Human Chronicles Part 2 Book 3: A Galaxy to Conquer (17 page)

“I will do as you say, Simiss. Yet this is strange. I will keep you informed of any new developments.”

Senior Tech Simiss left the monitoring facility and returned to his compartment; he would attempt to get a few hours of rest before the start of the major scanning efforts scheduled for the following day.

He was sure he had instructed his young associate as to the proper course of action to take regarding the odd readings he had detected. After all, they could not be distracted with every collision occurring along the inner wall of the Shield. If that were the case, then every Klin monitoring tech in the Colony would be so engaged, rather than surveying for the monumental events about to unfold at the other side of Void, events which will provide the Klin with the final resolution to their four-thousand-year-long quest.

Having reminded himself of the importance to the Klin race of the next few days within the Silvean Nebula, Simiss knew he had effectively destroyed any prospect he’d held for sleep this night. The anticipation would simply not allow it.

Chapter 24

“F
irst
contact, my Lord,” Command-Overlord Enulic announced.

The proclamation wasn’t necessary as Elder Wydor bin Sulic could see the action on the tac screen as well as he. This was just a feeling-out of each other, a testing to see how committed each side was to the fight. The Juireans were fully-committed, Wydor knew. It was the hastily assembled allies of the Kracori who had to prove their will and determination.

A static defensive line consisting of forty-eight defenders formed up at the edge of the Juddle Nebula. Wydor watched with fascination as his massive fleet of nearly five thousand ships neared the line, expecting that at any moment the ships of the Nebula would turn and run. Yet they didn’t run. Instead, they broke into several attack squadrons of four ships each and shot off to mingle within the clouds of asteroids lingering at the edge of the Nebula.

Command-Overlord Enulic ordered six hundred of his fleet to follow.

Over the course of the next few hours, Wydor sat in utter disgust as he watched the hit-and-run strategy of the defenders pick off several of this ships, including a few of the Class-4’s. The rag-tag Nebula units, consisting of Volseen and Tel’oran warships, were slow and lightly armored, yet they knew the battlefield better and were able to dart in and out from behind the huge space rocks with impunity. The Juireans, on the other hand, had to go carefully through the minefield of deadly debris so as to not draw in any of the larger ones into collisions with their hulls. Even then, a few of the Juirean cruisers were riddled with punctures from the asteroids, knocking out shields and power to their weapons. Once this was done, they became easy targets for the swarming defenders.

Yet with such overwhelming numbers, the Juireans managed to destroy all forty-eight of the defenders, although it took nearly three hours to do so.

“This does not bode well,” Wydor commented, more to himself than to the Command-Overlord. “The Nebula defenders seem determined beyond reason.”

“True. They did little more than sacrifice themselves to our forces. It would have been a better strategy to withdraw and join up with a larger force near the Corridor.”

Wydor scanned the banner along the left side of the tac screen. “We lost
nine
ships in the engagement? That is rather high, is it not?”

“First contact jitters, my Lord. My units will settle down the further we penetrate the Nebula.”

Wydor shook his head. He was old enough to remember a time when nervous jitters and trepidation were not part of Juirean vocabulary. His race would strut around the galaxy with pride and confidence in every encounter. Now they were inexperienced and unsure of themselves, and with very little time to become battle hardened.

“Overlord Enulic, we do not have an adequate estimate of the numerical strength of the defenders, so attrition rates of our units will have to be closely monitored. We cannot simply order up reinforcements as once we could.”

“Understood, my Lord.”

Wydor could see that his fleet commander was also angry and embarrassed with the performance of his units. Embarrassment was another of those ancient emotions being resurrected from the Juirean past.
What have we become?
Wydor ruminated.
And how will this war salvage what was once great about my race?

Another defensive force was beginning to form up, bolting in from various directions and attempting to block the fleet’s approach to the Volseen Corridor. Enulic’s forces were a few hours out and it was looking as though this countering movement would be substantially larger, between five hundred to a thousand ships—yet even more were coming. These defenders also appeared to be taking up positions near planets and moons, rather than out in open space, following the strategy of the unfortunate forty-eight. This coming battle would be much harder, Wydor knew. Why was it he had an unfamiliar knot in his stomach? Had the Juireans indeed lost everything that had once made them great? The Council Elder was bound and determined to regain that special quality that had allowed his race to conquer a galaxy, even if it meant taking drastic measures.

Wydor slipped out of his command chair and moved toward the rear exit of the bridge. “I will be in my quarters, Command-Overlord. Inform me when we are about to engage.” He stepped past the still-visibly upset officer and then stopped and leaned in close so others on the bridge couldn’t hear. “I have trust in you, Enulic,” he said in a harsh whisper. “It is the competency of your minor officers and crews I question. Six hundred against forty-eight; we should not have lost a single ship. The Kracori and their allies could have ten thousand ships at their disposal, so even though we may win the battle, but we could lose the war. We do not have the replacement units, and even now I am having doubts concerning our ability to conduct a follow-up invasion of Earth.”

“It was one engagement, my Lord,” Enulic snarled, a tone bordering on insubordination. “This is hardly the time to pass judgment on the entire mission.”

“Calm yourself, Overlord. You are still in command of the fleet—for now. I am merely offering my opinion.”

“The opinion of the Council Elder is hardly a mere opinion, my Lord. From this moment on I will take a more-active role in the command and control of the next and future engagements. I can assure you we will perform to your satisfaction.”

“It is not for my satisfaction that we battle, Enulic, or why I offer critique. It is for the good of the Juirean people. Please pass that sentiment along to your commanders. They must be reminded of that for which they fight.” He hesitated momentarily to let Enulic absorb his last comments, and then he concluded. “I will endeavor to remain in the background during the subsequent engagements. I do not wish the fleet to lose confidence in you and then look to me for guidance. That is not my purpose here.” Wydor leaned in even closer, until he was only six inches from Enulic’s rock-hard face. “Get us to Elision, Lord Enulic. Get us to Elision and your name will be remembered forever in the annals Juirean history.”

“We are on our way, my Lord. Two days from now the fleet will be setting fire to the very rock of Elision. That I promise.”

Chapter 25

T
he access code and coordinates arrived twenty minutes later in digital form, yet Kaylor was able to detect the subtle bounce-back indicator inserted in the signal. Within seconds, the Kracori knew the location of the
Pegasus
.

Kaylor initiated a gravity-well of modest depth and the
Pegasus
shot off in the direction of Elision eighteen light-years distant.

Not everyone aboard was fully behind the plan, although none wanted to go up against Sherri and her single-minded determination to do something–anything–to help rescue her fellow Humans. Kaylor and Jym were about seventy-five percent with her, believing that flying their wonder ship directly into the maw of the Kracori homeworld was probably not the best idea. Neither was the more radical part of the plan to rip off the top of the Kracori capital building using the ship’s gravity. But the two aliens were anxious to use their ATD’s to their fullest, and if it weren’t for the tiny metallic implants, they would have never agreed to go along with the Human’s plan.

Halfway to Elision, the
Pegasus
picked up her first escorts. Having been forewarned as to the course of the Human ship, Vice-Commander Dor had sent a number of Kracori warships to intercept and monitor the
Pegasus
. Simply vectoring to an intercept, the much slower Kracori ships were able to close within a reasonable distance before gradually losing ground.

With the pilothouse full of all the occupants of the small ship, Kaylor waited until there were five Kracori ships on his screens before he cranked up the well intensity and bolted away from the escorts as if they were on chemical drive. A short forty-one seconds later they were off the screens.

“That should give them something to report back to your Kracori officer,” Kaylor said to Ruszel. “Nothing like an actual demonstration to build anticipation.”

“Just make sure he doesn’t get too impressed and invites the Kracori Langril to the landing,” Sherri said. “He’ll come with a whole army of escorts and guards. It might be a little difficult to bolt out under those circumstances.”

Kaylor checked the chronometer. “Now thirty-six minutes out. We will know very soon.”

“Are we sure that this city of Goruis your Kracori officer has us going to is the capital of Elision?” Trimen asked.

No one offered an immediate answer; Ruszel eventually filled the silence. “Elision is a mystery to even us in the Nebula. Until thirty days ago, I
believed
the planet was in the Nebula, yet I would not have staked my life upon it. And now my planet is an ally of the Kracori and preparing to fight both the Juireans and the Humans, from what you tell me. I’m sure that if we had known it would be
both
of these races, Tel’or would have voted differently.”

Trimen looked hard at the green-skinned alien. “It is only as a result of the small confines of this ship that you have learned of the Juirean attack on the Nebula, as well as the accelerated timetable for the Human’s attack.”

“And yet you say the Juirean battle may already be joined, and the Humans will join when they feel it is prudent.”

Kaylor could see the animosity evident between the Tel’oran and the Formilian. Ruszel was still speaking: “You have questioned my loyalty repeatedly, and I have said I will only do what is best for me. In light of the two major races about to attack the Nebula, I would say the least of my support should be with the Kracori. There are just too many forces aligning against them. Yet your continued suspicions as to my intentions insult me, Trimen of Formil.”

Kaylor saw Sherri place a hand on Trimen’s arm. The gesture seemed to immediately calm the Formilian. “Perhaps he’s right,” Sherri said. “He may not be allied with us for the right reasons, but he doesn’t seem to have much of a choice. It’s a pretty good bet that the Kracori are going to lose this war, and by extension, so is the Nebula. There’s nothing wrong with handicapping the outcome.”

All the aliens in the room turned to her with quizzical looks. “Sorry,” she offered with a smile. “I come from a place on Earth where they race horses—steeds, you call them—and we try to figure the odds that a particular horse is going to win or not. It’s called handicapping.”

“Yes!” Ruszel said. “That is what I have done. The chances of the Kracori winning are slim, and I would honestly like to live long enough to enjoy the ruiens your colleague has paid me. I have lived a hard life and I believe I deserve it. Betraying you to Kracori would not help me to that goal.”

Sherri looked at Trimen, still with the wide grin on her face. An eyebrow flicked upwards. Trimen appeared to grit his teeth as he furrowed his own brow. “I concede the logic of your argument, Ruszel. I will now consider you a full member of the team—”

“I did not say I wanted to be a member of your team, just that I did not want to be treated as a prisoner.”

“But you can’t exist aboard without responsibilities to the rescue effort. Otherwise you will just be in the way.”

“Was I in the way when I negotiated our passage to Elision?”

“Stop it, both of you!” Sherri cried out. “You are like a couple of children arguing over the last piece of candy. As the only
Human
aboard a
Human
-owned starship, I’m asserting myself as Captain ... and I
order
the two of you to get along. We have about thirty minutes before we drop down to the surface of the most dangerous place in the entire galaxy, and the two of you are arguing over bullshit.”

Sherri threw back her head and let a primal scream when she saw the jaws of both aliens drop open at the mention of the word
bullshit
. “I swear to god, the moment we get Adam and the rest of them back onboard the
Pegasus
, I’m beating feet straight back to Earth, and never to leave again! I’m getting sick and tired of all you fucking aliens!”

Kaylor sat in stunned silence as he watched Sherri storm from the pilothouse. He had watched the conflict between Ruszel and Trimen, yet he did not understand what had made Sherri so upset? However, he did breathe a sigh of relief that she was gone. After all, there was nothing more dangerous in the galaxy than an upset Human—male or female.

********

Elision was not a particularly pretty world, at least from orbit. It had its obligatory blue oceans, white clouds and ruddy brown surface regions, yet there was a misty haze that surrounded the planet, muting the colors and giving the place a somber aura.

As the
Pegasus
entered the Elision star system, it continued to plow through the area faster than any ship the Kracori had ever seen. And although several ships attempted to stay up with her, they all fell to the wayside eventually. However, Kaylor did slow the ship to normal in-system speeds as Elision grew on the viewscreen; he didn’t want anyone on the surface to mistake him for a runaway. He circled the planet once while acquiring the beacon for their landing in the city of Goruis, and then the really tense part of the operation began. With several military ships covering them from the high ground, the
Pegasus
soon reached the point of no return—at least up until the point where she set out to destroy a fair amount of the city below.

Sherri and Trimen were frantically trying to locate what was the capital building complex—The Citadel—that McCarthy had identified as the probably location for high-valued prisoners. They only had moments to scour the skyline before Kaylor had to land the ship.

Fortunately, as the beacon guided them in, a large, ornate building complex with spires and domes appeared along their path. It made sense that such an important prize as the
Pegasus
should be placed next to the main governmental buildings, the same complex Furlon Dor was probably stationed within. This made the rest of the plan a little easier. Not a lot, but some.

“Everyone start searching!” Sherri commanded. The four crewmembers with ATD’s understood what she meant; Ruszel sat at the comm console in the pilothouse, trying to stay out of the way, and being ready to communicate with Furlon Dor when he linked in.

“I’m picking up dozens of energy weapons approaching the ship. And there is a small spacecraft positioned immediately above us,” Jym reported.

“We don’t need a narration, Jym; I see them, too. Try to get into the building complex and look for any mention of Humans or prisoners.”

Jym was momentarily distracted by Sherri’s blunt condemnation, so it took him a second or two to regain his concentration. There were literally hundreds of communications running from the local vicinity and into and out of the main building complex. The Citadel itself was just outside the range of the ATD’s from where the ship landed, so Jym had to piggyback—Adam had called it that—on one of these links into the buildings. With a finesse few would have suspected, Jym caught one of the stronger signals and suddenly found his awareness transferred a mile or so beyond the landing zone and into a comm room within the Citadel. There was such a cacophony of crossing messages here that Jym almost withdrew, unable to handle the noise. But eventually he was able to isolate the messages into single lines and the noise in his mind quieted.

Suddenly the comm speaker within the pilothouse crackled to life. “Pilot Ruszel Crin, this is Vice-Commander Dor, open a link.”

All eyes turned to Ruszel, who in turn looked to Sherri for guidance. She saw Jym bat his eyes several times. “Jym, stick with what you’re doing; same for you, Trimen. Kaylor, remain at the pilot controls.” She then nodded to Ruszel, and the Tel’oran flicked the comm switch.

The hard gray face of Vice-Commander Dor instantly appeared on the screen before Ruszel. All the others in the pilothouse were out of view of the camera.

“Commander Dor,” Ruszel greeted trying to appear as calm as possible under the circumstances. He was failing miserably. “It is good to see you again.”

“I have been monitoring your journey, Senior Pilot. If I did not trust the personnel who filed the reports, I would not have believed them. You have indeed brought a prize worthy of my attention. I will be arriving in five minutes with a technical team to take possession of the ship. What of the Human you have in custody? Is it still subdued?”

“Yes, Commander, drugged actually.”

Sherri and Ruszel had discussed the possibility that the Kracori may enter the ship before they had a chance to survey the building they were about to destroy. With their ATD’s and weapons of their own, they had debated whether it was preferred to let him come aboard just so he could be taken hostage. That would buy them more time to plan an escape route. Unfortunately, with the lack of a fully-developed plan, a decision regarding VC Dor had not been reached, leaving Ruszel up to his own devices.

“I commend you again, Senior Pilot,” Dor said. Ruszel could see that the image of the Kracori was moving as he spoke through a datapad. Ruszel’s heart was pounding in his throat, knowing that the Kracori warrior was on his way to the
Pegasus
even as they spoke. “Humans are of superior strength compared to Tel’orans. Keeping the alien subdued as such was a very wise decision.”

“I have seen what Humans can do, Commander. I did not want to take the risk. May I ask as to how many of your technical crew will be boarding? The space within is very confined, also you may wish to have a private tour so you may present yourself as an expert to all your superiors. Some of your
Legend
may be diminished if they seek answers from mere technicians.”

Ruszel was relieved to see the Kracori nod. “That is very prescient of you, Ruszel. I was not aware your kind was aware of our concept of
Legend
.”

“It was something learned of your kind at the time of the destruction of Juir, although I have not experienced it personally. And you did mention
my Legend
beforehand.”

“Yes I did; I remember now.” The Kracori officer seemed to be in an ecstatic mood. He had seen the reports on the capabilities of the Human ship, and now the vessel was resting on the surface of Elision, and all because of his relationship with Ruszel. The delivery of the ship to the Kracori Military Command would be forever remembered and honored. Ruszel did his best to imagine what a boost in Dor’s
Legend
the
Pegasus
would bring. And then just as suddenly as he had formed the thought, it went away. Vice-Commander Furlon Dor was about to get the surprise of his life when he boarded the
Pegasus
. And it would do nothing to enhance his
Legend
.