped the planet had been thinner and carried within it less ash and debris. Temperatures had plunged to fifty below normal for a short time, but now the global average was only about twenty-two below the norm.

The experts estimated it would still take another ten to twenty years for the planet to return to normal — at least climate-wise. But with the massive deforestation that had occurred from the fires, the once manicured expanse of the former capital planet of the galaxy would never return to its former glory, at least not for many a lifetime.

Admiral Allen had clustered nineteen of the KFV–C’s atop the Kacoran Plain and then connected them with conduit passageways to form a fairly large base of operations on the planet. He kept his D’s in orbit and required that the entire staff rotate up to the floating cities on a regular basis to experience Earth-normal gravity — one week in orbit for every two weeks on the planet. It was just one of the many inconveniences that came with making your headquarters on a lighter-gravity world.

The Human fleet had occupied the Alliance Cluster with gusto, but soon found the entire place to be cesspool of pain, suffering and death. The Kracori had ripped the place to shreds and it was all Allen could do to even acknowledge the thousands of calls for assistance streaming into his command center from the members of the Expansion, let along act on any of them.

Adam Cain and the rest of his team — Sherri, Riyad, Tobias, Rutledge and Tindal — had just finished their latest week on the ‘D’ and only fifteen minutes before entered the vast complex of silver saucers on the surface.

It had been months since Adam and his team had last experienced Earth-normal gravity and they had a hell of a time re-acclimating to it. For his part, Adam had spent over a month on a Juirean starship as a prisoner under Juirean-standard gravity, and then the whole team was locked away on a Klin ship for two more months for the trip to Marishal. Even though their stay at the Klin estate had been brief, they were soon aboard another Juirean ship for the two-month journey to Juir. Even the last three weeks before being picked up by the fleet had been spent at reduced gravity onboard the Kracori ship they’d stolen from Juir. The ship was too small to have segregated internal gravity wells, and out of consideration for Kaylor and Jym, Adam had set the gravity at a more comfortable level for the two aliens.

But now the team was trying to get their strength back and it had been a long, exhausting effort. They had spent two full months on the Bunker Hill, the flagship for the Human fleet, exercising and regaining muscle-mass before being allowed to return to Juir.

Adam and his group were scheduled to depart the Alliance Cluster in three weeks, along with the first big rotation back to Earth. A small number of relief ships had arrived — about forty — which were far fewer than had been originally planned. Back on Earth it had been decided to keep a fairly large number of reserve units in the Solar System to form a more effective shield against any further attacks by the Kracori, or anyone else. That left fewer ships to relieve the fleet.

The attempted nuclear attack had been an eye-opener for Earth’s military and political leaders. Now the system employed much tighter security, including for commercial and private ships as well. They felt that with a home force of over four hundred warships, they could provide a fairly reliable defense against any future attacks.

Sherri and Adam were in one of their on-again, off-again stages in their relationship — this time off — so they took separate quarters in one of the outer saucers in the nineteen-ship complex. He and the rest of team would spend their remaining days on Juir being debriefed like never before by the fleet intel geeks, seeking to squeeze any additional information regarding their experiences within the Expansion before they left. Riyad had the most seniority, having spent a full six years out among the aliens before Adam ever met him, so he provided the most detailed information. Sherri came next with three years’ experience and then finally Adam. The three SEALs — Tobias, Rutledge and Tindal — had very limited knowledge of actual Expansion races, planets and cultures — except when they landed upon an alien world to kill Juireans.

In addition, the spies were especially interested in everything and anything Kaylor and Jym could tell them. The Humans fleet had entered the Expansion en mass and with the singular purpose of defeating the Juireans in battle. But even after a year-and-a-half in space, very few of the Humans in the fleet had had any direct contact with members of the Expansion. This intel would be vital in helping the Humans interact with the aliens.

And interaction was inevitable. Just as Admiral Allen had surmised through his Medieval Strategy, the Expansion readily accepted the Humans as the new leaders of the Expansion. They were now the King of the Castle and all the subjects were now clamoring for attention. This was something very few of the Humans — either here or back on Earth — had even considered. Their goal had been simply to defeat the Juireans as revenge for the attack on the Earth. Now they found themselves actually in charge of a galactic empire, and Admiral Allen, for one, was very ill-prepared for the experience.

To help him better cope, the Admiral had essentially deputized Kaylor and Jym to be his personal assistants, and they had been a tremendous benefit to him. Even though there were still a few 2G’s around, their real-life experience with the functioning of the Expansion was very limited. They had been placed with the native-borns to serve a very narrow purpose, and that purpose definitely was not to help the Humans rule the galaxy.

Adam had just stowed what little gear he had accumulated over the past six months in a small drawer when the intercom in his cabin beeped.

“Captain Cain, your presence is requested immediately in Comm. Urgent.”

He walked to the small unit on the wall and pressed the button. “I’m on my way.”

It still took him over six minutes to make his way through the maze of curving corridors and plastic-covered walkways between the saucers to reach the radio shack. As he entered, he noticed Admiral Allen’s creased forehead and knew immediately that something was up. He looked to the big screen behind the Admiral and saw the large, angular face of a white-haired Juirean looking out at him. The face was familiar and it only took him a second to recognize him.

“Lord Wydor, isn’t it?” Adam asked as he walked up next to Admiral Allen.

“That is correct, Mr. Cain. I am pleased to see that you have survived the ordeal you encountered while on my world. You are one of the very few beings who can claim as much.”

Allen looked at Adam, still frowning. “Lord Wydor has asked to speak with you personally, Captain. Needless to say, we were a little surprised to receive his call — or link — you call it out here.”

Adam looked back at the alien. “From the lack of delay in your message, can I assume you are close by, Lord Wydor?”

“Yes, but my message is scrambled, so you will not be able to locate its source. Even though we have been evicted from our system, we still have certain resources in the area at our disposal.”

“So why have you returned?”

The alien expressed a look of deep sorrow. “I have come to personally witness the damage done to my world by the savage Kracori. I must say, I am staggered by the cruel and vindictive nature of their actions. I’m sure even the Humans would not have resorted to such barbaric and childish behavior.”

Both Adam and Allen exchanged looks of surprise at the Juirean’s blatant condescension but Adam knew that was just how the aliens spoke; they usually said exactly what was on their minds.

“Probably not,” Adam agreed, half-convincingly. Mankind had been known to do some barbaric and childish things themselves, and more often than not, against their own kind. What they would have ultimately done to Juir would now remain a mystery.

“So why have you requested to speak with me? I am not a diplomat or in charge of our military.”

“It is because during our previously brief encounter, you displayed a good sense of perspective for the events that had already taken place — as well as accurate insight into those still remaining. You also gained the favor of my very close friend and mentor Elder Hydon Ra Elys. In addition, prior to the Kracori asteroid attack upon Juir, I had been in contact with the personnel within the survival bunker under Malor Tower. I am aware that Lord Hydon was taken and that your particular group of Humans was not involved in that action. However, I do know that the other group of Humans was responsible. Do you have any news of Lord Hydon?”

Adam shook his head. “All I know is that he was placed aboard a Kracori ship and sent to their homeworld. I don’t know if they’ve kept him as a prisoner or if they’ve killed him. Sorry.”

“No apologies necessary, Mr. Cain. I suspect that by now he has been dispatched in a most undesirable manner, especially considering what the Kracori did to Juir just as a means of inflicting more pain and suffering on any surviving Juireans.”

“I’m sure your concern for Hydon is genuine, Lord Wydor, but I ask again, why have you called me?”

Wydor stretched a small smile across his thin lips. It seemed strained and out of place. “I wish to give you a briefing as to the intentions of the Juireans in the wake of recent events.”

Both Adam and Allen tensed. They knew that were still several billion Juireans spread throughout the galaxy and that they had vast resources to draw upon. Adam was positive they could field a fleet large enough to rival the Human’s. The question had been on the minds of all the top brass: What would the Juireans do next?

“The honesty I will provide you with is sincere, Mr. Cain. I believe now that you and your people never sought war with the Expansion, and you do not wish to prolong it any longer than is necessary. That is why I have sought you out personally. I believe you will relay this information to your superiors in as passionate a form as you did when describing your insights to me and Hydon.”

The new Elder of the Juirean race paused and looked away for a moment, as if collecting his thoughts. When he looked back at Adam, his eyes carried an even sadder shade of blue.

“I will not try to delude you, Mr. Cain; the attack on the Cluster has had a devastating effect on the Juireans as a race, more so than you can even imagine, and in an area you may not be familiar with. For nearly three thousand years, almost all of our females have been located either on Salin or Crilis here in the Cluster. Our females are extremely important to us and serve the most vital function in our society, that of procreation and the raising of our young. There had been over a billion Juirean females on these two worlds. Now, after the Kracori attack, we estimate that we have fewer than one million left.

“This information may not seem very important to you Humans. You — like the vast majority of the other races in the Expansion — mate within your communities and in bonding units. We Juireans did so as well until the demands for more administrators for the Expansion became so great. We could no longer leave the production and training of these administrators to chance, and instead transitioned to a more predictable and streamlined process.”

“Lord Wydor, I am aware of how the Juireans reproduce. This is not news to us.”

“I realize that, but I wish to explain what an impact the loss of so many females has had on my race. Not only were so many females killed on our two reproduction worlds, but nearly all of our young were as well, including the current pre-release brood. Currently, we estimate that there are over three billion Juireans left in the galaxy, however, approximately nine-nine percent of them are male. As time passes, there simply will not be enough new Juireans to replace those who expire.”

Wydor took a deep breath and the sadness in his eyes grew even more pronounced. “So, Mr. Cain, the only priority of the Juirean people at this time — as well for generations to come — will be to rebuild our species, and to achieve this, we have even resorted back to the old methods of impregnation, namely that of actual physical contact.”

Both Allen and Adam looked at each other and shared wry smiles. So the aliens are back to doing the nasty?

Wydor was continuing: “Although this practice will produce new offspring — and through genetic manipulation, nearly all newborns will be female — it will still take many years to rebuild just the female gender of our race. In the meantime, many millions of Juirean males will simply die off, not to be replaced. Parity in genders will not come for several generations. “

Wydor looked intensely at Adam with eyes that had now grown moist. “The Juirean people do not wish any further conflict with the Humans and we also are not interested in resuming any leadership position within the Expansion — if in the event the Humans decide to keep it in its present form. We have placed ourselves on a small group of planets in another region of the galaxy. I’m sure that with some effort, you will be able find this location, since it is hard to hide a population such as ours from prying eyes.

“At this time I just wish to express our sincere desire to be left alone. We are not a threat to anyone. Now the greatest fear for the Juirean people is that of extinction. If we are not allowed to follow our reproductive goals, then the Juirean race will die off in great numbers, destined to become only a small, single-planet colony lost to the pages of galactic history. We are too proud of a race to let that happen. We wish to rediscover our heritage and to learn once more what it means to be Juirean. One day in the distant future we will seek to rejoin the community of worlds within the galaxy, although definitely not in a leadership position.

“The past six months have been a great time of reflection for the Juirean people. We have looked back at how we became what we have become, and we have not been happy with what we saw. Although our empire was great, and we ruled the galaxy for thousands of years, we have paid a heavy toll for our success. We Juireans never intended to give away our more traditional mating bonds and what you call the family unit; that just evolved over time as a consequence of the growth of the Expansion. The chemical desires that are within our genders still remain; three thousand years is not enough time to alter evolution and instinct. Even though this transition has been difficult for us, we are beginning to see what we have lost, and what so many other races within the galaxy still enjoy.”

The Juirean suddenly frowned and leaned in closer to the screen. “May I ask a question of you Mr. Cain, since your race is so much more intimate with this subject?”

“Sure, go ahead?” Adam said, surprised by the question.

“Now that we are having more intimate and continuous interactions with our females, we are having some difficulty in adapting. We males are confused — almost to the point of believing that our females are of a different species than us. We have such diametrically opposed ways at viewing similar events. It is very hard to understand the thinking of our females. Is it the same among Humans?”

Adam and Allen couldn’t help it — they both burst out laughing. After a moment, Adam looked into the confused eyes of the Juirean and replied. “Yes, Lord Wydor, we share the same experience and the same concerns. But that is what makes females so appealing to us — all the mystery and emotion. But I’m sure our women — females — consider us to be of a different species, as well. You will get used to it, Lord Wydor, although you will never fully understand the female mind. Just enjoy it while you can and don’t question it too deeply.”

“I appreciate the insight, Mr. Cain, if all it has done is confused me more.”

“Welcome to the club.”

“Please repeat.”

“Never mind.” Adam looked at Allen; he gave Adam a simple nod.

“Lord Wydor, I believe I speak for the rest of us here when I say we Humans do not want to continue a war with the Juireans, any more than you want to continue one with us. We never asked for any of this to happen — but here we are. We will respect your privacy and let the Juirean people recover as best you can.”

“Thank you, Mr. Cain, and also to you Fleet Marshal Allen.”

“It’s Admiral Allen, Lord Wydor,” Allen corrected.

“That is what I said: Fleet Marshal.”

Adam placed a hand on Allen arm. “It’s okay. The translation bug is converting the rank to the Juirean equivalent.”

“Oh, sorry,” Allen said a little embarrassed. He had so much to learn about alien interactions.

Adam continued: “And I am truly sorry for what has happened to your planet. As you know, we Humans also have a very special bond to our homeworld.”

“You may find this hard to conceive,” Wydor said, “but even though not a single one of our race has been born upon the planet Juir in over two thousand years, to each of us we still consider Juir to be our home — and always will.”

Wydor attempted the small smile again, even though Adam could tell he was in immense emotional pain. “I will be closing the link now, Mr. Cain, but before I go I wish to say one last thing: Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Oh, this is not for you exclusively, but for your entire race. If you had not accomplished what you have the Juirean race would have continued along our same self-destructive path. We realize now that we did not have the Expansion to serve us, but rather we existed to serve the Expansion. That had never been our intention as a people. Looking back on the millennia, it seems we never were superior to any of our subjects, even though we believed ourselves to be. We were the servants, and everyone else the masters. As a result of your actions, we will now have a chance to live as a race of people again, interacting as all the other members of the Expansion have been allowed to do. That is why I thank you. You have given identity back to the Juirean people.

“May good fortune follow you, Mr. Cain. Maybe someday, when the Juirean race has recovered, Humans and Juireans will become friends.”

The screen went blank and Admiral Allen and Adam spent a long minute in silence staring at their reflections in the shiny black screen.

“Ain’t that some shit,” Adam finally said, breaking the silence. “Tell me you were recording that, Admiral?”

“Of course, and I will get this out to Earth right away.” Allen placed a hand on Adam’s shoulder. “Good job, Captain. When he requested you personally, I didn’t know what to expect. This will come as welcome news back on Earth. Without the Juireans to worry about, it looks like we’re pretty much in charge of the whole damn thing.”

“Yes sir. But now that we own the galaxy, what are we going to do with it?”

Chapter 46

Adam pulled the furry hood of the parka tighter around his head and trudged a little further in the near-knee-high snow drifts. The velocity of the wind was high, yet one of the things he found about worlds with lighter gravity, lower air density meant weaker winds. The velocities may be the same, but rather than fighting to remain upright against the force, it was more like a soft breeze on his pink cheeks.

It had been two hours since the conversation with Lord Wydor, and afterwards Adam had felt a strong urge to get outside and experience some wide open spaces; the close walls of the flying saucers had suddenly felt more confining. Even though the weather outside the command complex was terrible, Adam welcomed the change. It helped him put things in perspective, something this mind had been attempting to do for several months already.

Adam could see where Malor Tower had once stood, marked by the few remaining metal frame elements still anchored securely in the massive concrete foundation, although now twisted and warped into something resembling a scene from an old black-and-white gothic horror movie. He moved between two twisted spires and made his way to where he estimated the center of the structure would have been, at the very spot where the Contact Monument had once stood. In a surprising flash of Jerry Seinfeld-type thinking, Adam thought the Juireans really had to work on naming their monuments and structures better, maybe use a little more imagination and flair. Contact Monument had never really done it for him. But that was a thought for another day.

The Kracori asteroid had done a real number on the planet, even though it hadn’t arrived with the tremendous velocity and punch of a traditional impact event. Adam looked out across the vast alluvial plain below the mountain and out to the Southern Sea beyond. He was sure the Kracori had been originally aiming for the very spot he now stood, however they missed. The massive rock of nickel and iron had instead struck almost a hundred kilometers out to sea; the hundred meter high tsunami sweeping in from the ocean, across the vast plain — where the still-smoldering remains of Juir City had once stood — and then reaching the very base of the Kacoran Plain itself. And then the waters receded, leaving the land below virginal, as it was before the first ancient Juirean had ever set foot upon its grasses.

He would be leaving for Earth in a few days and was not looking forward to twelve long months cooped up in a metal cocoon. But it would be good to get home. He had been gone for three years — four if you didn’t count the brief six-day stay just before the Juireans attacked. He was sure he would find things so incredibly different from when he left….

He stretched out a wide, cynical smile as the cold air struck the skin of his face. I make it sound as if I had a choice about leaving, he thought. That was hardly the case.

Indeed, very little that had happened to him over the past four years had been his choice, and he placed the blame for such circumstance squarely in one place: on aliens! Since his first encounter with these odd creatures, they had brought him nothing but pain, misery and heartache. They had disrupted his life and taken away his future.

Yes, a year was a long time to spend confined to a big metal disk, but Adam Cain swore — then and there — that after he got back to Earth it would be a cold day in Hell before he would ever return to space again!

Chapter 47

Seven Years Later…

It was a particularly cold day in Hell when Adam’s shuttle landed atop the Kacoran Plain, near the cluster of twenty-four buildings that now made up the provisional capital of the EU — the Expansion Union. He watched through the shuttle’s viewport as great clouds of snow were thrown back by the craft’s chemical landing ports as they settled onto the hard, icy surface of Juir.

He wasn’t surprised to see that the climate still hadn’t returned to normal on the homeworld of the Juireans in the seven years since he left. It would normally be winter in these latitudes, however, the temperature worldwide was still sitting about ten degrees below normal. Harsh winters covered more of the surface these days and lasted longer into the year, and the experts estimated it would still be another ten years or more before the planet would heal itself completely from the Kracori asteroid attack.

Adam felt the sudden shift in gravity as the internal well dissolved, leaving him suddenly about fifty pounds lighter than he was used to. It had been years since he’d experienced the sensation, and for a moment it made him smile thinking about all the amazing feats he had been able to accomplish back in the day.

What is this crap? he asked. Am I feeling nostalgic?

He might have been in a way, he acknowledged. A lot had happened since his return to Earth so many years before, after an excruciating long and boring ride back to the planet. In fact, putting that in context, he had spent two out of the last seven years just traveling from Juir to Earth and now back to Juir again. Two years out of his life wasted aboard a giant metal Frisbee.

His tenure back on Earth had been a whirlwind, too, so much so that it seemed like only a blip in time looking back on it now.

He had been welcomed back as a hero, a role for which he was completely ill-prepared to play. The current president of the United States, Sean McLaren, had kept the promise of his predecessor and pardoned him — along all his cohorts — for any culpability in the Juirean attack on the planet. In fact, he was made out to be the lone voice of reason, unheeded by those in power at the time.

But it hadn’t ended there.

He was also given credit for stopping the Kracori attack as well.

The entire population of the planet was well aware of the nuclear plague the aliens had attempted to infect them with — the resulting EMP was something that couldn’t be hidden and had to be explained. What very few people knew, however, was that the Human defenders had had nothing to do with stopping the attack.

Within the enclaves of the powerful, it was decided that this particular bit of information would not have been welcomed among a race of people sitting on the brink of hysteria. If they had known the truth — that the Kracori had been only minutes away from irradiating the planet for generations, and that those they had entrusted to protect them had failed — that would not have done anything to instill confidence in their leaders. There would have been a complete breakdown in trust that their governments could keep them safe from all the disparate forces in the galaxy who — for some god-damn reason — didn’t like Humans very much.

So that part of the story was kept quiet, and after much convincing, Adam went along with the deception. The new official version was that Adam had warned the authorities of the impending attack, and then through sheer skill and determination, the authorities were able to stop the Kracori.

It made the Human race sleep better at night knowing that their leaders could protect them, even if it was a lie.

And so now Adam Cain was considered the savior of all mankind.

He had gone on the lecture circuit — another thing he abhorred — before finally settling down in a genuine log cabin in the pristine, pine-shrouded mountains outside of South Lake Tahoe, California. At the time, Sherri Valentine was still with him, but that soon ended. It seemed that when two people are thrown together through some tragic or life-threatening event — such as spending three years being chased by aliens throughout the galaxy — then trying to maintain that relationship in light of the everyday and the mundane was very difficult to achieve. He had not heard from her for nearly three years.

Riyad Tarazi had faded away as well. He was semi-famous now — although nothing like Adam — and had made a fair amount of money off a book he wrote about his experiences in space. Adam hadn’t had the time to read it yet, but he was sure Riyad had glossed over some of the more unsavory parts of his adventures. Adam hadn’t heard from him in a couple years either.

Lieutenant Andy Tobias was now Captain Andy Tobias, still in the Navy, yet spending most of his time off-planet, as most of the military did these days.

Chief Geoffrey Rutledge had retired from the Navy and was now living in Key West, Florida, running a small fishing boat operation with his buddy John Tindal. Unknown to Adam before this time, the two of them were actually fairly accomplished musicians, and they moonlighted as a duo at the Hog’s Breath Saloon on Duval Street four nights a week. They were known by the professional name of Local Knowledge, meaning they knew their way around. In their case, that meant a lot of places — including the galaxy.

Yes, Adam was feeling nostalgic. But now he had a job to do, one that had brought him twenty thousand light years across the galaxy and to a planet he swore he’d never return to.

Adam was escorted to the main structure on the mountain, a building unceremoniously called NU-6. Aliens never were very creative at naming things — but neither were Human bureaucrats! It was a nine-story concrete structure, housing the Administrator’s offices and the primary diplomat corps for Earth. Most of the surrounding buildings housed the military headquarters for the galaxy, as well as various Human trade missions.

Below the mountain, and on land that had once been Juir City, a new city in its own right had sprung up: Consulate City. With a population nearing half a million — including an estimated thirty-five thousand Humans — this was where the diplomatic missions from nearly eight thousand worlds could be found.

And snuggled up against the base of the mountain were the buildings of the Union Assembly, where representatives from the twenty-three sectors of the Expansion held court.

Adam was amazed at all the changes that had taken place here in seven years, especially in light of the planet’s harsh weather. But when one has the resources of a galaxy at one’s disposal, then anything was possible.

Yes, it turned out that the Human Expansion was still run out of the planet Juir, at least officially. Most of the actual day-to-day operations, however, took place on Earth, a task made easier by the sustained-wormhole (S/W) relays invented by the Klin, which allowed for instantaneous communications between Earth and Juir. It seemed that in their haste to leave the Cluster, the Kracori had left an S/W relay station in orbit around Juir. Human and alien technicians had quickly learned the secrets of the device, and had actually improved upon it. Now most starships and planets within the Expansion utilized this revolutionary new technology.

Even though communications had improved greatly in the intervening years, travel time throughout the galaxy had not. Earth was still located much too far away to make an effective capital for the Expansion, and so it was decided that it served everyone’s best interest to keep the official capital of the galaxy at the same location it had been for the past four thousand years.

At least it would remain so for a few more months, until Adam Cain concluded his assignment.

Inside the main administration building it was warm and cozy, with dark wood paneling lining the walls and with impressive statues of crystal and marble set about tastefully. The wide corridor that led to the Administrator’s office was floored with a thick, red-wine colored carpet with intricate designs subtly embossed in its weave. Adam followed the young Human aide down the hallway and up to the ornate double doors of carved wood. The doors looked familiar, and Adam knew why.

The aide opened the doors and Adam walked in. Behind the massive wood desk, the Administrator for the Expansion Union rose up with a wide grin across his face, his huge figure looking slightly less huge than the last time Adam had seen him.

“My friend, Adam Cain, it is so wonderful to see you again. It has been ages.”

“Yes it has, Kroekus, and I’m glad to see this meeting is on much friendlier terms than last time.” Last time was when Kroekus had attempted to have him, Sherri and Riyad all killed in the crime boss’s headquarters back on the Fringe world of Silea. “And I see you have imported the same doors from your old office.”

“Please have a seat, Mister Ambassador! And yes, I try to make myself as comfortable as I can wherever I go. Charm is a lavish life, so they say.”

Adam didn’t quite catch the Silean reference, but the meaning registered. Adam grinned as he took a seat in a richly-padded chair in front of the desk. “You look good, Kroekus. Have you lost weight?”

Adam noticed a frown appear on the alien’s forehead, but then the smile quickly returned. “Ah, your foreign ways,” Kroekus said jovially. “Your ignorance can be forgiven, but let me explain why that question is not a compliment. For Silean males our, ah, sex organ, grows with our accumulation of weight and mass. Therefore, the larger the male, the larger is his, shall I say — tool? It is a sign of sexual prowess and attribute to be of considerable bulk, and quite appealing to our females. But looking at you Humans, I see that does not apply to your race — or does it?”

Adam couldn’t help himself; he burst out laughing, exposing teeth and all. Kroekus did the same, however his laugh was like that of car engine trying to turn over in cold weather. The two of them laughing made for a quite a scene.

Once the pleasantries were out of the way, along with a little more reminiscing, the two diplomats got down to business.

“Your news will not be welcome, Adam.”

“I realize that, but it is a decision we’re going with. I hope you understand.”

“Oh I do, completely. It is just that it will throw the galaxy back into turmoil just as we were beginning to recover. It will not make my job any easier.”

Adam had often wondered why the former crime lord of Silea had taken the job of Administrator in the first place — he didn’t need the headache. Kroekus had capitalized on the retreat of the Juireans during the war by issuing gold-certificates to the hundreds — and then thousands — of worlds who had previously relied on Juirean credits as their currency of record. And then with the complete downfall of the Juireans and their money, Kroekus soon reorganized the entire financial structure of the galaxy, through a combination of gold-backed credits and an elaborate conversion program that allowed for individual worlds to use their own currency in intergalactic transactions.

Adam was in awe knowing that sitting across the desk from him, was the wealthiest creature in the entire galaxy.

“Kroekus, I’ve often wondered why you even bother with this job? You don’t need to put up with all the bullshit — I mean — trouble that goes along with it.”

The Silean had had drinks and snacks brought in and now he devoured a pastry-looking thing and then downed a long swallow of a brown liquid. “Adam, my friend, my family has controlled Silea for a thousand years; I was born into wealth, so credits mean very little to me. I enjoy the running of things, of seeing vast organizations operating under my direction, and I gain pleasure in seeing these operations work efficiently. When I saw the financial system of the Expansion collapsing, I simply offered a solution. That solution worked, and now I have more wealth than I could possibly use. But I had that already. Now it is the challenge I live for.”

“Then my announcement shall give you a challenge like never before.”

“Indeed. And speaking of the announcement, the representatives should all be assembled by now. Are you ready to turn the galaxy upside down, my friend?”

Adam suddenly felt knots twist in his stomach. He had never been comfortable with public speaking; his only consolation came from knowing that only about thirty beings would be present — and nearly all of them would be aliens.

Adam’s ‘announcement’ would take place in a room resembling a small college lecture hall. There were several rows of seats rising up to the back of the room and all facing a small stage. A lectern had been set up on the stage.

Adam had had a year to prepare for this announcement, even though he had long ago decided not to follow any formal structure. He wasn’t a public speaker, so instead he would simply state the facts as best he knew them and then play it by ear. For far too long he had made himself sick wondering how his presentation would turn out, but then one day, months ago, he came to a liberating realization: He didn’t give a damn what they thought! This was something the Human race was doing for their own benefit, and not for the Expansion’s.

If the aliens didn’t like it — then tough.

Adam and Kroekus entered the hall from a side door. There was a cacophony of alien chatter filling the room when they entered that quickly dropped to a hush as they were noticed. The Administrator took a seat off to the side of the audience while Adam climbed the three short steps to the stage and moved behind the podium.

He placed notes down on the small surface before him and then took a quick glance at his audience. There was a menagerie of aliens of nearly all shapes and sizes sitting before him, but since ninety percent of the members of the Expansion were Primes — meaning Humanoid to Adam — they all followed the same basic physicality. Even then, some wore pressure suits and helmets, while still others had small tubes running to their noses, providing supplemental breathing atmosphere they required.

These were the appointed representatives of the twenty-three sectors of the Expansion, along with a few VIP’s from manufacturing and commerce. It would have been impractical to hold such a meeting with representatives from every planet in the Expansion, nearly eight thousand worlds. Now that would have really tied Adam’s stomach up in knots. Eight thousand aliens all in one room — and imagine the smell!

There was a familiar face smiling at him from the front row. Adam immediately recognized the two dangling appendages below his ears and knew it to be Kaylor. So he’s entered politics? I didn’t see that coming, Adam thought. Better him than the emotional little bear, Jym. But even as he nodded at the tall Belsonian, he caught himself. Just look at me! I’ve entered the political arena myself, so I can’t be critical of anyone else. I wonder if he’s having as shitty a time doing this as I am?

He cleared his throat and the chatter in the room began to diminish. It took a couple more ah-hems before it was quiet.

Adam had no idea what the formal welcoming would be for all these various races, so he chose something very basic and generic.

“Greetings to all,” he began. “I am Adam Cain, Special Ambassador from the planet Earth and representing the interests of the Human race.” The one thing that actually allowed him to remain somewhat calm during his presentation was that he was sure most of the creatures here couldn’t discern Human body language, so no matter how much he screwed up, he was sure they wouldn’t notice. Maybe a shaky voice and redness in the cheeks was normal for a Human….

“I come before you today to make a very important announcement regarding the continued Human involvement in the affairs of the Expansion. Yet before I make the formal statement, I would like to summarize what my race has experienced during the past seven years, since the time we first assumed control of the Expansion.

“As all of you should be aware by now, our conflict with the Juireans was thrust upon us. At the time, my race was not planning some great invasion of Juirean territory, and therefore was not a threat to the Juireans, or to the Expansion and any of its members. It was the Klin who circulated these rumors, causing the Juireans to take action against us. The Klin needed a war between the Humans and Juireans to further their ambitions — and they got one. However, the results of this conflict were not as they had planned.”

A murmur ran through the crowd. Many of the delegates present were still loyal to the Juireans; many were not, yet they all missed the stability the Juireans had brought to their sectors. For the most part, Humans were resented by the majority of the delegates, even though all those present knew there was no viable alternative at the time.

“After the war, and the destruction of Juir, we Humans found ourselves deluged with calls for leadership from the members of the Expansion. For thousands of years, there had always been one central race to set the rules and maintained peace and stability in the galaxy. Now that the Juireans were gone, that job fell to the Humans.”

Adam paused to take a sip of water. He caught Kaylor’s eye, who was watching him intently with a frown. Adam sent him a quick wink as he finished with the water.

“Now the thing you have to realize about Humans is that we enjoy being in charge, so the opportunity to govern a galaxy was quite appealing to many of us, even though we didn’t have a clue about what we were doing. Luckily for us — and for all of you — none of the members sought to challenge us militarily for that position. That would have been a mistake.

“However, it wasn’t long before we began to realize just how involved the Juireans had been in the day-to-day operations of the Expansion. The rules and regulations that had evolved over time — along with their enforcement — came as second-nature to the Juireans, and it appeared at first that the Expansion functioned pretty much on its own, with very little outside influence or direction.

“We were wrong. It turned out that running a thing as big as a galaxy takes a total commitment from those attempting it. Over the past seven years, the Human race has tried to embrace that commitment, not only for the good of the Expansion, but also for ourselves, for without this total commitment, we were doomed to fail.

“As you’re probably already aware, Humanity is very good at certain things, and primary among these is the fighting of wars. This was the main reason the Klin chose us to go up against the Juireans. However, we also pride ourselves on being good administrators. This is a talent, however, that we may have been fooling ourselves about.

“Most of the governmental systems on Earth consist mainly of an accumulation of past laws and regulations all stacked one on top the other, with very few of the old, inefficient or outdated laws ever being purged from the system. We simply write new laws to try and correct the effects of the old ones.

“But now we found ourselves in control of a galaxy, and just like before, our leaders jumped right in and starting setting down thousands upon thousands of new laws, regulations, and guidelines regarding how the Expansion should be managed, even though we had no idea what we were doing. Unfortunately, a lot of these early efforts didn’t work and only made things worse — to say the least. The feedback from many of you in this room has helped us gain our footing, but it’s still a mess.

“Most of what I’m saying is just a lead up to what has been our greatest revelation. On the Earth, our land is divided into about two hundred separate and distinct countries. I know most of you cannot grasp this concept, but you must understand we are new to the galactic community. Before now, we had not looked upon ourselves as one race or one planet among many. We do now — and things are changing — but old habits die hard.

“But now we found ourselves in charge of a system with eight-thousand separate units — like having eight-thousand countries to deal with. This has proven to be incredibly difficult for us. For example, most of the countries on Earth have consulates — diplomatic missions — with all the others. Now — as a race — we had to establish eight-thousand more, and with races and cultures completely foreign to us. This caused an overwhelming demand for not only thousands of new diplomats, but also for all their support staff. In addition, we found that this new responsibility spilled over into so many other areas we had never imagined, from commerce, to medical science, to supplying housing and other materiel support for all our various missions. And more than just the sheer need for personnel, there has also been an unbelievable amount of new things to learn — from protocols, to cultural differences, histories and so much more.

“The Juireans, for their part, had four thousand years to evolve into the role we Humans suddenly inherited overnight. We were allowed no period of transition. One day we were a solitary planet existing by ourselves in the Far Arm. The next, we were expected to assume the position of leaders of an entire galaxy. The job has been daunting, as well as incredible strain on the Human race.”

He took another sip of water. Now it begins….

“And now to the main reason for this meeting,” he began. “After much discussion back on Earth, we have settled on a course of action which, over my objections, has been called The Cain Initiative. Although it is named after me, I was not the first to suggest it. Instead, there has been a constant and growing group of Humans who have supported this action almost from the beginning. At the conclusion of this meeting you will be sent more detailed explanation and guidelines for the Initiative, but in summary, it simply states that the Human race is relinquishing all control of the Expansion-”

An uproar of voices exploded throughout the assembly. Although none here were especially fond of the Humans, they were accustomed to having one authority in charge. After all the turmoil, confusion and uncertainty following the fall of the Juireans, they were not anxious to have a repeat of those times.

“Please calm down. Quiet everyone,” Adam pleaded. Once order was restored, he continued. “That’s right: Humanity is giving up the Expansion. We will be returning to our part of the galaxy, namely the Far Arm. This changeover will happen in approximately six months. And now for more of the details.

“We have designated Kroekus of Silea as the interim Administrator of the Expansion Union to assist in the changeover, a role he has been competently filling for several years, yet until now, always under Human direction. Over the next six months, and with your help, he will be tasked with devising a governing document which will establish the general operation principles for the new EU. The representatives within this room will form the core of a new governing assembly. Once complete control is turned over to the EU, you may decide to have direct elections of your leaders, or may choose them from within the assembly. The ultimate decision will be yours, as will all others that follow.”

Adam continued to get more serious with each new item he outlined. “We do realize that with the sudden departure of the Humans there will need to be established a new universal military and police force to maintain order throughout the galaxy. To achieve this, each member will be requested to supply one military-style starship, with trained crew, to the Expansion. If this is accomplished, then the new government will control a police force of eight thousand ships, making it the second largest military force ever to operate within the galaxy. This should go a long way to maintaining security for your respective worlds.

“In addition, Kroekus will continue to advise the EU in financial matters concerning currency, banking and trade — something he is very proficient at — so there should not be a repeat of the meltdown that occurred when the Juireans left.”

Adam paused again and took another sip of water. When he finished, he looked out at the crowd with burning eyes. “This next part you should pay particular attention to. Although the Humans are leaving the Expansion, we have a word of warning for all of you present: We are not doing this out of weakness. We are doing this because we do not want to repeat the path taken by the Juirean people. We do not want to become slaves to our success or to the sheer size of our endeavor.

“However, we Humans do recognize our nature, and now that we have been exposed to the wonders of the universe, we will not be content with just one world any longer. Humanity will return to the Far Arm, yet we are declaring the following: From the area in the Fringe called The Barrier, and along a line running parallel to that landmark, all territory within the Arm will now be designated as Human Territory. It will be our sovereign space and we will not tolerate any hostile actions against it by outside forces. Within this space, we will establish our own mini-empire — if you will. This will satisfy Humanity’s need for exploration and expansion, and will also keep certain desires at bay, at least as they pertain to the space beyond the Arm.

“Furthermore, even though we have established this dividing line in space, it will not restrict trade or travel within our respective territories. Even though we are giving up control of the Expansion and pulling back our forces, we still wish to remain an active member of the galactic community of worlds and races.

“Now with all these changes come a few other declarations of a more selfish nature. First of all — as far as we Humans are concerned — we have designated two species as outlaw races. They are the Klin and Kracori. You may have noticed I did not mention the Juireans. Even though our world was attacked by the hand of the Juireans, they were not in full control of their actions. They were manipulated and mislead by the Klin, just as we were. But don’t get it wrong; we do not seek to be friends with the Juireans We just have not designated them as outlaws — at this time.

“What this designation means is that until further notice, Humans will continue to hunt them down the Klin and Kracori and exact our own form of justice. To that end, we will not respect the sovereignty or the laws of any other world or galactic entity in our efforts. In addition, any world that, as a policy, supports or protects either the Klin or the Kracori will be also deemed outlaw and they, too, will suffer the full force that the Human race can bring to bear. These two outlaw races will be isolated and alone.

“So let this be a warning to the Klin and Kracori — as well as any who choose to support them: We will not rest until our revenge has been satisfied.”

Adam paused and looked out at the crowd. The murmuring had stopped, as had all the protests. There was now a stunned silence throughout the room.

Adam would now conclude his speech, but not before he finally realized why he had been selected to be the face of the Initiative, as well as the one to give this presentation. The message would not have had the same impact if given by a diplomat and in diplomat-speak. The politicians in the room — even alien politicians — would have simply treated it as just the opening salvo in an on-going negotiation. But for Adam, this was no negotiation. It was proclamation, a law — an order!

So he took a deep breath and continued. “Most of you in this assembly have had only minimal contact with the Human race — if any at all — and most of that, if not all, has been through the prism of diplomacy. Well I’m here to tell you right now that what you’ve seen of us so far is nothing compared to the reality We have gone up against the most powerful force in the galaxy — and we beat the Hell out of them. That may not translate properly, but I’m sure you get the meaning. The message should be clear; we Humans are not to be trifled with. We are a mean, savage and vengeful race, and we possess certain physical advantages that make us even tougher than our attitude.

“I will now conclude with this one final item and word of warning. Although we are leaving, we are not running away, and if any of you seek to challenge us in the future, it will not be pleasant — for you. So from me and my race, we have this very simple message: Don’t mess with the Humans.”

Chapter 48

It had been over four years since Nigel McCarthy had had any contact with the Kracori Ludif Council, so when he got the message earlier in the day that they were requesting his counsel, he was very curious as to what was up.

He dressed in the best of the tattered clothing they had given him over seven years ago before and attempted to pat down the wild ginger-colored hair that had grown much too long on the sides of his now nearly-bald scalp. He had given up keeping his hair cropped to nearly non-existence several years ago, when he realized that no one gave a damn what he looked like. In a world of gray, leather-skinned beings, no matter what he did he would always look alien to them.

Since arriving on the planet Eilsion with the Juirean Elder Hydon, he had experienced a love-hate relationship with the Kracori. At first, they loved him, treating him and his men as celebrities at court. They were given lavish quarters just outside the sprawling planetary governing complex in the city of Goruis, along with nearly anything they else desired. And early on, he had consulted almost continuously with the Kracori, revealing all he could about his fellow Humans, their industrial capacity and their tactics of war.

McCarthy had been more than happy to offer this information, something the Klin never seemed that curious about. The Klin had studied Humans for a hundred years and believed they knew all they needed to know about the Humans, at least enough for the role they were to play in coming events. Nigel had done his part by coordinating the acquisition of Humans for the Klin’s breeding farms and spaceships. Beyond that, they never had much use for the former British SAS officer. It was this superficial regard for Human nature that may have allowed the Klin to underestimate mankind. If only they’d listened to him more….

Unfortunately, the Kracori had also run out of uses for McCarthy and his men. After draining them of all useful information, the Humans were eventually relocated to a more rundown section of the city and promptly forgotten. They were provided with a bare minimum of food and drink and other provisions, all free of charge, but never did Nigel see a dime of the planetary fortune he’d been promised. Many a restless night, Nigel McCarthy would lay awake and wonder if he’d done better taking his chances with Adam Cain and the other Humans? At least then he would have been under more control of his destiny….

But now the Kracori had summoned him. Maybe now he might be of renewed value to them. And maybe now he could escape from the paralyzing boredom that was his constant companion on the planet Eilsion.

But just in case it was something else, he did take along a few accessories….

Nigel McCarthy was escorted to a non-descript conference room within the governing complex, but not one of the fancy chambers reserved for VIP’s. Instantly, alarm bells went off in his head. The SAS field operative was now on full alert.

He sat at the end of a long, gray metal table where four Kracori were already seated. He was glad to see Daninf Kicon sitting at the other end. At least this meeting was important enough to warrant the presence of the Kracori Langril himself.

“Mr. McCarthy,” Daninf began. He had long ago learned the proper form of greeting for Humans. McCarthy could also see the leader of the Kracori people had grown considerably older-looking in the four years since he’d seen him last. It must be tough for the Kracori, to be stuck here in their own nebulae, afraid to poke their heads outside their protective cocoon. “There had been a major development within the Expansion which we need your insights.”

Nigel raised his bushy eyebrows. Major developments, this could be interesting. “Sure, what’s happened?”

“It seems that your Human race have decided to relinquish control of the Expansion, and to return to their part of the galaxy.”

Nigel was stunned by the news. His eyes grew wide and his jaw fell open. “Well bugger me,” he said out loud. “Why would they do that?”

“That is what we have brought you in to answer.”

“Surely they had to give a reason?”

“There was a speech made by their representative — someone I believe you know: Adam Cain.”

Cain! So that bloody SEAL is still hanging around. I thought I’d heard the last of his name. “Go on. What did he say?”

“He said they have concluded that the galaxy is too big for them to govern, and that they have elected to claim the Far Arm as Human Territory. There was also something about not wanting to become like the Juireans.”

“So what’s your issue? It seems like they’ve handed the galaxy back to you blokes.”

Daninf looked frustrated with McCarthy’s casual concern over the information revealed. “If by blokes you refer to the Kracori, then you are mistaken. The Humans have also declared that both the Kracori and Klin are to be outlaw races, and they have sworn to continue their search for us.”

“I thought you said they were leaving?”

“They are, yet they will still be involved in trade and travel with the Expansion, and if any trace of either the Kracori or the Klin is found, they will undoubtedly send military units against us.”

McCarthy laughed. “That sounds like something they’d do.”

“That is precisely the input we require from you, Mr. McCarthy, of course without the cavalier attitude,” Daninf said between tight lips. “Are the Humans serious about their intent to leave and will they continue to pursue the Kracori?”

McCarthy leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his head. He looked up at the ceiling as if in thought. When he looked back at Daninf, his eyes sparkled with an inner glow. “Oh yeah, they’re serious. They never wanted to be in charge of the galaxy anyway, so for them to pull back makes perfect sense. And claiming a smaller part of the galaxy as their own — that’s ace. Now they can play gods in their own backyard. And as far as continuing to hold you and the Klin responsible for all that’s happened to them, you can bet your bottom tanner that they’re serious.”

“Please, Mr. McCarthy, speak more clearly.”

“Yeah, Daninf, they’ll continue to come after you, until the last star in the galaxy burns out. Is that clear enough for you?” He leaned forward in the chair and placed his hands on the table’s edge, sending a wicked smile Daninf’s way. The Kracori did not fully support the smile-as-a-challenge gesture, like the majority of races throughout the galaxy, but they did understand the concept.

Daninf glared at him for several seconds, obviously upset by McCarthy’s disrespectful behavior. After a moment, however, he regained his composure and attempted to return a pleasant smile to the Human.

“Thank you, Mr. McCarthy. That will be all. If we need your consultation in the future we will call upon you. Oh, and as an afterthought, I hope you are finding your accommodations here on Eilsion satisfactory? We are glad to have you and your fellow Humans as guests of the Kracori race.”

As he went to rise, McCarthy placed a small, button-size object under the lip of the table. “They’re just fine, Ludif Daninf. No complaints.”

“Good. I would hate to hear that you are dissatisfied with Kracori hospitality.”

As Nigel left the conference room, he reached up to scratch his ear, and placed the tiny receiver deep inside it and out of sight. The pickup he’d placed under the table was working perfectly; Daninf was speaking:

“This situation does not change our status to any great degree. The Humans may be leaving, but it is still not safe for us to venture beyond the nebulae.”

“But Daninf, soon the Humans will be ensconced in their own territory and may not wish to embark on another long-distance military campaign. We may still be able to emerge,” said another of the Kracori in the room.

“That may be so,” Daninf agreed. “But for the time being, we are still foremost on their mind. With time, what you say may be true, but not in the short-term. Until that time we must assure that we remain secluded — which brings up the subject of our Human guests.”

“No Kracori will reveal the location of Eilsion, and all the Klin have been eradicated. You are correct, Daninf: only the Humans are a variable,” said the other Kracori.

“I see no reason to continue with this accommodation, Linof,” Daninf said. “And with this new emphasis on casting the Kracori as outlaws, McCarthy and his fellow Humans may seek to trade their own forgiveness for our location. The Humans on Eilsion are few, but they are shifty and resourceful. We cannot risk keeping them around. Do what you must to remedy this situation, Linof.”

“Yes, my Ludif. I will begin to make the arrangements.”

Nigel had just stepped outside the tall, gray building when the conversation in the conference room concluded. He climbed into the back of the transport for the trip back to his apartment with a small grin on his face, an expression that went unnoticed by his driver.

So, they intend to snuff us out, the bloody bastards, Nigel thought. How predictable. He pressed the button on a small communication device he carried in his pocket, sending out an alert to the rest of his team. After all these years, his men would be ready for some action.

Just as Nigel McCarthy had done back on the Klin world of Marishal, he had long planned for all contingencies. Years back, while still in favor with the Kracori leadership, he had secretly secured an old, yet reliable flying saucer and stowed it away where it could not be found by the Kracori. In addition, he and his men maintained go-bags, packed constantly, just waiting for the word.

Nigel McCarthy had just sent the word.

While he enjoyed the rest of the ride back to his flat, he began to reflect on what the future may hold for him. With the Humans pulling back, there would be chaos and confusion, and Humans would be few and far between throughout the galaxy, except in the distant Far Arm. This could offer Nigel and his men an opportunity. With their skills and superior physical abilities — and no one around to challenge them — Nigel and his team could have their run of the place, something that had always been denied them.

Yes, there was opportunity in chaos, and Nigel McCarthy was ready to be set free within the galaxy like he had never been before. In the past, he had either been a puppet of the Klin or the Kracori. Now he was going to be his own boss and the master of his own destiny. He also knew there was not a single race of bloody aliens in the entire galaxy who could stop him.

Chapter 49

Adam Cain was feeling melancholy. He had kept busy for the past five months preparing for the departure of the Humans from the Expansion, which had helped to distract him from his demons. But now that he was scheduled to depart for Earth in three weeks, it was getting harder to keep them at bay.

The trip to Earth would indeed be painful and agonizing beyond belief. Even though he had been on many a Navy deployment in his career, with his particular rating, he had never spent that much time confined aboard a ship. For him it had always been about the action. So, even though the year-long trip back to Earth was contributing to his mood, it was not all that was bothering him.

It was also the uncertainty. He did not know where his future would take him. He had mustered out of the Navy years, as his fame and adoration would not allow him to simply do his job anymore.

And what about his fame? Upon his return to Earth he would now be credited with bringing home the troops, along with saving the Human race from following the same destructive path as the Juireans. He would find no peace. Instead it would be same old dog-and-pony show he was involved in before he’d left, constantly having to flash his fake smile to all the cameras and adoring masses. If they only knew how screwed up their hero really was!

Kroekus had requested that Adam come see him in the Silean’s working office down on the surface of Juir. Adam had just recently returned from a trip to Pymilia, where the Humans had set up their main military base. The base was now a virtual ghost town, but still the few remaining troops he’d encountered had showered him with such embarrassing praise that now he did his best to avoid the rank and file everywhere he went. They were going home — and Adam was getting all the credit.

And it would be no different back on Earth.

He decided that he would truly welcome the diversion with the hefty alien. At least the aliens didn’t treat him as a hero.

“Come, my friend,” Kroekus said in his typical jovial manner. “Have a seat on the couch; you look awful, as far as I can tell for a Human — you all look awful to me!”

Adam was in awe of the Silean. Even though he had been drafted into the role of absolute leader of the Expansion, he never seemed to show any stress or concern for the job. He just continued to function on a perfectly even keel, day-in and day-out. Adam didn’t know how he did it.

“I will serve you a strong intoxicant; maybe that will relieve some of the lines on your face which I have not seen there before.”

“Thanks, Kroekus, but I would imagine that by now you’d be ready to call it quits, as well. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Doesn’t anything bother you?”

“Of course, my Human friend. I have so many concerns jumbling up my mind that I find it hard to sleep for more than two hours per night, which is not normal for my people. But it is the challenge of the job that keeps me going.”

Adam accepted the drink from the Silean and downed a long swallow. He wasn’t lying when he said strong drink as Adam’s eyes began to water. Another swig and the drink didn’t seem as potent. One more should just about do the trick….

“So Kroekus, what did you want to see me about?”

“I wanted to see you one last time before you left. I will be busy and so will you. We may not get the opportunity.”

“I appreciate that, my friend,” Adam said, and he meant every word. He had met a lot of aliens in his day, but only a few that he could accept as friends. Kroekus was one. Kaylor and Jym were the only others still living.

“But I also have a favor to ask of you; I need your advice.”

“Sure, go ahead. I’ll help, if I can.”

Kroekus downed his own drink and then retrieved two more for them. Then he popped one of his omnipresent pastries into his mouth. “It has to do with Expansion security. With the withdrawal of the Humans, there will be no unifying military or police authority in the galaxy. Everything will resort back to the local systems.”

“I thought the one-ship-per-planet thing was going well?”

“It is. We are building a space fleet that now numbers over four thousand ships. Yet even with a fleet of this size, there is no unifying command. With each planet supplying its own crew, every ship is attempting to operate independently and not accepting any centralized authority. And then there are the more powerful systems who insist on supplying more than one ship, just so they may exact more control over the fleet.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t anticipate these problems. I thought the members of the Expansion more or less just followed orders.”

“They had, up until the time Juireans left. You Humans were able to maintain order because most systems feared your kind. Now there will be no single master race. Everyone is fighting for domination.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

Kroekus smiled, a wicked, almost devilish smile. “I believe I will have to make an example out of a few of the more vocal systems. I have much experience in dealing with upstarts.”

“So what do you need my advice for?”

Kroekus came and sat down next to Adam, straining the springs and cushions of the couch. The piece of furniture tolerated the two of them, having been designed to carry such weight. Kroekus placed his arm on the back of the couch and leaned in closer to Adam. “It has to do with basic law enforcement,” he began. “The fleet we are building will handle the major conflicts rising up from whole systems. My issue now is with individual planets and groups of renegades on those planets. I’m talking about the criminals, the drug suppliers, the currency stealers, the pirates and ransom-eers.”

“I thought you said all of that would revert back to the individual systems?”

“It does, to a point. But we are more interstellar. Jurisdiction for stopping various crimes ends at either a planet’s atmosphere or at its stellar boundary. And then we have sector-to-sector crime. There is no unifying jurisdictional authority to cover all these areas.”

“We had the same problem back in my country on Earth. They came up with something called the FBI — the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It has authority throughout the entire country.”

“Yes! I need something like that across the Expansion. But it’s also not only about crime. There are rebellious worlds who are making aggressive moves against their neighbors. Some of these animosities go back thousands of years, having been held in check only by the authority of the Juireans. Now they are simmering to a boil.”

Adam attempted a smile. “Yeah, it sounds like you’ve got your hands full. With challenges like these, you must be ecstatic!”

“You jest, my friend,” Kroekus said, his mood suddenly shifting back to his normal jovial self. “Not meaning to change the subject too abruptly, but do you know what you will do once you return to Earth? Are you continuing with politics?”

“Hell no!” Adam exclaimed. “I didn’t want to get into it in the first place. I was more-or-less drafted into the job. In all honesty, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Kroekus was silent for a long moment, while looking straight into Adam’s eyes, still wearing a thin, sinister smile.

“”I might have an offer for you, something that might better suit your talents” he finally said.

“An offer? What do you mean?”

“Adam, I pride myself in being able to read beings and to assess talent and desire. I have catered to these desires in every business I have ever managed. I can see that you are not happy with your current path in life, and the impending journey back to Earth is weighing heavily on your mind.”

“That’s no secret,” Adam said, uncomfortable with the naked — and accurate — reading Kroekus just made of him. “Who would look forward to a year of their life wasted away aboard a cold, metal disk?”

“But there is so much more troubling you, Adam Cain; there is no use in denying it.”

“So what’s this offer you have for me?”

“I am in much need of someone like you. I require a skilled fighter — especially a Human fighter — to help me subdue the crime and rebellion throughout the Expansion. You have said it before — those of your race are like super-beings among the common creatures of the galaxy. Supermen you call yourselves. And now, with the bulk of Human-kind leaving, there will be very few of you available when needed. Just as you and your former companion Sherri Valentine had once been extraordinary assassins back in the Fringe, I need your set of skills to help bring order to the galaxy.”

“You’re crazy, Kroekus. I’m just one man. What could I possible hope to accomplish alone?”

The Silean smiled wider, even raising a bushy eyebrow a little higher. “I am far ahead of you, Adam. I have already begun to assemble the required unit, comprised of renegade Humans who are skilled and who still seek adventure among the stars.”

“Who are they?”

“If you decide to join, I will introduce you. But first I need to know if you are interested?”

Adam stared at the huge alien for several moments, knowing full well that Kroekus had nailed his melancholy to the tee. He was bored, bored of his life and of his prospects, and returning to Earth was not something he was looking forward to. He was a warrior; it was all he had been or wanted to be, and at only thirty-six-years of age, he was far too young to hang it up for a more sedentary way of life.

“Just for the sake of argument, how would this unit be setup, and by what authority?”

“It would be under my jurisdiction and purview. As you know, I am very well versed in the ways of criminal enterprise throughout the galaxy. I have contacts and influence. But now that I am on the other side of the ledger, I cannot tolerate such activities as when I was involved in them. This unit would be small, and involved in quick strikes against targets across the entire Expansion. You will have authority to operate on any planet in any sector, with permission to use whatever means necessary to accomplish your mission.”

Adam smiled at that remark. He raised his own eyebrows and said, “So it’s like having a license to kill — to kill aliens! Now you have my interest.”

“I was hoping you would feel as such. You have never been squeamish about dispatching others not of the Human persuasion. But I have to warn you, even though you will have been issued the authority to carry out your activities in all jurisdictions — your so-called license to kill — you may find that your authority will not be honored in all locations.”

“So what’s new? It’s always been like that in nearly every place I’ve operated. Do you have a chain of command yet?”

“I was hoping I would get you to lead this unit. It sounds as if I have?”

Adam shook his head, a gesture that caused Kroekus’s jovial expression to change to that of sadness. “Oh, I’m in!” Adam said quickly to correct the misinterpretation. “I’ll play your reindeer games for a while and see where it leads. I’ve got nothing better to keep me busy, and it’ll sure beat spending a year of my life cooped up in a metal coffin. So who are the other members of the team?”

“Let me bring them in. They have been waiting to see if you would join.” Kroekus lifted his huge bulk off the couch and returned to his desk. A push of a button and the door to the rear of the office opened….

And in walked Sherri Valentine, Riyad Tarazi and Lee Schwartz — the young pilot Adam had met on the Bunker Hill.

Sherri and Adam rushed to each other and embraced in the center of the room, squeezing each other tightly for what seemed like minutes. He had not seen nor heard from her in over three years. Now he knew what she’d been up to. Riyad finally got his chance to embrace Adam as well, and Adam even hugged the Lt. Commander he’d only met a few times before.

“I can’t believe it,” Adam said finally, his grin stretched so wide across his face that he knew it looked clownish. “How long has this been in the works?”

“For a couple of years now,” Riyad said, “ever since Kroekus was let in on the details of The Cain Initiative. He knew it would throw the galaxy into turmoil again and he began to make plans. He is quite the remarkable being.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Adam said, looking over at the now immensely self-satisfied alien. Adam had tears in his eyes, as did Sherri.

“From what I’ve been told, Captain, this isn’t going to be cakewalk,” Lee offered. “There are a lot of nasty creatures out here that are going to require taming.”

Adam looked at him with an understanding eye. “Ain’t that the truth, commander.” Then he looked over at Riyad and winked. “But that’s just more score for us to rack up!”

The Humans continued with their reunion for a few more minutes before Kroekus eventually called them all to order.

“I have been having considerable problems with jurisdictional enforcement of our directives throughout the Expansion. As a result, I have proposed the creation of special inter-department within the Intelligence Section, one which you and your team will form, Adam. Your authority will cover all jurisdictions within the Expansion and you will only answer to me and to the head of the I.S. You will be agents of what will be called the Jurisdictional Enforcement of Directives Inter-department-”

“Hold up a minute!” Lee Schwartz interrupted, laughing. “So we’ll be agents for the J.E.D.I.” He laughed. “I’ll tell you right now, that’s not going to fly.”

“He’s right,” Adam said, barely containing his own laughter. “I’m sure there would be some major copyright infringement if we did.”

“I do not understand,” said Kroekus, genuinely confused.

“That’s all right, Mr. Administrator,” Sherri said. “We’ll come up with something of our own, like how about: Adam’s Avengers?”

“We could have issues with that one, too,” Adam said, trying to put a stop to the embarrassing banter among the Humans.

“Then how about Cain’s Crusaders?” It was Lee’s turn to offer a suggestion, his smile wide.

Riyad laughed and flashed a toothy grin. “Even though Cain is a Christian biblical name, and the Crusaders are not necessarily heroes in my culture, I must say I do like the sound of it.”

“Come on, you can’t be serious?” Adam’s frustration was growing by the moment, but he knew there was no stopping it now.

“That is hardly an appropriate name for an enforcement unit of the Expansion Administrator,” Kroekus said seriously. “I will change the name of the inter-department, but I cannot officially condone such a flippant and unprofessional title for its agents.”

“It doesn’t have to be official, Kroekus,” Sherri said, a wide grin stretching across her face. “We Humans tend to give pet names to the things we like. Call us what you want, but for us, we’ll be forever known as Cain’s Crusaders!”

Content

T. R. Harris
The Legend of Earth

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49