by T. R. Harris
“We’re assuming the Klin know of us—” He held up his hand as both Riyad and Sherri opened their mouths to speak, “But I agree it’s the safe approach to take. We need to get Kaylor and Jym to start prepping the others on the weapon and defense systems of this ship. If we do run into any Klin or 2G’s along the way, we have to be able to defend ourselves. Can you coordinate that, Sherri?” He smiled at Riyad. “The two of them are still scared shitless of Riyad.”
“The emotion comes in handy at times,” Riyad said with a wink.
Chapter Seven
Over the next two weeks, Kaylor and Jym held dozens of training and orientation sessions with the 32 other men aboard. Soon the Humans were nearly as proficient at running the ship as was the original crew, and Adam began to believe they might actually have a slim chance should they encounter any resistance getting home.
During the training, two of the men rose to assume leadership positions among the non-converts: Sherri’s friend Billy Piscopo, and an older man named Chris Mullis. Chris had spent 12 years in the Marines, the last five in Force Recon, up until the time his wife developed breast cancer, and he left the service at the end of his current enlistment. He had been out of the service for 14 years now, spending most of that time as a mortgage broker in Sacramento, California. His wife had passed away four years earlier. Chris had been taken by the Klin six months before, and had served as a strong rock of resistance for the captives on Zylim-4.
“Assuming we get back to Earth all in one piece, you know we probably can’t set down in D.C., or Norfolk, or any other place with a large military presence,” said Chris to the assembled people seated within Kaylor’s quarters.
Adam nodded. He had been thinking about this very subject for a year now, trying to envision what kind of homecoming he would have if – and when – he ever returned to Earth. “I agree. Dropping down near a sensitive location will just invite a missile up our ass. I’ve been thinking about Texas somewhere, but far enough away from Ft. Hood and San Antonio. We don’t want to appear to be a threat of any kind.”
“Why not Roswell?” Billy said with a smile. Everyone in the room laughed, everyone but Adam.
“That’s a damn good idea, Billy!” he said. “I like the symbolism. I don’t know if you guys know it, but the little gray aliens that are always shown in UFO movies and books are actually called Jakreans. They really do exist.”
“No shit?” Billy said, looking over at Riyad and Sherri.
They both nodded their agreement.
“Then it’s decided. Roswell, New Mexico it is,” Adam said, much to the satisfaction of the others.
“You still haven’t told us how you plan on getting past any Klin or 2G’s who are hanging out around the Earth,” Sherri said. All eyes turned toward Adam.
“That’s because I don’t have a good answer yet. I’ve thought about coming in dark, and essentially coasting in undetected. But Kaylor has informed me that we’d have to start so far out from the solar system that it would take years for us to get in traveling at sub-light speed. I’ll get Kaylor and Jym working on deactivating the transponder, which would at least keep the ship’s identity a secret. But the gravity signature of a Class-5 starship is very distinctive, and there’s not a lot of them around, other than Juirean and Klin.”
“How about this,” Chris began. “I saw this once in a program about drug running in Florida. We overshoot the system, and then come in from the opposite direction. In the program, the drug aircraft would fly in past the panhandle of Florida, and then double back. The Fed’s were only looking for aircraft coming up from the south, so they never paid much attention to anything coming down from the north.”
Adam raised his eyebrows. “That might work, if we can turn off the damn transponder. With so many other ships buzzing in and out of the system preparing for the Juireans, we might be able to blend in with the rest – if someone doesn’t analyze our gravity signature too closely.”
“It’s also a pretty good bet that the Klin know exactly where the Juirean fleet is, and when it will be arriving at Earth,” said Riyad. “Knowing this, they may not be on such high alert to check out every signature they see.” He looked over at Adam. “I think it’s worth a shot.”
Adam nodded. Then he turned to Kaylor. “Is it even possible to deactivate the transponder on a ship this big?”
It was Jym who spoke up. “Actually, it’s easier than on a commercial vessel,” he said, bouncing in his chair with enthusiasm. “Commercial ships make landfall on a variety of planets, so it’s more important for the authorities to track their movements and origins. Military craft, especially something this big, do not make landfall, and their identity is pretty much established already. The transponders aboard military craft are used primarily to keep track of the individual vessels in times of battle, to help the commanders allocate their forces. I’ve been checking out the circuitry and I don’t see a problem deactivating the transponder.”
The mood in the room lifted after Jym’s statement. “Great,” said Adam. “It will still be a risk, but we don’t have much choice. Of course, we also can’t park the ship in orbit so that the Klin can see it visually. So we’ll drop it off on the moon. Kaylor says he can set it down on a surface with a very low gravity threshold, even though these ships are designed never to make landfall. I have confidence that he’s right.”
Adam could see Kaylor perk up from the compliment. Over the past several weeks, the two aliens had begun to bond with the crew, and even appeared to be warming up to Riyad. Adam was glad to see it. Deep down inside though, he was worried about what would happen to the two of them once they returned to Earth. They couldn’t live on the planet themselves, not with Earth’s gravity, and by now, Adam was pretty sure they were on whatever ‘Most-Wanted’ list the Juireans had, so returning to The Fringe would be difficult as well.
Unfortunately, they were victims of circumstance, just like the rest of them. No one in the room, or on the ship for that matter, had asked for any of this to happen to them. And now, they were just trying to do the best they could to survive.
Chapter Eight
After so many months at a constant frenetic pace, Adam found himself at a loss as to what to do with himself once the monotony of the journey back to Earth slowly unfolded. The two aliens spent most of their time together, confined to the lighter-gravity region of the command bridge. Sherri and Billy had become constant companions, and except for training sessions, Adam rarely saw them outside of their respective staterooms. Even Riyad was spending more time alone, apparently in prayer in his cabin.
Adam was so starved for Human companionship that he almost felt like an outcast – again.
But then he and Chris Mullis began to spend more time together, trading war stories. Chris had been in Desert Storm, while Adam came in much later, during Iraq and Afghanistan. But still, as one Special Forces member to another, they shared a bond as none of the other crewmembers could.
The two also spent time with Kaylor on the bridge, learning the basics of piloting a starship the size of the Juirean battlecruiser. Chris had been especially excited with the prospect of piloting the starship. As he stated, it sure beat helping people fill out mortgage loan applications back home in Sacramento.
Adam was already pretty well-versed in the operation of Juirean spacecraft, thanks to his experience with the Cassie 1, but something the size of the battlecruiser was a whole other matter. Kaylor was a good teacher, even though he was winging it most of the time. The alien had piloted a number of different spacecraft during his career, but again, something this big was a new experience for him. Yet as the weeks past, Adam began to develop a new level of admiration for both he and Jym. They may be aliens, but they made an effort to do their best in everything they attempted, and that you had to respect.
Soon the two Humans had reached a level of competency where they could adequately serve as backups for Kaylor, should the need arise, and the rest of the crew was jelling as well with thei
r respective responsibilities.
Now if they could just get back to Earth without being detected…
In his off time, Adam found he was growing ever more anxious about the prospect of seeing Maria and Cassie again. It was both an exciting, yet nervous time for him. So much time had passed, and the circumstances of his disappearance would have changed the whole dynamic of their relationship, if one even remained.
Hell, he wasn’t even sure if she hadn’t remarried.
He wouldn’t have blamed her if she had. If fact, in some ways he hoped she had. The idea of having her go through life alone, with just her and Cassie, made him feel guilty for what had happened. He could only imagine what pain she went through over the past year. But by now – hopefully – the grieving process would have played itself out. She would have moved on, and begun to build a new life without him.
Yet his family meant so much to him. Throughout his year-long ordeal, they had been his light, his rock, his goal in life.
In his quiet contemplations, he often found it strange that he, of all people, would feel this way, since he had never fancied himself much of a family man.
His mother died when he was only 11, and his father had raised him as a single parent, having never remarried. Adam had a very doting Aunt Jennifer, with whom he would stay when his dad was on deployment, which was quite often during his teenage years. Yet even then, he never felt a great attachment to his aunt and her two children, Mark and Heather. Even at this young age, Adam could already see himself in the uniform of the U.S. Navy – and particularly wearing the trident of a Navy SEAL. And he knew from experience that trying to maintain a long-term relationship between dangerous deployments would be next to impossible.
And then along came Maria.
Not surprisingly, he had met her in San Diego, right after BUD/S. With the testosterone raging in his system, he and his buddies would raid the bars and nightclubs in the Gaslamp District nearly every night, exuding the confidence that came from having just survived the hardest initiation of any club in the world. Nothing was beyond their grasp. They could conquer any foe, and bed any woman.
That was until he met Maria. She was a ravishing Latino beauty, who had been fending off the advances of all the young studs from Coronado her entire adult life. They didn’t impress her much; all macho bombast, and nothing more, great for a quick tryst, but nothing long-term.
After that first passionate encounter, Maria had resisted Adam’s advances for anything more long-lasting, yet the competitor in him never relented.
But then one night he’d gone too far.
He had showed up at her apartment late that night, drunk on his ass, banging on her door, and otherwise being just an obnoxious asshole. At the time, Maria shared an apartment in the Claremont area near Mission Bay with another girl from San Diego State. At first, the roommate had threatened to call the police, but Maria quickly went outside to try to defuse the situation.
There, on the once-quiet cul-de-sac, at three in the morning, Maria had really laid into him, calling him everything from a disgusting bore to a stalker. Even in his inebriated state, Adam was profoundly embarrassed. He really liked Maria, and now here she was making him feel like a desperate nerd in junior high, trying to get his first kiss.
But she was right. Ever since joining the SEALs and falling under the influence of the macho-competiveness of the unit, he had not been himself. He normally wasn’t such as asshole. Instead, he was a serious, mature-for-his-age man with a well-developed goal in life. Yet now, the over-the-top confidence that SEAL training had instilled in him had overflowed into his interpersonal relationships. And here he was falling for a woman who was not impressed with his bullshit.
He slinked home that night, believing he would never see Maria again.
Two weeks passed without any effort on his part to make contact with her again, yet with each passing day, he began to realize just how much he missed her. He thought about sending her cards and flowers, but concluded that would only confirm her belief that he was a stalker. How could he express his love for her if he couldn’t see her again?
With his time in San Diego drawing to a close, Adam decided to go for broke, and the San Diego Chargers football team helped him out.
Maria was a big fan of the team, and he knew she was going to the game that coming Sunday. So Adam devised a plan. Of course at the time, he had no idea how expensive airplane banner advertising was. But this was love, and it was his last chance to win Maria’s heart before he headed east and Virginia Beach.
So draining his savings, along with a few reluctant loans from his buddies, Adam came up with the $2,000 it cost for a plane to fly the banner over QualComm Stadium during the game.
It was a simple message: I’m Sorry, Maria. Give Me Another Chance. Adam.
The banner made the evening news, and soon went viral.
How could she say no?
Six months later they were married in a small church in Chesapeake, Virginia. Maria was already two months pregnant at the time.
It was hard on the newlyweds at first, as Adam was constantly either in advanced training or off on a secret mission somewhere. And it only got harder when Cassie was born. He hadn’t been there for the birth; instead he was wrapping up a six-month deployment in Iraq.
Everything changed for Adam the day he returned and saw the big, bright eyes of his daughter looking up at him. She seemed to know instinctively who he was – at least that’s what Adam thought. It was as if someone had flicked a switch on his heart, and from that moment on, Adam Cain was a devout family man. Nothing else mattered. He would do anything for Maria and Cassie.
As his career in the Navy progressed, Adam found that his new-found maturity actually helped. SEALs are very serious people; it’s not all about the bravado. Once he settled down in his personal life, Adam found advancement easier, as well as an unspoken respect coming from the senior personnel. Chief Rutledge, his NCOIC, confided in him that he was on the fast-track for advancement, either as an enlisted instructor, or possibly even Officer Candidate School. The choice would be Adam’s.
As soon as he returned from his latest mission in Afghanistan…
Chapter Eight
Adam was on bridge watch, slumped down in the Juirean-size captain’s chair, with the lights dimmed and enjoying the three-quarters gravity that the aliens liked to keep their section of the ship set at. It was night on the ship – or at least it was in the artificial time schedule that they had established just a few days after leaving Zylim-4 – and nearly everyone else was asleep.
Adam was doing his best to keep his own eyes open, when he noticed a brief blip on the forward display screen. It was right at the very edge of their sensor range, and only lasted a moment before it was gone.
With nothing better to do, Adam focused his attention on that part of the screen where he’d seen the blip. After a while – as his eyes were beginning to cross – he saw the blip again. There was definitely something out there, just off the screen.
He got out of the chair and moved to the pilot’s seat. There was something out there that was either matching their speed, or attempting to stay just out of sensor range. There was one way to find out for sure.
He took hold of the control stick and did a quick, short jerk back towards him. The huge battleship slowed just slightly, as the intensity of the well decreased by a fraction.
There was the blip again, this time stronger – and there were two of them. And then they disappeared again off the screen.
They were being followed! And their pursuers did not want their presence known.
Adam brought the lights up on the bridge as he pressed the alarm button. A rhythmic whooping echoed throughout the ship, not as abrasive as a general quarters alarm, but just as effective. Soon the entire crew was running for their stations.
Kaylor and Jym were the first to the bridge. Adam surrendered the pilot’s seat, and then told the two aliens what had happened.
“Sounds
like they’re staying just out of range,” Kaylor said. “They must be big in order to stay up with us. Jym, check the readout log and see if you can make a determination.”
“On it.” Jym brought up a recording of the contacts on his screen, and ran a gravity analysis of their wells. Since the singularities were created far ahead of the actual spaceships, a lot could be discerned from their intensity and harmonics.
“The signature is of a similar frequency as our own. Class Five. That can only mean Juireans.”
“And you said you saw two signatures?” Kaylor asked.
“At least two.”
Riyad then entered the bridge. “Contacts?”
“Yep, and they look like Juireans.”
“Time to see if our crew is up to the task, eh.”
“We’ll fight if we have to, but there are multiple contacts.”
Chris Mullis entered the bridge. Adam had put him in charge of the non-coverts, and their training on the ship’s weapon systems. “Everyone’s at their stations, for what good it does. None of us have had any real experience with how to fight a battle in space.”
“Nothing to it,” Riyad said with a smile. “Just like playing a video game back home.”
“If that’s true, then I guess we’re ready to kick some alien ass!”
Adam just smiled at the light banter. He knew everyone was nervous, and this was just their way of coping.
Sherri Valentine entered the bridge next, again looking sultry with her bedhead and flushed cheeks. Adam figured she hadn’t been sleeping much when the alarm sounded, but rather engaged in more strenuous activities with Billy. He really had to shake these thoughts from his head; they were beginning to interfere with his effectiveness as a leader.