Cain's Crusaders

by T. R. Harris

  Unfortunately, these main space routes were often located many hundreds of light years away from the most straight-line path to a destination. Even then, the transits were faster than navigating the more-densely populated interstellar systems using shallow-well generation.

  Adam’s ship, on the other hand, could zip along the most direct path, whether it be right through the middle of a star system or not. The secret lie in the Phoenix’ powerful array of multiple focusing rings and generators, which allowed extremely deep-wells to be created in close proximity to the ship – essentially at nose-length – that the effect of the wells on surrounding space was greatly reduced.

  Adam knew it was a cliché, but the Phoenix – as well as her sister ship the Pegasus – were the two fastest ships in the galaxy!

  Three years before, Adam and his fellow Humans had scouted a heavy-gravity world in a star system about ninety light years from Juir from which to establish their new base. The planet was called Pyrum-3 and it was populated by an intelligent species of bulky, four-legged creatures with two short arms, who looked a lot like the Minotaurs of Greek legend. Unfortunately, their three-finger hands limited their ability to advance very far technologically, and so they had never been fully incorporated into the Expansion, either Old or New. The natives were swift-moving beasts – like graceful steeds – as well as very gentle and passive.

  Adam’s team had setup the small base on an isolated island on the planet, which guaranteed they would not interfere with the activities of the natives. The arrangement seemed to work out quite well, since it was simply the gravity of Pyrum-3 that the Humans craved and nothing more. Rated at Earth-normal, the surface gravity of the planet allowed the Humans to maintain muscle mass and bone density, while also enjoying the wide open spaces of a real world, and not the claustrophobic confinement of a gravity-controlled spaceship.

  The island-base complex consisted of three main buildings, as well as a number of small utility shacks. The living quarters for the Force-One operatives were located in a conical-shaped wedge of polyurethane foam and steel-frame with over twelve-thousand square feet of interior space. There were nine separate apartments, complete with kitchens and private baths, and each offering wide picture windows overlooking the tropical green and blue waters surrounding the island. Each apartment also had an extended deck, where the Humans had placed lounge chairs and gas barbeques. Just because they lived on a planet twenty-thousand light years from Earth didn’t mean they couldn’t enjoy the finer things in life….

  A second, even larger building housed the Phoenix and her sistership, the Pegasus, along with all the required maintenance equipment and other assorted support facilities. Eighteen members of the Diaspolean race helped maintain the ships, even though they could only shuttle down to the planet from an orbiting station for work-shifts of nine hours at a time. The oppressive gravity of Pyrum-3 was just too great for them to tolerate any longer.

  The third building contained the operational nerve center of the Force-One Enforcement Inter-Department (FOEID) of the New Expansion. Although the ‘official’ administration headquarters for the Force was located on Juir within the Intelligence Inter-department complex, it was from Pyrum-3 that the very few select agents of the Force operated.

  And very few there were. From the original four Humans – consisting of Adam, Riyad Tarazi, Sherri Valentine and Lee Schwartz – they had added only two more operatives to their ranks in the intervening thirty-four months since the inception of the Force. They were Captain Mark Henderson and Sergeant-Major Jamal Dawson, expatriated Humans who had remained behind when the rest of Humanity had returned to the Far Arm of the galaxy. Both were former Army Special Forces, and brought with them a level of expertise Adam’s small band sorely needed. With no other SEALs remaining besides Adam, he found the comradeship of the Rangers to be very comforting.

  Both Henderson and Dawson had arrived in the Expansion with the last surge of military personnel sent from Earth four years earlier. At that time, they had little more to do than drill and participate in ‘show-the-flag’ events throughout the Expansion. No one at that time seemed too anxious to challenge the Humans for leadership of the galaxy, so their military skills were never called into play.

  When the time came for the Humans to return to the Far Arm, Henderson and Dawson still hadn’t satisfied their need for interstellar adventure. So instead of returning home, they remained on Juir serving in a private-security capacity until recruited by Adam and the Crusaders.

  Not as experienced in the ways of the alien galaxy as Adam, Riyad or Sherri, the two soldiers were more on the experience level of Lee Schwartz. Lee had been a Commander in the Navy at the time of the war, an aviator who had participated in Humanity’s initial thrust into Juirean space almost ten years before. The Human-Juirean war had culminated in the defeat of not only the Juireans, but also the Kracori and the Klin, thanks mainly to Lee’s command of the Human ‘Shadow Fleet’ and its attack of the Juirean forces off the double-star system of Falor-Kapel.

  Even though he had participated in numerous battles during the war, Lee’s exposure to the alien-universe-at-large had been limited the controls of a Klin KFV-A spacecraft, not even seeing an alien in the flesh until he and the bulk of the Human forces had arrived on the ravaged planet of Juir.

  So in reality, half of Adam’s small contingent of not-so-secret agents had very little experience interacting with alien cultures. Fortunately for them, the Crusaders were not tasked with performing subtle and sensitive diplomatic missions. Instead, they were the head-bashers, the last resort before the body bags where brought in. In this regard, Adam’s new recruits had all the experience the job required.

  A day later Pyrum-3 expanded in the forward viewport until it dominated the scene. Adam was at the controls of the Phoenix, and he angled the sleek, delta-shaped spacecraft through the thick atmosphere, choosing to come in low over the myriad of tropical coral islands that dotted the vast gulf of warm green and blue water where his island-base was located.

  As he neared his destination, he could see vast swatches of brilliant white sand forming a shallow shield around the island, before giving way to a ragged circle of reefs that protected an inner lagoon of crystal clear water. The island itself was dominated by the prominent peak of a long-dormant volcano, now completely shrouded in thick, green vegetation, and often dressed in low-lying, rain-filled clouds.

  The scene reminded Adam so much of the South Pacific island of Bora Bora – or at least pictures he’d seen of it. He’d never been there himself, but had always considered the island to be the closest thing to paradise he could image. This was also one of the reasons he’d selected this location for his base. Anywhere on the planet would have fulfilled the basic need for appropriate gravity and atmosphere, but this island made life in an alien universe just a bit more tolerable.

  Using chemical drive, Adam set the Phoenix down on the vast concrete landing pad outside the hangar building. Once the hot exhaust had dissipated, a contingent of Diaspoleans lumbered out of the building, some carrying small monitoring equipment. The poor creatures could never move comfortably in the gravity of Pyrum-3, something Adam had come to accept over the months. Unfortunately, he had not found another race of creatures who could fully tolerate the gravity of an Earth-normal world and who also had the skills for mechanical maintenance. Until that time, the Diaspoleans were it.

  Soon a tractor would emerge from the expanse of the hangar and pull the ship inside, where the chemical engines would be refueled and new gravity generator power modules would be installed. The ship could be turned around for action in as little as five hours, but with no new missions pressing, the Diaspoleans could take their time refitting the ship. Besides, Adam wasn’t too anxious to head right back out, not without a break.

  That was unless Sherri’s jokes regarding his checkerboard face became too much to handle.

  Adam and Riyad commandeered a small golf cart-like vehicle for the short drive to their per
sonal quarters. They slid up under the shell-shaped structure and took the elevator to the top floor.

  All the apartments were of the same size and layout and the only thing that set them apart was where along the curve of the shell they were placed. As the ranking officer in the small unit, Adam should have logically chosen the center unit, the one whose deck was bordered by those from the apartments to either side. Instead, Adam chose the unit to the far left.

  Even though Riyad’s adjoining deck was to the right of his, the view to the left was unobstructed, encompassing the vast ocean of gentle rolling swells, along with a parade of green, white and blue waters. This was Adam’s sanctuary. Having spent so much of his life back on Earth either on the ocean or the shore, when he gazed out on the sea of Pyrum-3, he was reminded of his real home.

  The conflicted emotions he often felt while sitting in a padded lounge chair on his deck were not healthy. Most times, he was a basket-case of jumbled up homesickness and regret. He knew he didn’t have to stay here any longer than he chose to, and at any time he could bug-out back to Earth. And that was where the conflict often arose.

  The Earth of his upbringing was gone, replaced now by a smaller version of the planet Juir and its native population’s boundless desire for empire. Over the four thousand years it took to build the Expansion, the Juireans had lost their identity to the lust for power and control. They built a galactic empire of over eight thousands worlds, bringing a form of civilization to the disparate cultures of the Milky Way, and yet it came at a tremendous cost.

  Since the Juireans had developed their Expansion over all those millennia, they were not aware of what was happening to their culture along the way. As the Expansion grew, and the responsibilities of governing a galaxy became more and more complex, the Juireans became slaves to their own success. They lived to serve the Expansion, and the Expansion demanded so much from the Juireans.

  Never saints to begin with, the Juireans became emotionless automatons, even dispensing with traditional means of mating and the raising offspring. They developed a vast, impersonal breeding system designed to produce as many Juirean administrators as possible needed to govern their vast empire. To the Juireans, they saw this as a necessary evolution, required in order to fulfill their manifest destiny, and for the Juireans, the system worked. But for the Humans, it was different, at least initially.

  Once the Humans had defeated the Juireans – as well as all their other sundry opponents in the war – they overnight assumed control of an eight-thousand world empire. With absolutely no time to grow into their new role as leaders of the galaxy, Humanity soon because a chaotic mess of desperate and often wrong-headed attempts to replace the Juireans. Never a race lacking in confidence, the power-hungry politicians and business leaders of Earth refused to accept the fact that they may have bitten off more than they could chew. The lure of ruling over an entire galaxy was just too juicy of a prospect to pass up – at least without trying.

  Within months of the defeat of the Juireans, the entire social and governmental structure of Earth changed. Borders fell, while individual governments were absorbed into the more ubiquitous Planetary Governing Authority – the PGA – which sought to coordinate all the efforts Humanity was experimenting with in their vain attempt to keep the Expansion from falling into total collapse. As a single planet, completely unprepared for the task, every able-bodied Human was essentially drafted into some kind of work related to governing the galaxy, just as had happened to the Juireans.

  Adam was welcomed back to his home planet as a hero. Innumerable books and films were made detailing his exploits among the stars, many exaggerated to the point of absurdity. Soon he was the most-recognized person on the planet.

  Yet all this fame stole from him the things he craved most – privacy and peace. The time he spent on his home planet became unbearable.

  Seven years after the close of the war, things had only gotten worse. The galaxy, as well as the planet Earth, was even a more chaotic mess, a disaster of incomparable depth and dimension.

  About that time, Adam and some of the more reasoned minds on the planet began to look for an exit strategy. Things couldn’t continue along the path they were headed, otherwise they would end up just as the Juireans – or worse.

  During this time, there had been an extended honeymoon period between the Earth and the other members of the Expansion, and few were willing to challenge the Humans for leadership of the Expansion. After all, this was the savage, primitive race from the mysterious Far Arm that had defeated not only the Juireans, but also the mythical Klin and the relatively unknown Kracori race. What the Humans lacked in governing prowess, they definitely made up for in fighting skills and natural physical superiority to most other races in the galaxy. So the members of the Expansion decided to take a wait-and-see posture with the Humans.

  Yet after seven years, the honeymoon was just about over, and that was when The Cain Initiative was introduced to the Expansion. Even though the plan carried his name, Adam was not its primary author, even if he did whole-heartily support it.

  The Initiative came as a shock to the galaxy: The Humans were leaving, essentially saying to all the members of the Expansion, take your empire and shove it! Humanity hadn’t asked for this role; it was they who had been attacked, unilaterally and without warning. It was too bad the attackers themselves became the victims of Humanity’s skills and savagery. They should have thought twice before taking on the Humans….

  So Humanity left, turning over control of the Expansion to a small, interim government led by Kroekus of Silea.

  That had been almost four years ago.

  Back on Earth, the situation that The Cain Initiative was meant to resolve had not gotten much better. The politicians and the business leaders still sought power and wealth. The planet had been fundamentally changed over the seven years that Humanity had ruled the Expansion until there was no going back. The savages from Earth would still seek empire, but they would do so in their own backyard – the Far Arm of the galaxy.

  So the PGA remained in control; Human warships continued to be built and starship crews and stellar diplomats were trained and sent out into space. And soon Earth’s own mini-Expansion within the territory of the Far Arm began to grow.

  As Adam entered his apartment, he dropped his go-bag on the nearest couch and proceeded directly to the sliding door leading to the deck. The warm Pyrumese sun bathed his skin, its heat mitigated by the fresh breeze blowing in from the ocean. He walked to the rail and looked out. The open sky above and the vastness of the sea beyond were cathartic – he had been cooped up inside the confines of the Phoenix for far too long.

  The view from his deck reminded him of home, but of a home that no longer existed, and this was the reason for his conflict. Even if he did return to the land of the Humans, it would be to a completely different place than his memories. He would not be left alone, with all the peoples of Earth concerned only with the building of their own stellar empire and glorifying any past conquering heroes. It would be same back home as it was within the Expansion of today, only with Humans instead of aliens all clamoring, complaining and scurrying about in a frenetic rush.

  And yet the Expansion itself was on the verge of total collapse, and everyone knew it. Although Kroekus was a genius as organization and diplomatic strategy, he was no miracle worker. He was facing the same issues the Humans had faced, namely extremely high expectations from Expansion members and absolutely no time allowed for fulfillment of those expectations. Every day, a dozen or more additional worlds proclaimed their independence from the Expansion, deciding to either go it alone or to affiliate with some smaller, yet more regional union of planets or self-interests.

  Kroekus was mostly powerless to stop them. What he was more concerned with was keeping the existing members of the New Expansion satisfied enough not to bolt, and that primarily revolved around security and protection against the more belligerent moves by the independent worlds around them.

/>   The Juirean Expansion had once been divided into twenty-four sectors spread throughout the galaxy. Now those sectors were nothing more than lines on a map. While whole sections of the former Juirean Expansion could be either independent or loyal to the New Expansion, there were others where the entire sector was a mix of independent and loyal worlds, often even among neighboring star systems.

  Kroekus had his hands full, and in a small measure, he relied on the members of Adam’s Force-One Enforcement Inter-Department to help smooth out some of the rough edges. No longer concerned with what the independent worlds would think of his actions, Kroekus had decided to take whatever measures necessary to keep the remaining members happy. The independents had chosen their own path, and if that meant having to suffer the often unconventional and bloody consequences of Cain’s Crusaders, then so be it. The independents would probably never again rejoin the Expansion, so their well-being was of no concern to Kroekus – or to Adam for that matter.

  Yes, Adam Cain was a lost soul, lost in a galaxy of strange alien cultures and creatures often nightmarish in description. Yet returning to his home would not be any better.

  And so he remained, absorbed in the job he had to do, distracted by anything that would take his mind off his situation and his melancholy. So the view from his deck was an illusion, yet one that helped him remain sane and better-suited to face a reality he had never asked for in the first place.