by T. R. Harris
The Juireans had established their breeding facilities and educational centers on many of the nearby worlds of the Cluster. The military academy was on Sellon, while most of the manufacturing activities were centered on the 18 worlds near the Core, and had served as such for over 3,000 years. What this left was a capital world that was designed exclusively for the most senior of Juirean officials, with no need to jam all the functions of governing onto one overcrowded and polluted planet.
Juirean officials who had the pleasure of serving on the home planet often moved about in casual, relaxed states of mind, enjoying the fresh air and temperate climate, while dealing with the responsibilities of an empire spanning over 8,000 worlds.
The headquarters of the Juirean Council was located in the grandest building of them all, a kilometer high pyramid of glass and gold that sat atop the Kacoran Plain, directly on top of the site of the First Contact. Within its massive structure was a monument dedicated to the event, taking up the very core of the building. Placed around the monument, were the oversize statues of Malor the Great and Arolus Ra Un, the two most revered Juireans in history, and builders of what would eventually become The Juirean Expansion.
At the very zenith of the building sat the Council Chambers, a hundred meter square room surrounded by angled walls of sparkling bronze glass and topped by a golden point at the very peak of the building. No doorways disturbed the 360-degree view from the Chambers, as entry was gained through a stairway in the floor. And in the center of the room was a vast round table of polished Kacoran granite, with seating for the 40 members of the Council Elite.
At the time, the room was occupied by only three Juireans, including Hydon Ra Elys. Hydon was the current Council Elder, and was in effect the most powerful being in the galaxy.
The label of ‘Elder’ did not mean Hydon was the oldest member of the Council. Rather, he had attained his position partially by bloodline, but mainly through ability. He had never pined for the position, although it had been decided long ago that Hydon would serve on the Council. But as the years passed, and crises were debated and solutions developed, it became apparent to all that Hydon was just a cut above the rest.
The past Elder was still on the Council; Juireans did not advance in status based upon the deaths of those above them. Rather, a simple vote had been taken when it became obvious that Hydon possessed better analytical abilities than the current Elder. At that moment, Hydon simply became The Elder, and everything proceeded as normal. It had all been quite uneventful, as the ascension process was designed to be.
But with high position came high responsibility, so Hydon now found himself in the Council Chambers, accompanied by only the Supreme Military Guard, Fleet Marshal Relion Fe Lans, and Elite Member Juls Ve Kikel, the most senior political advisor on the Council.
Hydon held the datapad in his hand and felt his entire body go weak. This was stunning news, unbelievable news, yet Hydon had no doubt that every word in the young Guard’s report was accurate. Over the course of the past two weeks, Hydon and the Council had received many corroborating reports, yet this one was from an actual eyewitness.
The entire fleet had been destroyed, utterly and completely!
After reading the report, Hydon concluded that its author, the Guard Rillor, had been allowed to escape the battle scene with the few ships under his command. It was obvious these Humans wanted the Juirean Council to know what they had done to the greatest mass of Juirean warships in over 1,000 years. And they wanted Hydon to know how effortlessly they had achieved such a lopsided victory.
Hydon found this part of the report to be vaguely disingenuous. The fleet had been lured to Earth and then ambushed. The results may have been dramatically different if it had been a stand-up fight. But the fact still remained that now The Expansion’s military forces on the far side of the galaxy had been decimated, leaving those Sectors vulnerable to a Human invasion.
Hydon had been aware of the Human threat for the past six months, yet he often heard of them spoken in the same breath along with the Klin. Now it appeared as though the Humans were the true threat that must be addressed.
The Klin! Yes, they really did exist, as Hydon felt most Juireans secretly believed. The Reckoning had killed billions of them, but they didn’t get them all. And the fact that no one had seen or heard from the Klin in nearly 4,000 years led many to believe that there was a reason for their hiding, a reason beyond the simple fact that they would be killed should they show their faces within The Expansion. The Klin had to be planning something, and it was this fear of an unknown retaliation that stirred many a young Juirean from his sleep, drenched in sweat, after another Klin-based nightmare.
Through the passage of time, the Juireans had been able to put into perspective what a tragic and cruel act they had committed on the Klin people. Yes, the Juireans had been humiliated by the Klin, but was that any reason to destroy an entire population?
Some Juireans questioned the legitimacy of the argument for The Reckoning, but what was done was done. Even if the Klin did finally reappear, there could be no reconciliation. Too much time had passed, too much fear and guilt had been felt. The feud between the Juireans and Klin was what it was and would always be. There was no going back.
The Juireans had eliminated four other races throughout the millennia, but that had only been after protracted wars with these adversaries. They had been fights to the death, and the Juireans had won.
The Reckoning, on the other hand, had been planned and executed in secret – much like the campaign against the Humans. But unlike the Klin, the Humans had been waiting for them.
The report stated that the attack upon the planet Earth had commenced prior to the fleet being destroyed. That would mean millions, if not billions of Human dead. That was not something one could back away from. The die had been cast. This would be another case of no turning back.
The Juirean Expansion and the Human race were now at war.
Hydon addressed Fleet Marshal Relion first. “What is the status of our forces in the higher Sectors?”
“Thin, My Lord. Overlord Yan’wal pulled most of the larger warships from the neighboring Sectors to build his fleet. We have managed to step up production of new ships, as well as consolidate the few remaining ships into Sector 17. There are currently 92 fleet ships in the region. Yet in light of the reported size of the Human fleet, this force is woefully inadequate to hold the Sector should an invasion come soon.”
“What about the new ships?”
“We are producing new ones at the rate of two per day, yet the production rate is not the problem, it’s the crews. We have ample Juirean leadership for them, yet not enough trained supplemental beings. We are beginning an all-out recruitment and training operation to help overcome this handicap.”
Hydon next turned to Elite Member Juls. “How are the Members reacting to the loss of the fleet? We’ve obviously not been able to contain the news.”
“No, we haven’t, My Lord. It is clear that the news of Yan’wal’s defeat has already spread throughout The Expansion. There appears to be a stunned disbelief among the Members. This has shaken their confidence in Juirean leadership.”
“How is this affecting recruitment?”
“Mixed. It is down on the more-affluent worlds, yet up in the poorer sections. The attraction to gaining employment aboard a Juirean warship depends on the economic conditions on the Member worlds. We should be able to meet Fleet Marshal Relion’s requirements, just not in a very timely manner.”
“An estimate?”
“Within a year or so.”
Hydon grimaced at the news. He did not believe they had that much time before the Human invasion would commence. The original message had spoken of a three-year timeline, but that had turned out to have been a ruse. The Humans were ready now.
Hydon surveyed the faces of both his subordinates. Neither expressed any fear nor apprehension. They were professionals, and would act as such.
“We cannot affo
rd to have this situation get out of hand. From what the eyewitness report relates, the Humans appear to be simply a single-planet race. They may have a vast number of ships and advance weaponry, but there are only so many bodies they can commit to the war effort. As a last resort, we can win through attrition. But that will take time, as well as major loss of life on our side as well. This means more and more of our Member worlds will suffer large casualties. This will not go over well from a political standpoint.”
“What do you suggest, My Lord,” Relion asked.
“First of all, we must make a stand in Sectors 17, 16 and 15 with what forces we can muster. We must attempt to inflict as many casualties on the Humans as possible, while the bulk of our new fleet is in preparation. Then we must pull back. If the Humans can be drawn further into Expansion territory, they will find it more and more difficult to supply their forces and to bring up reinforcements. We engage only when necessary. The war may be longer, but we will preserve the goodwill of our Members by sparing as many of their recruits as possible.”
Then Hydon paused, and looked out the window at the greens fields stretching out below the Kacoran Plain and all the way to the Southern Ocean beyond. “These Humans cannot seriously believe they have a legitimate chance of defeating The Expansion? Our numbers are just too large to be overcome. We will prevail. They must know this.”
“Then why are they embarking down this path?” Juls asked.
“That, Lord Juls, I do not know.”
Chapter Forty-Two
The Juirean battlecruiser actually had some pretty impressive astronomical facilities aboard, and soon the two giddy scientists were able to isolate six systems that seemed to fit the requirements for the location of the star system containing the planet Calamore. The journey to the region would take approximately three months, during which time Tobias and Chief Rutledge had the SEALs training the non-converts on weapons and tactics in the ship’s main landing bay.
The landing bay was perfect for the training. It had been originally designed to carry up to 20 landing craft, along with six inter-ship transport pods. The six pods were still in the bay, but the only landing craft remaining was the one Adam had taken from Zylim-4. So for several weeks, the cavernous chamber echoed with the muffled sounds of barrel-suppressed gunfire, along with the often bombastic voices of Tobias and Rutledge, as they sought to mold the non-coverts into some sort of cohesive fighting unit.
Many of the non-converts had prior military training, but none had experienced the level of preparedness that went into a SEAL unit. So after just a few days of training, it had become obvious that two short months would not be enough time to bring them up to speed. So instead, it was decided that the non-converts would be trained as support personnel, to be used in equipment maintenance, intelligence gathering and as reserve forces should the need arise.
Adam, Rutledge and Tobias had decided to only superficially plan on an integration of the other non-converts on Calamore into their forces. After all, they weren’t even certain any of them were still alive. The Chief was also quick to point out that even with a thousand additional bodies, these people may actually hinder their operations rather than help. SEALs normally operated in small, tight units, with their team skills honed to a very fine edge. Trying to integrate non-SEALs into actual combat operations could prove problematic.
Even so, a thousand-plus additional Humans couldn’t hurt, Adam reasoned, not in the environment he and Riyad described to the still skeptical SEALs. A thousand extra ‘supermen’ certainly was an intimidating thought. How exactly they would be utilized was more a mental exercise at this time rather than any real operational planning on their part.
Adam spent much of his time in the landing bay, working out with the other SEALs and firing real Human weapons, something he hadn’t done in quite awhile. He enjoyed the solid feel of the M4A1 in his hands, and reveled at the sure sound of the rounds being expelled, as well as the scent of gunpowder in the air. Tobias and his men had brought around a hundred-thousand rounds of ammunition with them in the two supply trucks, and even then, they had to be frugal in their use of training rounds.
Tobias had explained that Captain Allen would be developing a clandestine unit that would attempt to communicate with him and his group, as well as provide needed supplies as the war progressed. To further this goal, Adam had checked with Kaylor and found that the Juirean battleship carried in her an ample supply of encodable communication buoys. Almost immediately upon leaving the Earth, they had begun to drop these buoys at designated intervals along their path. If anything, Adam’s advance force would be able to communicate with Allen back on Earth. How the Captain would resupply them was anyone’s guess.
None of SEALs aboard had any idea how Captain Allen would create his undercover unit, right under the watchful eye of the Klin and the 2G’s, but if anyone could, it would be Nate Allen. It had also been agreed that the Klin would not be too supportive of a rear-action unit operating outside their control in Juirean territory. So besides attempting to soften up the Juirean lines for the Human forces, Adam’s unit would have to be ever-watchful for the Klin and their 2G surrogates. They were as much the enemy as the Juireans.
Chapter Forty-Three
The planet Earth was in shambles, yet with the help of the Human ‘Recruits,’ it was managing to recover quickly.
As promised, all the millions of fires raging across the planet had been extinguished in a matter of days after the attack. The largest of these fires had been snuffed out within two days, and over the preceding three weeks, power had been restored to the world, ample food was available, and shelters had gone up virtually overnight.
The surviving and traumatized inhabitants of the planet cried with thanks to their Saviors – as the recruits were now called, thanks mainly to the word ‘Savior’ emblazoned across the breast pocket of their light blue tunics. And then the survivors began the difficult task of burying their dead. The finally tally would never be one-hundred percent accurate, but the number was somewhere just over one billion souls. It was a number so large that no one could truly comprehend its reality. One-seventh of the entire population of the planet was dead, having been wiped out in a span of only four short hours.
Washington, D.C. had suffered catastrophic destruction, along with all the other major population centers around the world. However, the Juireans did not know the significance of the American capital. Fourteen bolts had landed within the city limits, but remarkably, the White House and the Pentagon had been spared any major damage. A bolt had struck on the east side of the Capitol, and that building now sat as a burned out hulk.
Not surprisingly, cities like New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro were the most heavily hit. Chicago and London had also suffered their fair share damage, while Los Angeles was spared almost completely, thanks to the fact that it was spread out over such a large area and that the bolts that struck there did not have specific targets to strike.
Almost immediately after the destruction of the Juirean fleet, the surviving leaders of the planet began to communicate – thanks to the Klin technology. A meeting was convened in D.C., at the Pentagon, within 18 days of the attack, with the Klin ambassador in attendance.
President Danny Ryan slammed the blue and white presidential coffee cup down upon the polished wood surface of the conference table, sending a deafening clap throughout the room. If it had not been for the fact that the cup was of a quality and thickness befitting the President, the cup would have surely shattered in his hand.
“I can’t believe this!” the President yelled. “After having been so savagely attacked by a force from off the planet, we are still squabbling over things like nationalities.”
Henri Balladur, the President of the French Republic, met Ryan’s steely stare with one of his own. “The Americans have dominated the world’s military command for long enough. Now that your country is as ineffectual as the rest of us, I see no reason for this practice to continue.”
“This has nothing to do with nationality, Henri, and everything to do with experience.”
“None of our military leaders have experience with fighting an alien foe,” the Frenchman countered.
“But it does have to with the planning and execution of military operations. Whether they’re against other Humans, or against aliens, the process is still the same. And how much experience does General Troyat have compared to Admiral Keller?”
“I just want to go on the record that I am against the appointment of another American to the position of Supreme Military Commander for the Earth’s forces. General Troyat would make a fine commander.”
“And in our defense, Admiral Keller has been involved in the planning and execution of over 200 major military operations in the past 10 years. None of the candidates placed for consideration have nearly that many. And he has access to the planet’s most advanced military technology—”
“Not anymore,” said the Russian Premier, Vladimir Gorin.
Exasperated, Ryan sat back in his chair and looked at the faces around the table. Even in light of such an incredible threat from outside, these politicians still couldn’t put aside their differences for the good of the Human race.
“I, for one, believe that this Supreme Commander should come from a country that suffered the most during the attack.” The Brazilian ambassador looked around the table to see if he could read any agreement on the faces of the others seated there. Not seeing many nods, he continued, “Brazil suffered the most loss as a percentage of its population as any country on Earth.”
“That was because most of your population was crowded into your coastal cities of Rio and Sao Paulo,” said the British Prime Minister, Bernard Conrad. “I believe we should follow President Ryan’s lead, and go with the most-experienced.”