The Human Chronicles Saga Box Set 5

by T. R. Harris

  “The mutants? What do they…?”

  From his place on the pavement, Adam could see into the sky over Lo’ol’s shoulder. There was movement, several objects descending through the darkness on wide black wings. They came in silently and landed a moment later in a cluster around Adam and the Z’inifs. No shots were fired from plasma weapons; instead, large black nets were cast out from blunt instruments to wrap around Lo’ol and his gang. Dozens of tiny servos in the netting then reeled in the lines, forming a stranglehold on the aliens. The dark figures moved in, as synthetic wings retracted into backpack holders.

  Adam recognized the uniforms, with their distinctive yellow hand logo emblazoned on the collars. One of the new arrivals stepped up and hovered over Adam.

  He was a Juirean, and one of the top lieutenants for Priority Acquisitions, the largest fugitive recovery agency in the galaxy. Adam had run into him before, on two prior occasions, and both under similar circumstances—when PA agents swooped in to steal his bounties. It was rare for a Juirean to be working for a private organization. Traditionally, the Expansion-leading aliens remained within their tight-knit society, rarely leaving the order and security of the Authority.

  In addition, Priority Acquisitions normally didn’t bother with Adam’s level of fugitive, preferring the larger bounties and higher-profile cases. Yet occasionally they liked to send messages to people like him, and that was: We take what we want and leave only the scraps. So, don’t push your luck.

  Or something along those lines.

  “My Lord Tidus Ne Landon,” Adam said, using the Juirean’s former-Overlord title of respect. “I see you’re out slumming again.”

  Tidus was one of the most-knowledgeable Juireans in street-level slang within the galaxy, his job taking him into the seediest parts of a thousand worlds. He understood Adam’s meaning.

  “Yes, I am, my friend Adam Cain.” He looked over at Riyad. “And you, Mr. Tarazi, do you require medical assistance? I have a team on standby if you do.”

  “I’ll survive,” Riyad snarled. Although Riyad was relatively new to Adam’s bounty hunting business, Priority Acquisitions had a reputation among the various pirate cabals operating in the galaxy, one of which Riyad once commanded. On at least a dozen occasions, entire fleets of pirates had been eradicated by PA’s army of agents. They were that big, operating not only as a fugitive recovery business, but also as an independent mercenary force when needed…and the price was right.

  “So why get involved in something this small?” Adam asked.

  Tidus looked around as his troops packed Lo’ol and the others into a new transport vehicle that had just arrived. “Rather than ask that, you should be thankful. It looks as though I arrived just in time. You did not appear to have the advantage. How is it that the great Adam Cain—and Riyad Tarazi—could not subdue a relatively minor criminal such as Lo’ol?”

  “We had him just where we wanted him,” Adam snapped.

  The tall Juirean shrugged. “Even so, you are fortunate. We have had Lo’ol’s inflated reward under watch for some time. We were debating whether or not to go through the trouble and expense of the recovery when we spotted the two of you on Fortis. I insisted at that point that we intervene, simply because I receive so much pleasure from disrupting your plans.”

  The alien smiled, displaying a full-toothed grin. Although Juireans subscribed to the bared-teeth-meant-death-challenge practice, Tidus knew Humans didn’t. “I will now leave you, my friends. I am sure you will have much regret that our paths have crossed once again. That was my intention, as well as for the small percentage of the bounty I will receive as my bonus commission. I thank you for that.” Then he glanced down at Adam’s outstretched legs and prominent mound in his pants. “Re’oc Rum,” he stated, nodding. “I would have expected your experience not to allow your body to be so deceived.”

  Does everyone know about this damn drink except me? Adam thought.

  “And now what?” Riyad asked.

  Tidus frowned. “Nothing more. We will take Lo’ol and leave.”

  “No finder’s fee?”

  The alien smiled again, more wicked this time. “You know better than that, Mr. Tarazi. Now, enjoy yourselves…until we meet again.”

  And then the Juirean and his team of highly skilled bounty hunters were gone as quickly and quietly as they had arrived.

  Riyad helped Adam to his feet. The two men shared a disgusted look before they limped back to the ancient Klin flying saucer they had docked at the nearby spaceport, leaving the damaged panel truck still embedded in the front of the native store. They would return to their base humiliated and with nothing to show for the time and expense of the mission.

  The people back at the Colony Ship wouldn’t like that. Not one little bit.

  87

  The planet Fortis was only a four-day journey back to the Formilian system where Adam’s near-derelict Klin Colony Ship was in orbit around the gas giant of Andus. Lo’ol had mentioned how he picked Fortis because of its proximity to Formil. What the alien didn’t know was how grateful Adam was for his kind consideration. It cost money to fly around the galaxy, and before each mission, Adam and his team did an informal cost-benefit analysis to see if the bounty was worth going for. With their average reward hovering around thirty-five thousand Juirean credits, many bounties weren’t worth the expense. But Lo’ol had been a no brainer, which was what the devious Z’inif had been counting on.

  On the way back to the Colony Ship, Adam and Riyad had time to wonder why Lo’ol had gone through all the trouble to turn the hunter into the hunted. Who was paying him, and what did they want with Adam? And then there was the mention of the mutants. What was that all about?

  A day out from the Colony Ship, Adam received a link from Kaylor back at the station.

  “There is a situation,” the blue-skinned Belsonian began. “The Flying Tiger has broken down.” He didn’t include the word ‘again’ in the sentence; it was inferred in his tone.

  “Dammit!” Riyad growled from the co-pilot’s seat at Adam’s right. “This is becoming a habit. That fly-riddled piece of goat’s dung is costing us more than it’s worth.”

  Adam shrugged. “Don’t be so critical. They spent the last of their money to buy the starship, and it does give us another recovery team,” he said in their defense. “And two teams is better than one, as has just been demonstrated.”

  “The seventeen-five bounty they have aboard is barely enough to pay for the fuel and keep the lights on for a week at the CS. Besides, a forty-year-old Din’oin NA-14 corvette can hardly be classified a ‘star’ ship. It needs to be able to make it between star systems to qualify.”

  “Coop will get it going again…he always does.”

  “But at what cost, my friend? We could have bought a new ship for the money he’s poured into the Tiger. And now without the Lo’ol bounty, we will have to dip into our reserves to cover the repairs.”

  Adam gave up arguing with Riyad. Besides, he was right.

  “Send the coordinates,” Adam said to Kaylor.

  “There is one other thing.”

  “What is it?”

  “Copernicus reports there is a small squadron of ships surrounding their position, tentatively identified as associates of Alic N’iliso, the fugitive they have onboard. They are running on only chemical drive at the moment, keeping the enemy ships at bay. Coop estimates he has three hours of fuel left.”

  Riyad programmed the coordinates into the nav computer. “We’re three hours out ourselves. It will be tight.”

  “Open a link with the Tiger,” Adam commanded.

  A moment later the exasperated image of Copernicus Smith appeared on a side screen next to the primary monitor.

  “It’s about good goddamn time!” Copernicus barked. “Where are you?”

  “Still three hours out,” Adam answered.

  “Good, then you should arrive just in time to recover our remains for a proper burial. Those bastards have been followin
g us since we left Bernious. They can’t attack outright, not without risking the life of their glorious leader. They’ll wait until our chem fuel is gone and then board us.”

  Sherri leaned over Coop’s shoulder. She wasn’t smiling. “Cutting it kinda close, aren’t you, slick? I hope you’re not doing this for dramatic effect.”

  Adam smiled at his ex-girlfriend. “Yeah, hi sweetheart, nice to see you, too. Just be glad we were on our way back to the Colony Ship and not stuck on Formil buried in paperwork processing Lo’ol’s bounty. So, you see, things work out in the end.”

  The rest of the team was aware of what happened on Fortis, with Sherri being the most vocal in her displeasure over the loss of the Lo’ol bounty. Maybe now she might cut Adam some slack.

  “Yeah, but if you’d held onto the bastard, we might have dressed our Crinsonian fugitive in a spacesuit and dumped him out the airlock several light-years back, taking away the reason for his friends to come after us,” she countered. “But seeing that we have the only paying bounty among us, we really can’t do that, now can we…sweetheart? And that was the reason we were running the engines so hard, to stay ahead of the bad guys. So, yeah, thanks for that. You’re a peach.”

  Riyad and Adam shared a glance. Adam had only dated Sherri; Riyad married her. But now she was Coop’s problem. Adam studied the tanned, handsome mechanic-turned-bounty-hunter, not knowing if the agony etched on his face was a result of the alien starships bearing down on them, or from having to deal with Sherri when she was in one of her moods. It was probably a combination of both.

  “Can you dump him now?” Riyad asked.

  “That won’t work,” Sherri replied. “The snatch didn’t go exactly as planned. There was some property damage, along with a few deaths. N’iliso and his people are a little pissed off at us. If we let him go now, they’ll just blast us into stardust.”

  “We still have internal power and chemical maneuvering, so we can fight them off, at least for the time being,” Copernicus offered, trying to get Sherri off the line. She was about to lose it. “But don’t take the scenic route getting here.”

  “We’ll see what this old Klin tub can do and get there as soon as we can. Hang in there.”

  After he cut the link, Adam turned to Riyad. “Balls out, buddy. This one will be tight.”

  Adam and Riyad arrived on station just as the five alien starships were closing on the Tiger. Coop and Sherri were blasting away at anything that came within range, but by the infrequency of the flash bolts, Adam could tell they were running low on charged weapons batteries. A few more discharges and they’d be out.

  N’iliso’s ships reacted to the Klin starship the moment it came on their screens. Knowing that Copernicus wasn’t going anywhere, they turned their attention to the Davion, coming at it in one solid formation line.

  The Klin Fleet Vessel-A (KFV-A) may have been over twenty years old, but at one time this class of warship made up the bulk of the Human and Klin space fleets, crushing a variety of enemy forces at the outset of the Human-Juirean War. They were formidable fighting machines—when fully manned. The regular crew compliment was twenty-five, which included four gun crews. Now with only Adam and Riyad aboard, they couldn’t operate the craft at its highest and best use. But the Humans did have one ace up their sleeve; they had one of the two Aris service modules aboard they’d recovered from the Gracilian research station before it was destroyed. It was the one with the male persona and Adam had named him Will. The other orb—the female—was aboard the Flying Tiger and was named Grace. Will would keep the weapons systems of the Davion charged and transfer energy between active batteries, making it appear as though all four stations were manned.

  “Here, take over,” Adam said to Riyad as he slid from the pilot’s seat. “You’re better at combat tactics than I am.”

  “And your mutant-enhanced reactions are faster on the trigger.”

  The men switched seats.

  “Shields up,” Will announced over the 1-MC. The Aris module would also keep the shields tilted at the optimum angle to deflect and absorb the maximum number of incoming flash cannon bolts.

  “Here they come,” Riyad said. “Not really sophisticated; these guys aren’t military-trained.”

  “It’s still five against one,” said Adam. “And each of their ships is twice the size of the Davion, so don’t get cocky.”

  All the enemy ships opened up at once, sending a brilliant wall of plasma bolts at the Davion. Riyad deftly steered the craft away from the line of attack, pulling the ship up and over in a wide loop before spiraling to the left and at the Crinsonian ships at the narrowest part of their line. It was always best to keep as few of the enemy facing you as possible. Now Adam could concentrate on only one opponent at a time.

  Flash bolts are ballistic in nature, so most of space warfare involved either laying down a wide spread to catch enemy ships in flight, or to anticipate their moves. The line of Crinsonian ships broke apart, each vying for an angle on the Klin flying saucer. Adam anticipated this move and sent a three-bolt burst to port, catching one of the enemy ships with a strong broadside. Their shields held, but another combined load like that and at least one of the diffusion panels would overload.

  In the meantime, the combined shots of the enemy formed an effective screen of incoming bolts against the Davion. The ship took two hits, with their charges expertly deflected by Will’s angling of the shields. But Riyad was forced to spiral away, removing Adam’s counterstrike opportunity, before coming about and lining up on the enemy once again.

  Adam sent out three individual cannon bolts, each of which hit separate enemy ships. They reacted to the extraordinary targeting by breaking their rough formation to spread their ranks. Two of the Crinsonian ships scraped hulls in the melee. They pulled away from each other along predictable paths, which Adam was anticipating. He sent a string of roiling plasma energy into one, overloading a single deflector panel, while the other bolts followed through the gap. Hull metal melted and the bright balls of energy disappeared inside the ship. A moment later the vessel exploded in a spectacularly colorful spectacle.

  By then, Riyad had the Davion corkscrewing again, dodging incoming fire from the remaining four enemy ships. Adam watched his targeting screen, assessing the relative positions of the enemy. He focused; his eye-hand coordination bolstered by the education his body had received during the brief time a small colony of Panur’s brain cells were in his head. The mutant cells had been removed, but his body learned, becoming a bit quicker, a little more focused, and more…everything. The lasting effects were unexpected, but welcome, and to this day, Adam was still learning what his body and mind were capable of. Exercises—such as this battle—served to condition his body, as well as reveal even more secrets waiting to be discovered.

  Adam began not only anticipating the movements of the Crinsonians, but Riyad’s as well. The next targeted array of discharges struck the diffusion shields on three separate ships. Monitors aboard the Davion showed two of the panels fade away. Working the targeting stick in fluid and lightning quick adjustments, Adam placed a pair of single bolts through the rapidly moving and incredibly small openings. One of the enemy ships exploded, while the other had a large section of the hull blow out, even though the vessel retained power and engine capacity.

  But that’s when the brief battle came to an end. With two of their six ships destroyed, and another severely damaged, the Crinsonians decided N’iliso wasn’t worth any further loss of life or material. The ships broke off and sped away.

  “That was some fancy shooting, my friend,” Riyad complimented.

  “And excellent piloting, as well.”

  Adam leaned over and the two men high-fived.

  “And I did an acceptable job of coordinating energy distribution and diffusion shield integrity,” Will added. There was no sign of insecurity in the voice. The alien orb had simply concluded a summary of each participant’s contribution was called for at the moment.

 
; “And yes, you did, Will,” Adam said. “And with the utmost proficiency. Well done.”

  Riyad opened a comm link with Coop’s ship.

  “Are the two of you up for a little rescuing?’ he asked the grumpy face on the screen.

  “Just set the grapples,” Copernicus said. “You’re not going to let me live this down, are you?”

  “Would you, if the roles were reversed?” Riyad flashed his trademark brilliant white smile at his friend. “But wouldn’t it be better if you transfer to the Davion and we let the Tiger free?”

  Coop’s face turned red. “I thought you’d say something like that! I can get her running again. She’s a good ship, when she’s not pushed beyond tolerances.”

  “Hey, I wasn’t piloting the thing when it broke…again,” Riyad barked back.

  “It’s cool, Coop,” Adam said, stepping into the conversation before tempers got out of control. “The grapples are set. Sit back and enjoy the ride. We’ll be back at the CS in about thirty hours. We’ll decide what to do with the Tiger at that time.”

  “But I can fix—”

  “Davion out.” Adam cut the link.

  88

  Once back at the Colony Ship, it was decided that Copernicus would set to work fixing their ship, while Sherri would take the Davion and transport N’iliso to Hydra-3 and collect the bounty. The Crinsonian beamed at the prospect of a solitary female escorting him to the planet. He saw an opportunity for escape as the big alien eyed the diminutive Human with the long blonde hair.

  That was until Sherri slapped him.

  When he awoke thirty minutes later, N’iliso had more respect for Human women, and this one in particular. She locked him away in the Davion’s cargo hold and shot out of the launch bay, grumbling under her breath through the comm link.