The Human Chronicles Saga : Boxset #2 (The Human Chronicles Saga Boxsets)

by T. R. Harris

  Adam was a loss for words. He had to admit that if it had been himself on Elision for all those years, he would have done the same. Hell, he’d already begun the process during his brief time on Tel’or. It was just second nature to people like him, including McCarthy.

  “So you’re willing to help me get Riyad? Why? You’re a lying, backstabbing, son-of-a-bitch who certainly can’t be trusted. What’s changed, if anything?”

  “Let just say I would like to earn some goodwill points with the blokes back home.”

  “You’re a turncoat, one of the people responsible for a billion deaths when the Juireans attacked. I don’t think saving one person will earn you a pardon and a pat on the back.”

  “Probably not,” McCarthy agreed, nodding his head. “But combined with my warning about the Juireans, and the other intel I can provide, I might convince them to stop hunting me.”

  “We had stopped hunting you; we thought you were dead!”

  “That’s true, but at some point I would like to return home. If I do well here, then the powers that be might let me retire to some little island where I can anonymously disappear.”

  “Have you already cut the deal?”

  “Not yet. A lot of my bargaining power will come with a successful rescue of Tarazi and the information I’m willing to share with the Fleet.”

  “They won’t do it, even for Riyad and your intel. You are directly responsible for everything that’s gone bad for the Human race over the past fifteen, twenty years. There have been too many deaths.”

  Adam saw McCarthy’s face turn red. “You think I’m responsible for all that’s happened—is happening—even as we speak? You couldn’t be more bloody wrong! All the deaths, from both attacks on the Earth, have been your fault, not mine. You’re responsible for everything, Cain, not me.”

  “How do you figure?” Adam asked incredulously. He was stunned by the accusation. “You were the one who advised the Klin and orchestrated the abduction of thousands of people from the Earth. You’re the traitor that made it all possible.”

  Nigel leaned forward in the command chair. “Let me give you a brief history lesson, my friend. I was not the first, nor the only Human helping the Klin. And if you can recall, I, too was abducted by the fucking aliens. All I did was find a way to survive. And if I didn’t do what I did, they would have just found someone else. There was no shortage of people looking to gain favor with the Klin to assure their survival.”

  “That doesn’t change the fact that you helped the enemy. You knew the Klin were manipulating the Juireans into attacking us, and you even knew about the Kracori.”

  “I knew about the Juireans, but not the Kracori. The Klin kept that from me because they were using the Humans, not partnering with us as I had believed. I was deceived by them, just as you were.”

  “That still doesn’t absolve you for the deaths of a billion people. Nothing will.”

  Nigel laughed, a sarcastic, guttural laugh. “I’m not responsible for those deaths ... you are!”

  “Good try, McCarthy, but that’s not going to work—”

  “The Klin had a plan—a long-term plan—and it was you who disrupted it. It was you and your actions that led the Juireans to the Earth prematurely. You mucked up the Klin’s entire timetable and so they had to improvise. Deaths had always been planned on Earth—there had to be, as motivator—but not a billion, along with all the infrastructure destruction. The war was supposed to last longer, and the Kracori were to be brought along more slowly. But then you came on the scene and everything changed.”

  “I can’t see how I caused this. The Klin had planned all along for the Juirean attack on the Earth. I didn’t force them to do anything.”

  “You moved up their timetable. If you hadn’t, another thirty or forty years may have gone by. The Earth would have been better prepared for the attack, rather than having to rely on the Klin.”

  “An attack brought about by the Klin!”

  “I didn’t lead the Juireans to the Earth, Adam Cain, you did. And let’s look at what else you did that caused even more deaths.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “It was your bloody Cain Initiative.”

  “Again, bullshit, McCarthy. The Initiative got Humans back home, out of a situation we were ill-prepared to handle. It saved Humanity from becoming like the Juireans.”

  “That part it did, but it’s the other part I’m talking about.”

  Adam was growing frustrated and angry. He didn’t have time for this senseless banter. He was also sure that at any moment, Andy and Sherri would become worried and check in. And how would they react when they saw McCarthy?

  “What part are you talking about, mate!” Adam snapped back.

  “The part about making outlaws of the Klin and the Kracori. When you did that—and that was all you—the aliens had no choice but to attack the Earth first. You left them no option.”

  “We couldn’t let them get away with what they’d done. Is that what you’re proposing?”

  “Not entirely, but it would have been nice to use a little diplomacy. Instead you sentenced two entire races to extinction. They couldn’t reveal themselves, they couldn’t interact with other races, and they couldn’t even offer reparations for what they had done. You said we would track them down and we would kill them, when and wherever we found them. And then you deputized the entire Expansion into helping you.”

  When Adam was silent, Nigel continued.

  “What would we have done if the roles were reversed? What if our only chance for survival rested in our ability to destroy our tormentors ... and before they destroyed us? You know what we’d do. We would attack, without mercy and without warning. Our survival as a race would depend on it.”

  A hard, angry look turned McCarthy’s face to stone. “When you announced the bounty and the intentions of the Humans, I had no choice but to leave Elision. I was a Human with knowledge of the location of the Kracori homeworld. And when I did leave, it traumatized an entire race. They knew I would turn over the coordinates—and then their world would be destroyed.”

  “But you didn’t, not for three more years.” Adam managed to say. He felt weak; his heart pounding in his ears.

  “That’s right,” McCarthy said. “I may never have, until I was captured. But during the time before I did, the tension and paranoia within the Kracori were growing to the boiling point. They knew they had to act before we did. And even though the Klin were more insulated from your threat, they decided to help the Kracori eliminate their mutual enemy. With Humanity gone, both races would be free to reveal themselves, even the Klin. With the Juireans hunkered down at the far end of the galaxy, the Klin would finally be able to join the rest of the Expansion. But first, the Earth had to be destroyed. And it was all because of you, Adam Cain!”

  Adam didn’t know how to respond. He had heard the words when McCarthy asked what the Humans would have done if it were they with the death warrant. He began to sweat when the answer came: Exactly what the Kracori just did.

  Had Adam really initiated the series of events that had led to all those deaths? Was he, along with his short-sighted quest for revenge, responsible for it all?

  He gathered his composure as best he could. “Your theory sounds all neat and everything, but the Klin and Kracori have been out to destroy us from the beginning. We just happened to be better at war then they were. I admit, I may have forced their hand some, but eventually it would have come down to them or us. And after the Juirean attack on the Earth, and then the Kracori’s first attempt to nuke us, we had no choice but to do what we did.”

  Nigel took a deep breath. “In the history of my country, the bloody Germans lobed V-2 rockets down on London for months. They killed thousands of my countrymen, there and in Europe. And the Japanese, they attacked your Pearl Harbor—”

  “What point are you trying to make?” Adam interrupted, growing tired of the history lesson, as well as this entire line of conversation.


  “What I’m getting at is that eventually both our countries made friends of our enemies. Hell, even our two countries have fought two wars against each other. What I’m saying is that if the door had been left open for negotiations and compromise, you may have been surprised what the Kracori would have done to make amends. You may have been able to exact massive reparations out of them. I was on Elision when these options were being discussed. But before any overtures could be made, you get up before the entire galaxy and yell ‘Death to all Kracori and Klin!’ You didn’t even give them a chance. And now we’re here, with the Juireans about to crash the party, and I assume, the Humans ready to step in and clean up the mess after the two alien races slug it out. Is that the plan? It doesn’t take a military genius to figure that one out.”

  Adam was in such shock that he hardly noticed when Nigel slipped the .45 into a pocket of his waistcoat. He stood and approached Adam. “Mr. Cain, you have to believe me when I say I am truly sorry for what I just said, but you know it to be the truth. I do not blame you; you are a warrior and that is how you approach these things. But the diplomats back on Earth should have foreseen this and not let the death warrant go out. But that is all water under the bridge. I stand before you now as a partner, as a comrade with a common goal. I have brought you a ship that can get you into Elision space—thanks to our fat Silean’s unlimited bank account—and with the means to get us to the surface of the planet and find Tarazi. I assume you still have your secret weapon, your mind-control device, so affecting a rescue should be child’s play for you and your team of SEALs. Whatever my assistance will buy me with the people back home, that remains to be seen. But let’s bury that hatchet and work as one.”

  Nigel actually placed a hand on Adam’s slumping shoulder. “I promise not speak about my theory on current and recent events to your team. The time to place blame is over. Now we must deal with the present. I’m offering you my help. All you have to do is accept it.”

  Adam rose to his feet, weakened and humiliated by the words he now had emblazoned in his mind. He looked into Nigel’s blue eyes, knowing that even though he may not speak of this again, Adam would be haunted by the revelation, probably for the rest of his life.

  He looked down to see Nigel’s offered hand. He reached out to grasp it—just as Sherri Valentine and Andy Tobias burst onto the bridge. The look of utter shock on their faces came from two sources: One from seeing Nigel McCarthy alive; and two, from the sight of Adam and McCarthy shaking hands.

  86

  It took a full hour for Adam to convince Sherri and Andy that he hadn’t gone insane, and that the best chance they had of getting Riyad back alive was to have McCarthy join the team. The three other SEALs—Tobias, Master Chief Rutledge and John Tindal—only knew McCarthy by reputation, but Sherri had firsthand experience with him. She was the hardest to convince.

  In the end, they all came to a tense agreement. The operation to rescue Riyad couldn’t last longer than ten days; five days transit time to the Shield, and then a maximum of another five to reach Elision, find Riyad and get him out. If it took any longer than that, then they were all in a world of shit.

  Sherri and Tobias agreed to tolerate the arrangement for those ten days, if it meant a better chance of saving Riyad. But after that, McCarthy would part company with the team, and hopefully never cross their path again.

  McCarthy remained onboard the native ship—native to a race of beings called the Volseen—to prepare for launch. The three other Humans returned to the Formilian ship to secure a transport vehicle to transfer their gear and belongings. It was a pretty good bet that they would be abandoning the Formilian ship on Tel’or. Once they had Riyad, the team would beat feet out of the Nebula by the fastest route possible avoiding Tel’or altogether.

  With the tensions running so high on Tel’or, Adam and the other two Humans wore lose-fitting hooded cloaks to hide their race of origin. With the planet about to ally with the Kracori at any moment, being one of the feared and dreaded invaders could prove dangerous.

  It was about dusk by the time they reached the western spaceport and as they approached the main gate, they encountered a massive crowd of very agitated Tel’orans blocking the entrance. There was a line of transports waiting to get in, and Adam joined the line about a hundred yards from the gate.

  He lowered a window and asked a native who was watching the demonstration from a safe distance what was happening. Adam’s face was hidden in the shadows of the cloak and the approaching night.

  “The Guild has announced their support for the Kracori,” the worried native said. “All vessels are being confiscated to assist in the defense of the Nebula. Many of the spacers are upset.”

  “I can imagine why,” Adam said. “No ships are being allowed to leave?”

  “Only some Outer vessels with the proper documentation. All Nebula and Guild ships are to remain grounded. I’m afraid there will be a riot soon.”

  “I thought siding with the Kracori would save the Nebula?” Adam commented, trying to ferret out the feelings of the common person on the planet.

  “That may be so, but not everyone is of the same belief. The stories of the Human horde coming this way have frightened many. Those with spaceships available have options. Others like me and my bloodline do not.”

  The Tel’oran then turned to look more closely at Adam, who slipped further back into the shadows of the transport.

  “Do you have a vessel in the port? I can see you are not Tel’oran. Are you an Outer?”

  “Formilian,” Adam said.

  “Ah, you should have received clearance—if you can get into the port. Do you have room for a paying passenger aboard your ship? I do not have much, but what I have is yours.”

  “I’m afraid my government is aligned with the Kracori as well,” Adam lied. “We will not be departing anytime soon.”

  The Tel’oran looked thoroughly defeated. “Then I will seek to join in the service of the Nebula. If we are to die, I would prefer to do so defending my home.”

  “A noble attitude, my friend. I wish you the best of luck.” Now move away from the car before you draw attention to us.

  Admiral Tobias leaned forward from his position in the rear seat. “We’re not going to get the gear moved to the other spaceport, not in this mess. And it’s a good bet that the same protest is going on back at the eastern port by now.”

  “And McCarthy’s ship is a Nebula-based ship,” Sherri added. “They’re not going to let it off the surface.” There was panic in her voice.

  Adam noticed a large transport pass the line of stopped vehicles carrying a cargo of Tel’or soldiers or police wearing black leather outfits and cradling flash rifles in their laps. This truck was followed by two more.

  “Here come the troops,” he said. “It looks like they mean to enforce the decree.”

  “What are we going to do?” Sherri asked, her voice an octave higher than only a moment before.

  “We can’t let the military take control of the port,” Tobias stated. “We need a diversion.”

  “Exactly, Admiral,” Adam said. “Some chaos could go a long way to starting a panic, with every ship that can then heading for the stars.”

  “How are you going to do that?” Sherri asked.

  Adam grimaced in the deep shadows of early evening on Tel’or. “It’s going to get bloody, but I don’t see an alternative.”

  Adam accessed his ATD and attempted to communicate with the rest of his team on the Formilian ship. All he got back in return was silence. They were still out of range. He opened the door to the transport and climbed out. The others followed. They all took out their MK’s and checked the battery status.

  “When the first explosions begin head for the ship. Everyone will be running by then. Just act as panicked as the rest.”

  “That’ll be easy,” Sherri said. She knew what Adam was about to do and she saw no alternative as well.

  The trio began to force their way through the crowd toward
the main gate. The three troop trucks were just arriving there as well, having threaded their way through the gathering demonstrators. Even over the din of the crowd, a series of high-pitched sounds could be heard coming from the backs of the troops trucks. The sounds grew ever higher in pitch and intensity until they could hardly be tolerated by those closest to the trucks.

  The first flash weapons exploded as Adam—through his ATD—separated the firing control from the rail system of the weapons and let the charge build up in a dynamo effect. The exploding flash rifles were like grenades going off in the middle of the Tel’oran troops, effectively killing nearly every soldier in the vehicles. Flames soared high, and shrapnel rained down on the stunned demonstrators.

  Panic—along with the desired chaos—spread among the thousands of beings near the gate. Having just seen the Tel’oran military forces reduced to body parts, everyone ran for safety, not knowing whether the area was under attack by Humans, or if insurgents were present. Most of the crowd consisted of crew for the vessels in port, and they began a headlong stampede toward their ships. There may have been a restriction against lifting off, but at the time there was no one around to enforce it.

  The three Humans barreled through the panicked masses, aided by their incredible speed in the light gravity and by the power of their bodies. Aliens flew out of their wake like the running of the bulls in Pamplona, and soon they were at their ship.

  “Get us out of here, Trimen!” Adam projected through his ATD as the three Humans entered the ship.

  “Where to?” came the immediate reply.

  “Anywhere. Just off the surface.”

  Adam sprinted for the pilothouse. Once there, he slid into the comm station as a deep rumble filled the ship. They were lifting off in a blaze of chemical exhaust. Adam chanced a quick look out the forward viewport, only to see a few unfortunate bodies being blasted away in the exhaust cloud. Then he saw multiple exhaust clouds, as other ships began to liftoff, themselves frying any aliens unlucky enough to be near the exhaust ports.