by T. R. Harris
If a Juirean could win an Academy Award for acting, the Overlord on the other side of Panur’s massive gold desk would have been a shoe-in. He rose up from his chair and gasped, displaying an expression of complete shock when Adam and his men stormed across the room—weapons hot—and took up positions on the other side of the shiny desk.
A frown crossed Adam’s face as he noticed the huge, blue-haired Juirean had a sling cradling his right arm.
“Do not shoot!” the Overlord cried out. “I am unarmed—and injured, as you can see.”
“Where are they?” Adam demanded. Even though he knew this was a setup, he had to go along with the charade.
“You are referring to your three friends?”
“You can keep Benefis; I’m talking about Sherri and Arieel.”
“You must be Adam Cain.” The translated voice in his ear sounded almost in awe as his name was spoken. The Overlord knew this was an alien who had spent time on Juir, had consorted with Council Elders, and led major battles across this galaxy—and others. His respect was hard to hide.
“That’s right. I’m Adam Cain, and this is Riyad Tarazi, along with Commander Paulson and Sergeant Morgan. Who are you?”
“I am Andis lo Pindoc, Overlord of the Juirean occupation forces for the Sixth Sector, Kidis Frontier. I apologize for my lack of guards and escorts, but after the death of your Admiral Tobias, I dispatched them to other regions where they would have more utility.”
“What happened to your arm?”
“Ah, that is a gift from your fellow Human, the one called Sherri Valentine.”
Adam smiled. “Go on.”
“It seems the female is quite swift and strong, something we were not expecting. She attempted escape three times before being finally subdued.”
Adam’s stomach tightened. “Subdued? What does that mean?” His finger tightened on the trigger of the M-101.
Sensing he had stepped over a line, the Juirean spoke quickly. “She is alive—they all are.” The alien relaxed visibly when he saw Adam do the same. “However, I could not risk her harming more of my forces, so she was placed in stasis.”
“Where is she?” Adam was getting tired of playing the game. He knew that the flanking meditation rooms were packed with twenty aliens each, all armed with fully-charged MK weapons. But he wasn’t worried about them.
A thin grin stretched across the green, scaly face.
“She is gone.” Andis now stood a little straighter, and Adam saw the once docile countenance transform into the more familiar forceful confidence of a Juirean Overlord. “As are the others.”
Six green-haired Guards rushed into the room through the main entrance, as the much larger force remained in hiding. Adam’s men spun around to face the Guards.
“Hold your fire!” Adam commanded. “They’ve got us.”
The scaly forehead of the green-skinned Overlord frowned. “I am disappointed, Adam Cain. I thought you to be a valiant warrior, not one to surrender so easily.”
“I don’t want to risk Sherri and Arieel. You said they’re gone. To where?”
“To Juir, where else?”
Adam’s heart sank. He was afraid of that happening. Sherri and Arieel were much too valuable to be left on some backwater planet like Worak-nin. “When did they go?”
The Guards moved in and stripped Adam and his men of their weapons and packs, then struggled with the heavy gear to drag them out of reach of their captives.
“They left a week ago, for a four-month journey to the homeworld,” said Andis jovially. “And what I told you about being placed in stasis was true. I have read enough reports on how problematic it is to transport Human prisoners over long distances.”
“So there’s a whole fleet guarding them?” Adam stated.
The Juirean frowned again. “Are you not comprehending? I just said they are in stasis, asleep in pods for the duration of the journey. I had no need to send a large escort force.”
Now it was Adam’s turn to frown. A large group of Juirean starships would have been easier to track than a single ship through the vastness of the Milky Way, even if he knew the final destination.
Riyad turned to Adam. “Don’t you have enough information already? Let’s get on with it.”
“You’re right.”
Through his ATD, Adam located a single flash weapon in each of the side rooms and severed the firing controls. Then he activated the power packs in the handguns, setting them on rapid pulse.
The Overlord looked at the four Humans with confusion and curiosity. There was no fear or concern in their eyes or manners
A steadily increasing whine—rising up from within the two side rooms—distracted the Overlord. He looked to his left and opened his mouth to say something—
A pair of massive explosions rocked the building, blowing open the doors to the meditation rooms and sending hot smoke and flaming body parts into the large reception hall. The Juireans hiding in the side rooms had just learned what happens when an MK weapon builds up a critical energy load with nowhere to go. It turns into fairly decent-sized bomb. The explosive intensity was also magnified by the small space and metal walls of the rooms, making the effect even stronger than anticipated. Some of the Juireans might have survived, but they were no longer a threat to Adam and his men.
Neither were the Guards in the throne room. Adam had already severed the firing controls to their weapons, and now they pressed triggers in a fevered panic, with no results.
Riyad, Travis and Tom pounced on the hapless aliens. Even though Juireans towered a foot or two above the Humans; solid fists struck green-tinted flesh with the force of sledgehammers. In most cases, the hand-to-hand battle didn’t last longer than a single blow.
Adam stepped forward and shoved the heavy gold desk toward the Overlord, pinning him against the wall. Ribs broke and internal organs burst. Andis was conscious, but barely.
“Are you the one who killed Admiral Tobias?” Adam growled at the alien.
A feeble nod was all the Juirean could muster.
“Good. At least this is a start.”
Adam pressed the desk tighter against the wall. The Overlord coughed up blood, and a grey sheen glossed over his once-yellow eyes.
Adam was barely aware as his men gathered up weapons and finished off the last remaining Juirean Guards who rushed into the room in a fruitless attempt to aid their fellow beings. He was in a trance, staring at the killer of Andy Tobias. Yes, it was a start…but it wasn’t enough. Adam seriously doubted there were enough Juireans to kill in the Milky Way galaxy to make up for the loss of his friend and mentor. He would have to find out.
When the trance lifted, Adam did a quick mental scan of the compound, looking for the energy signals of flash weapons. Six armed Juireans remained alive. They were racing toward the nearby spaceport where they would alert others.
Someone stepped next to him.
With his jaw set and eyes unblinking, Adam turned to the equally intense face of Riyad Tarazi. “Four months. We have four months,” Adam said.
“You thinking what I’m thinking?”
Adam nodded. “Yeah, a scorched earth campaign…all the way to Juir.”
Tom Paulson heard the comment and reacted. “Excuse me, sir, but you’re proposing we fight our way…to Juir? Let me remind you, the planet is the capital of the Expansion and the homeworld of the mane-heads. And you only have one starship.”
“No one’s asking you to go, Tom.”
Paulson took a step closer to Adam, his chest inflated in defiance. “That’s not what I’m saying. I’m just pointing out some very important operational considerations. For the record, you couldn’t keep me from going.”
“Me, too…sir,” said Sergeant Morgan.
Adam’s answering smile contained not an ounce of humor; to any sane man, it would have turned their blood to ice.
“We couldn’t save Andy, and there’s a very good chance the same will be true for Sherri and Arieel. But the only way to change
that is if we control the high ground when they get to Juir. Success or failure, that means we make the mane-heads pay a very steep price for what they’ve done, the ultimate price, in fact. And that goes for anyone else who gets in our way.”
Riyad looked at the dead Juirean Overlord. His body had slumped over while still pinned against the wall by the heavy gold desk. “So where do we begin?”
“Right here.”
7
There were three Juirean Class-2’s and four planetary shuttles in the small spaceport located near the palace. By the time Adam and his men reached the wide expanse of concrete, the larger Two’s had lifted. The warships could have easily circled back around and leveled the whole area, but the escaping Guards didn’t know the full extent of their defeat. They bolted into space, burning up CW comm links while giving truncated versions of the battle.
Somewhere on the planet—or nearby in space—was the rest of the Overlord’s forces. Senior Juirean officials seldom traveled with less than a dozen escorts, and if Andis lo Pindoc was indeed a sector chief, then he probably had double that at his disposal.
There were several electric transports at the spaceport. Adam sent Riyad and Morgan off in one of them to recover the Mark VII, and then to fly cover if any Juireans appeared in the skies above the palace. Then he sent Paulson back to the building to grab all the bulk food supplies he could find for the ship’s processors. He also tasked him with gathering up all the loose gold he could find within the palace. None of the Humans had any money, and even in a galaxy full of the gold, the yellow metal still carried substantial intrinsic value on a multitude of worlds.
“What are you going to do?” Riyad asked as he hopped into the open-air cart for the overland sprint to the Mark VII.
“I’m going to have a talk with some of the natives in town. They helped the Juireans find Andy. I can’t let that go unpunished.”
“Don’t take too long. This place will be swarming with mane-heads in a matter of minutes.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not in a very talkative mood.”
The local native town also had the distinction of the being the largest on the planet. The natives weren’t very sophisticated, just simple creatures whose only claim to fame was their culinary skills at preparing incredible meals out of the huge, ostrich-like birds that roamed the area.
During the few weeks he’d spent at the palace, Adam had met several of the town leaders. They all wanted to meet the famous Adam Cain, savior of the galaxy from the Sol-Kor menace.
Now they were going to meet to a new Adam Cain, an even deadlier Adam Cain.
The town was abuzz with news of the assault on the palace. They’d heard gunfire and the huge explosions, followed by the sudden departure of the Juirean warships. Now they lined the main street, coming to watch Adam’s march to the government building near the town square. Most recognized him as the Human who had journeyed to another dimension and personally destroyed the Sol-Kor Colony. Of course, most of the stories they heard ranged from simple embellishments to all out fantasies. But the one common thread that ran through all of them: Adam Cain was a killer. Even still, there were females and children, young and old there to see him. There was celebration in the air.
Adam approached the central government building where the planetary executive lived and worked. Adam wasn’t surprised when Lofis Crondillic came out to greet him at the top of the steps.
“My friend, Adam Cain, you have returned,” the short, purple creature greeted. Although he tried to hide it, his voice trembled with fear.
Adam didn’t stop on the landing; instead he walked right up to Lofis, wrapped a strong hand around his thick neck and pinned him against the outer wall of the building, his feet dangling a foot off the deck.
Several dozen natives had followed Adam up the street; now they gasped.
“You’re working with the Juireans,” Adam growled at the shocked native.
“No,” Lofis squeaked. “We are your friends, as before.”
“Bullshit! Your people led the Juireans to Admiral Tobias and the others.”
“We did not—”
“Stop lying. Two of our men survived and saw your people with the Juireans.”
The eyes of the native were wild with fear. “You left. The Juireans were here. We had no choice.”
“Did you help them?”
Lofis diverted his manic eyes. “I…I assisted, although the main search duties were reserved for the young among us. I am too old to tread the forest these days.”
Adam lowered Lofis and released him. He turned to the crowd that had formed on the street below the landing. They recoiled from his intense, savage stare.
“I’ve just killed the Overlord and more than fifty Juirean Guards,” he yelled out, his strong, angry voice echoing down the street. “You no longer have to fear the Juireans.”
The crowd cheered…until Adam lashed out with his right leg, striking Lofis in the chest. The force of the kick sent the old native busting through the front door of the building and into the interior. Adam then removed a hand grenade from his utility belt, pulled the pin and tossed the knotty green metal ball into the building.
“But now you have to fear the Humans!”
He stepped to the side of the doorway.
None of the natives knew what a hand grenade was, not until a thunderous torrent of fire, smoke and debris exploded through the doors and windows of the building. Several of the shocked natives stumbled backwards as they attempted to move away from the blast, while others took wholesale flight.
Adam stepped forward, mingling with the black smoke billowing from the building.
“Run, all of you! Run for your lives. You thought the Juireans were dangerous, but you have no idea what Humans are capable of. Run before you find out…just like Lofis did.”
Adam descended the stairs, however this time as he marched down the center of the street, not a single purple native was seen.
8
Adam entered the palace a few minutes later to find a three-foot-high stack of assorted gold objects near the front door. Paulson walked up and dropped another armful of shiny items onto the pile with a loud clunk.
“There’s so much damn gold here that if we took just the loose items, the ship would be too heavy to lift,” said the sweating officer. “I found a cart—made of gold, of course—and loaded up the food canisters from the main kitchen. Should last the four of us quite a while. And here, I found this.” Paulson handed Adam a datapad. “It’s the Overlord’s.”
Adam switched it on. “Is this what I think it is?”
“Yessir. A running update of Juirean locations in the Frontier. The number of ships will change, but probably not the base locations. Should give us a pretty good indication where our targets are placed.”
“Great job, Tom.”
Adam had already heard through his comm that Riyad and Travis had the Mark VII circling high above, scanning for bogies. He looked at the pile of gold on the floor. “This should do,” he said. “Let’s get the ship down here and loaded. And screw the spaceport. Have them set down right outside.”
Ten minutes later the starship was loaded and ready to lift when Adam made an announcement.
“I’m tired of calling this ship the Mark VII. From now on we’ll call it the Vengeance. Just seems appropriate.” There were no arguments, and moments later the newly christened Vengeance burned away another layer of landscaping from outside Panur’s palace as chem jets sent the starship skyward.
“We knew this was coming,” Commander Paulson said moments later from the nav station. “Eight ships, just breaking the horizon.”
The Vengeance was in space by then, and the first contingent of alien warcraft were soon joined by another four coming around the planet from the other side.
“Pogo, are you fully charged up? We’re going to need the laser beams hot in just a few seconds.”
“I’m ready. Just use conventional gravity maneuvering, no light-drive.” The anci
ent orb’s synthetic voice came over the bridge speakers, being converted from his typed comments on an isolated console.
“Who’s that?” Sergeant Morgan asked. There were only three active stations within the small pilothouse, so Travis had made a makeshift spot for himself along the rear bulkhead.
“Another crewmember,” Adam said, looking at Riyad in the co-pilot seat. “I’ll introduce you later. Pogo, how many batteries do you have charged?”
“All four.”
“Pogo…his name is Pogo?” Paulson said.
“Later. What’s the recycle time?”
“Half a second between pulse, for nine pulses. Then I will need a few minutes to recharge.”
“That should be plenty.”
“Mister Paulson, you have weapons. Pre-target the Juireans. Light ‘em up.”
“Yessir.” The officer’s voice was laced with uncertainty. Adam got the sense he was having trouble taking seriously a crewmember named Pogo. A few seconds later he reported that the targets were locked. “Within range in four minutes.”
“Set the range for ten thousand miles,” Adam commanded.
“Repeat. Maximum cannon range is thirty-five hundred, sir.”
“Ten thousand, Commander. This ship has a secret weapon that can vaporize a target out to twenty thousand miles.”
Now the look of confusion was total on Paulson’s face. “Okay, assuming you’re right, then why not twenty thousand miles?”
“I want to keep that bit of information secret from the mane-heads. Ten thousand will be plenty for what we’re facing. Four banks, against twelve targets, with a half-second recharge between blasts. This should be over before it begins.”
“In that case, sir…targets in range in fourteen seconds.”
“Fire when in range, Tom.”
Moments later, the dark of space outside the ship was lit up by a flash of brilliance coming through the forward viewport. Paulson had put a tactical graphic up on the main screen placed between the two rectangular windows. It showed the incoming Juirean vessels, four of which were now connected to the Vengeance by thick white lines. The tracks faded, only to be replaced by others linked to another four Juirean ships. In the brief interval after the last set of lines disappeared, only three of the eight targets were still showing as active threats. The others were classified as out-of-action.