The Legend of Earth (The Human Chronicles Saga -- Book 5) (21 page)

“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.”