The Unreachable Stars: Book #11 of The Human Chronicles Saga

by T. R. Harris

That’s when Andy saw the Sol-Kor officer smile through his faceplate. “No, it was what you refer to as a CW-form of communication.”

  “But CW comms can’t be traced.”

  “No they cannot.” The wicked smile remained.

  “You mean they can’t be traced by us!”

  “If that is your conclusion from what I said. Now I will leave. As you are aware, there is much work to be done in this system before we can move on. And to let you know, your empire has already approved of forty-four more worlds within your space which we are permitted to harvest. It is a beginning, yet it will not appease the Sol-Kor. That, you may pass that along to your leadership.”

  ********

  Andy didn’t escort the Sol-Kor delegation back to their ship. He sat alone in the conference room, lost in thought.

  When he’d first heard of the communications intercept, he had seen it as a deliberate act on Adam’s part, knowing it would be overheard, recorded, and relayed to others. But this was a CW communication, a type of transmission which, until just a few moments ago, he believed to be secure and beyond intercept. Now this changed everything. He would have to let command know about this ASAP. Why Sala had let this vital piece of wartime intelligence leak was anyone’s guess.

  Then there was Adam Cain. If the Sol-Kor know where he’ll be in four days, why don’t they pick him up?

  There were too many questions at the moment, without a lot of answers. But there was one thing he was certain of: he wasn’t doing any good sitting here. With a deadline now imposed for the return of Panur, Tobias had no time to waste.

  He pressed the comm button on the table that would connect him with the bridge.

  “Commander Walker, set a course for the fleet to the Lupcanen star system.”

  “Where’s that, sir?”

  “Hell if I know. Look it up. In the meantime, recall all our observers and screen ships, and have the fleet ready to bolt in two hours.”

  “Aye, sir.

  Chapter 22

  “We’re pretty sure it’s him, Admiral.”

  “What makes you so sure?”

  “It’s the gravity drive signature. We’ve been tracking it from the Lupcanen system all the way here, and the closer we get the more it looks like the same one we recorded leaving Earth a couple of months ago. It’s quite unique.”

  Tobias looked at the green-tinted screen within the dim light of the CIC—the combat- information-center—aboard the Mount Rushmore. “If it’s Cain and the mutant, why aren’t they using that jump drive of theirs? The last confirmed sighting of the Pegasus was back near Sylox, with that whole white dwarf, black hole thing. I still can’t believe that little rat-bastard was able to pull that off.”

  “I don’t know why they’re not using the jump drive, sir,” said Master Chief Tamara Allen. “Maybe it’s energy intensive, so only to be used in emergency situations. But I agree with the analysts. This is the same gravity drive signature we recorded leaving Earth.”

  Andy’s fleet had traveled the five thousand light-years to the Lupcanen system, and just as the Sol-Kor leader had promised, a unique gravity signature had been detected nearby. With his suspicions piqued, Tobias had sent out cloaked drone ships to follow the mysterious signal. That was six days ago, and now the fleet was far from the Lupcanen system and nearing a huge fiery nebula known as NC-1187.

  “No course deviation, Chief?”

  “Not so far.” Allen replaced the image on the screen with a schematic of the glowing nebula. “NC-1187. It’s been surveyed. Not much there. The main part has a triple star system which has cleared out a void area, but it’s also formed a kind of funnel, wide at one end, narrow at the other.”

  “And they’re headed there?”

  “As far as the scouts can tell.”

  Tobias pointed to the narrow end of the void. “Any other way out except here?”

  “Not that we can tell. And there is a small Juirean fleet in the area.”

  “No shit? What are they doing here?”

  “President Osbourne gave them permission. Apparently, the Sol-Kor also gave the information about Cain’s location to the Juireans. I just got word that the president gave them our coordinates so they could assist in the capture.”

  “And I’m the last know of this?”

  “Sorry, sir. Fresh data.”

  “Regardless, it makes sense,” Tobias conceded. “Both the Union and Expansion are after immunity. By showing this to be a joint operation, the Sol-Kor may be forced to accept our request for a galaxy-wide exemption.”

  “Cain hasn’t changed course in four days, according to the track. He’s definitely headed for the nebula.”

  “Right into the mouth of the beast,” Tobias said with a frown. “Something doesn’t seem right about this.”

  “In what way, sir?”

  “That I can’t put my finger on, Chief. It just feels…weird.”

  “Orders?”

  Tobias studied the screen a moment longer before answering. “Contact the mane-heads—I mean the Juirean warriors—and have them barricade the exit at the narrow end of the funnel. Keep the main fleet back, scouts only, until Cain’s firmly within the void. Then we’ll fan out and prevent them from escaping. Maybe then I’ll be able to talk some sense into that insubordinate bastard.”

  Chapter 23

  Adam watched as the massive cloud of stellar gas and debris grew ever-larger in the viewport, forming a gaping ring that took up the expanse of his view. They were entering no-man’s-land, and the alien was becoming nervous.

  “You better be right about this,” Panur said. “There’s only one way out of here, and the Juireans have that covered.”

  “Relax. It’s not like we’re risking your life. It’s us mortals who should be worried.”

  “That may be so, but I do not relish the idea of returning to the Queen. She can be very angry at me, particularly after such a long absence.”

  “And after all we’ve been through, you still doubt my abilities?”

  “Now you’re sounding like me. That I realize,” Panur said. “Yet now I have to rely on the actions of others for my survival. My inventions and other creations are inanimate. They do as I instruct them, constantly and without fail. Unfortunately, I cannot program living creatures as easily as I can my devices. With semi-intelligent beings—particularly Humans—there are no such guarantees.”

  “Always keep ‘em guessing…that’s my motto.”

  “I was not aware you had a motto. I believe you are making that up.”

  “Will you just relax. Hell, go have a drink. That always seems to put you in a better mood.”

  “I dare not risk it, not with the demon fluid’s ability to stunt my senses and memory. But I will retire to the common room…until it’s time.”

  “Good, I need to concentrate,” Adam said. “See you on the other side.”

  ********

  “He’s effectively boxed in, Admiral,” Commander Walker announced. “His only way out is through a narrow channel at the far end of the cloud. The Juireans are closing in from that direction.”

  “Very good, Commander.”

  Although Admiral Andy Tobias had faith in his officer’s assessment, the news didn’t help to lighten his mood. A friend of over twenty years was about to meet a very nasty end, and it would come from his hand. He sat in his command chair and contemplated one last attempt at reason, even though both he and Adam had exhausted every line of debate they could to convince the other.

  For his part, Andy was pretty much convinced Adam was right—he had been about everything to date.

  News of the black hole/white dwarf collision had reached Tobias three weeks earlier, while he was still back on Earth. He then made a point of having another meeting with the president and his scientific genius, Jack Hardy. The I-told-you-so had been satisfying but still lacking. Hardy was an irascible S.O.B, and he dismissed the mutant’s successful operation as much-ado-about-nothing.

  The debate turned t
o whether or not Panur could build the portal detector. He had the thousand pound diamond he needed, and one didn’t go through so much trouble to acquire such a thing unless it was for something really important.

  Panur was planning to build—or had already built—his portal detector, that was Andy’s belief, even if wasn’t that of Osbourne and Hardy. And that’s when the truth came out.

  Even if Panur did build a detector, it would be far easier just to return him to the Queen. The choice was clear: no casualties—with the possible exception of Adam Cain—or a prolonged war where potentially millions could die?

  Tobias was no warmonger but he preferred the latter. At least then they’d be rid of the flesh-eaters for good. The other way they would always be a potential threat, lingering in the shadows at night, ready to strike whenever the spirit moved them. If the portals remained open, the SK would continue to bring in more ships. Eventually they’d reach such superiority that a clash with the Union and the Expansion would be a foregone conclusion. There would be no reason not to attack and destroy the enemy. Even if that enemy had long since been rendered impotent, it was still an obstacle that needed to be eliminated.

  “He’s slowing, Admiral,” Commander Walker reported. “Looks like he’s changing course towards the lower right quadrant, away from the escape route. He has to know that’s a dead-end—literally.”

  The hair on the back of Andy’s neck began to tingle. This wasn’t right. These were not the actions of a person trying to avoid capture. They were the actions of…

  “Bring the fleet to battle stations, Commander! Send drone scouts to that quadrant. Launch screening units.”

  There was a moment’s hesitation on the part of his operations officer before Walker began to bark orders. A few seconds later, Tobias felt the slight vibrations of the drones launching. These were unmanned reconnaissance units, all engines and monitors. They were extremely fast, and they shot out ahead of the small fleet, instantly bathing the CIC with incoming data.

  “Admiral, I don’t know what you hope to find…”

  “This isn’t for what I hope to find, Commander, but rather for what I hope I don’t. Maintain readiness.”

  ********

  “Your fleet has deployed scanning drones,” Panur announced with a burp. He had returned from the common room a few minutes before, having clearly given in to Adam’s invitation to have a drink. Apparently he had used his consummate skill at computer programming to produce a whole variety of knock-‘em-on-their-ass drink combinations. And once having created them, the mutant then felt obligated to test them all—out of scientific curiosity, of course. The results were present in his droopy eyes and toxic breath.

  “I hope you can still function when the time comes.”

  “Don’t worry about me. I can regain sobriety at will, unlike Humans.”

  “Yeah, that’s what you say.”

  “Any contact as of yet?”

  “None, just Andy and his badass fleet on our six.”

  “Don’t worry, they’re there.” And then the alien laughed. “They’re there. They’re homonyms, which is a word which begins with homo—as in homo-sapiens. You’re a homo…a homo-sapien.”

  “Holy crap, man, you really are wasted! Try to focus. This is the first test of your friggin’ detector, and according to you and your squiggly lines, there’s a portal somewhere in here.”

  “Squiggly lines don’t lie.”

  “We’ll see—oh shit!”

  The dim light of the Pegasus II pilothouse was suddenly overwhelmed by a brilliant flash coming from the nav screen. It appeared as though the entire monitor had whited out, but when Adam adjusted the contrast, he found instead that it was full of individual contact dots, hundreds of them, and all in close proximity. And that proximity was heading straight for Adam and the Pegasus II.

  “I believe it’s time for some skillful Human piloting,” Panur said as calmly as if he were reading from the phone book.

  “I repeat…no shit!” Adam had already activated Panur’s super-drive, and the dull sense of the Sol-Kor suppressor beam was noticeable in his mind. The mutant’s passive beam defense was working. Now Adam worried for Andy and his fleet. The counter-beams were effective, yet they required alignment and constant tuning. With so many enemy combatants, there were bound to be gaps and miscalculations.

  Sensing Adam’s dread, Panur said, “This is the purpose of the mission, my spinning friend. Your kind so often have to be shown reality rather than trust in its existence.”

  “What do you mean spinning? Oh, never mind.”

  Adam was whipping the Pegasus II in tight spirals, corkscrewing through the cloud of Sol-Kor beamships, avoiding errant cannon bolts along the way—unrelated to Panur’s intoxicated vision. “C’mon, Andy, don’t let me down.”

  ********

  Commander Walker first leaned in close to his threat board before suddenly twisting around in his swivel chair to face Admiral Tobias. “Anomalies on screen, Admiral. The drones are picking up energy signals…a lot of them.”

  Tobias left the command chair and went to Walker’s station as a nervous buzz spread quickly throughout the bridge.

  “Could this be one of Cain’s portal arrays—and its accompanying Sol-Kor fleet?”

  Tobias pointed to the energy signature analysis running along the side of the screen. “These aren’t harvesters. They have to be beamships. Initial count of one hundred eighty.”

  “Sir, we only have ninety ships in the fleet…”

  “I’m well aware of that, Commander. Helm…reduce speed to one quarter. Tactical…station sentries along our perimeter. Comm…send the latest to the Juireans. Have them hold at the exit point.”

  “Sir?”

  “We’ve had contact with a Sol-Kor fleet before, Commander, less than a week ago. This one may be just as benign, even though we seem to have surprised them.”

  “These are mobile beamships, not platforms, sir,” Walker pointed out. “This is a war fleet, not a harvesting fleet.”

  “Admiral, I’m picking up a huge energy reading on one of the planets up ahead,” Chief Allen called out. “No doubt about it…it’s a portal array, and one huge muther.”

  “So the mutant did build a portal detector.”

  “Sir?”

  “Cain led us here just to show us he can locate the portals.”

  “Lot of good that’s going to do him,” Walker said. “He’s right in the thick of that mess.” When Tobias didn’t comment, Walker asked: “Aren’t we going in?”

  “Not just yet, Mr. Walker.”

  “I don’t follow, sir?”

  “If those bastards can capture Panur, we might be able to convince them that we steered Cain and the alien to them, and that just might buy us the immunity we’ve been offered.”

  “And Cain?”

  “A casualty of war, Mr. Walker. Now, let’s lay off and see what happens.”

  ********

  “Your fleet has broken off its pursuit.”

  Adam could see it, too. “What the hell are they doing?”

  “They are sacrificing us in a bid to acquire immunity from attack.”

  Adam instantly saw the logic in the admiral’s decision. Tobias still wasn’t convinced that the Sol-Kor would go back on their agreement.

  “Can you open a link to the Sol-Kor?”

  Panur shot a nervous glance Adam’s way. “Of course.”

  “Good, then do it. Time to put Plan B into motion.”

  “Plan A didn’t go too well, now did it? What makes you think your backup will do any better?”

  “It’s the homo-sapien way. Now open the channel.”

  ********

  First-Noslead Lonnis Huon received the link from the fleeing starship. It had already been identified as what the Humans called the Pegasus II, the ship belonging to Adam Cain. Anticipation grew in his chest as he wondered if Panur could be aboard.

  “Open the link,” he commanded. “This is First-Noslead Huon. Ident
ify yourself.”

  “You know who this is,” the voice said over the comm. “I have Panur with me, and I wish to offer my surrender. Will you respect the offer and not blast the hell out of me if I reduce speed?”

  “I will not blast you, Adam Cain, although I am not familiar with the substance within your body known as hell. I do not know what hell is.”

  There was a long pause on the link before the voice responded. “Damn, I hate to leave a hanging curve ball out there like that…but I’ll accept your word. I’m reducing speed. Please send a pulse to indicate your location within the fleet.”

  “Sending, yet I still do not comprehend your reference to the word hell.”

  “Let’s save that for another time. I have your location, ETA—estimated time of arrival—six minutes. This should make you a hero to your Queen. Don’t fuck it up.”

  “Human language is very difficult for our translators, so I am cutting the link before misunderstandings arise.”

  “A wise move, dickhead…”

  Chapter 24

  “Drone surveillance has the Pegasus docking with a beamship,” reported Commander Walker. “Looks like Cain’s going to give up the alien.”

  “Comm…open a link to the Sol-Kor fleet.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  “This is Admiral Andy Tobias, commander of the Orion-Cygnus Union fleet, requesting a link to the leader of the Sol-Kor forces in the region. Please respond.”

  There was only a momentary delay before a voice answered. “This is High-Noslead Lonnis Huon. I am the leader of the Sol-Kor force you see before you.”

  “I wish to discuss with you the return of the mutant Panur, as initiated by the Human Adam Cain. It has been through the combined effort of the Human and Juirean fleets that this event is taking place. We have now delivered Panur to you according to the immunity terms offered by your Queen. I need to know your intentions at this point.”