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

by T. R. Harris

  And escape they did. Further data showed how the alien spaceship had bolted through the atmosphere of Elision at a rate far higher than thought possible, and then once clear, had warped space to such a degree that the spacecraft had essentially vanished from the monitors. No known spacecraft was capable of such speeds, and especially not within a stellar system. And yet no residual gravitational effects were tracked from the passage of the craft.

  Even through his anger, as well as the pain in his arm, the existence of such a craft worried Nomar to the core. This signaled a major breakthrough in propulsion technology, and worst of all, it was present in a Human-controlled spaceship.

  Unfortunately, Langril Nomar only had a few moments to contemplate the consequences of a Human fleet comprised of superships within the overall scheme of events taking place within the Nebula. His military commanders had suddenly become very agitated and were now demanding his attention.

  The monitoring equipment within his capital building was now in shambles, and Nomar had not had an update on the battle being waged at the head of the Volseen Corridor for nearly three hours. Now the commanders were anxious to fill him in, and they looked nervous as they began.

  Command-Tactician Galix Junin was the supreme military commander on the planet Elision. In the hierarchy of the Kracori power structure, he was only four steps below the Langril, with the other two positions held solely within the Ludif Council. Nomar joined Galix, as well as about a dozen other ranking officers, in the Combat Planning Center.

  “Update, Tactician,” Nomar commanded. “I have to assume you have carried on even through the turmoil that has transpired recently.”

  “Of course, my Ludif. I will show you where we stand at this moment.” Galix stepped up to the large screen in the CPC displaying the battle at the entrance to the Volseen Corridor in a dynamic and stark reality.

  At first, all Nomar could see was mish-mash of clustered targets, both allied and Juirean. “Is the battlefield in such disarray intentionally? I fail to see a pattern.”

  “The battle has not gone exactly according to plan, my Ludif,” Galix admitted.

  Nomar’s mouth fell open. In light all that had happened recently, this was not news he could handle graciously. “Do not delay, Galix, complete your report!” he barked at his senior military officer.

  There was only a moment’s delay as Galix composed himself after the Langril’s outburst; the Command-Tactician was not some common underling of the Langril’s, and therefore was not accustomed to such a disrespectful tone. “It appeared at first that the Juireans would pursue the allies into their systems as planned, yet that has not transpired. Rather, they sent out a screen of small, very fast vessels along the Volseen side of the Corridor and then passed large numbers of their capital ships through before they could be stopped.”

  “The Juireans have entered the Void?” Nomar could not remain seated. He jumped up and neared the large monitor. “How many?”

  “Most, my Ludif,” Galix answered. “With many traveling along one side of the Corridor, the opposite side defenders could not get there in time to assist those within the Volsee system. And the small Juirean units forming the screen have proved to be more suicidal than true warcraft. The allied units have suffered extraordinary losses to these small ships.”

  “Have we not stopped any of their capital ships?”

  “Some, yet most of the larger Juirean ships are electing not to engage the allies, but rather enter to the Void on full power.”

  “Where are the Juireans now?”

  Galix highlighted a section of the screen at the lower right with a control stick. “They are regrouping near Naylic.”

  “And what of the Nebula forces? They are pursuing are they not?”

  “Yes, my Ludif, yet the Juirean ships are faster. If they choose not to engage the defenders, then the Juireans can advance on Elision with clear space before them.”

  “Clear except for Kracori forces, Tactician!” Nomar exclaimed. “When will you move to engage?”

  “My staff is working on the strategy at this time, my Ludif. The original plan of leading the surviving Juirean units to our killing zones is no longer viable. The Juireans will be too strong to be guided. And it also appears that they have a singular goal of reaching Elision in the shortest time possible, even with massive forces in pursuit.”

  “To what end, Galix?” Nomar asked as he studied the screen with more understanding than before. “With the combined forces of the Kracori and our allies, the Juireans will be bottled in, with no path for retreat.”

  “That is correct,” Galix stated flatly.

  A moment later the implication of the Juirean strategy became clear to Nomar. “They intend to fight to the last ship?”

  “They have left themselves with no other option,” the Tactician added.

  “Have you analyzed scenarios for this strategy?”

  “Not completely, my Ludif. Yet it does not take much analysis to conclude that both sides will suffer catastrophic losses. Command had not planned for the Juireans to sacrifice their entire fleet to defeat us. That is not how they have fought in the past.”

  “Galix, I need alternatives, and quickly. There must be a way to defeat the Juireans.”

  “Langril Nomar, we will defeat the Juirean fleet; that is inevitable. We will emerge as the victors in this new series of battles.” Galix paused and then looked directly into the eyes of the supreme Kracori. “However, we will be only a shadow of what we once were before the engagement. The toll will be tragic, and we will survive with a fleet about as large that of the Volsee or the Tel’orans.”

  Nomar felt a cold shiver pass through his body. A new thought had just invaded his consciousness. He had to speak the words, even though he knew the answer even before asking the question. “What of the Humans? They are only a few months away. Can we rebuild our fleet in time?” He didn’t feel this was the time to tell the Tactician about the supership the Human Adam Cain was now in control of. There were far more pressing issues facing them all in the present.

  “We will not be able to mount an effective defense against them. It had already been determined that the Humans possess a superior fleet to the Juireans. And now after this ... we will have nothing with which to counter them. I am sorry, my Ludif, but the Kracori race will not survive the coming Human invasion.”

  Nomar Polimic, Langril of the Kracori race, fell back into his seat. He no longer felt the throbbing pain in his broken arm. In fact, he felt nothing. He was numb—exhausted, defeated and numb.

  He had just been told his race would be exterminated, to be relegated to the back pages of galactic history, if even that. He tried to raise his anger level when he thought of the root cause of their demise, but he had not the energy left for such an emotion. It was the Klin. They had approached the Kracori hundreds of years before, infecting them with their promises of galactic domination—the ultimate expression of Kracori Legend. Without the interference of the Klin, the Kracori would have lived out their natural existence safely hidden within the Dysion Void, unconcerned with the vagaries of galactic politics and ambitions. But now they would suffer the ultimate loss of Legend: the complete destruction of their race. And they could do nothing except watch it happen.

  And where were the Klin now at the Kracori’s hour of need? Where?

  108

  The dozen unmanned probes launched from the Klin Colony fanned out toward the source of the Shield disturbance, their miniature gravity drives designed to barely register on magnetometers and other such scanning devices.

  Senior sensor tech Simiss had used his authority to dispatch the drones, up to the maximum he was allowed without approval from his superiors. He was taking a chance sending out even this small number, since the Void was now filling rapidly with dangerous forces, and any detection of the Colony could prove catastrophic. The fact that he sent them in the opposite direction from where most of the activity was taking place offered him some comfort. After all, t
here was nothing in this section of the Void, no major stars, no habitable planets. This area truly was a void, and it was the reason the Klin had selected this part of space to hide their Colony, in notorious defiance of the forces seeking to destroy them, and right in the backyard of the traitorous Kracori.

  Pleabaen Wesselian Velsum had been experiencing an incredible amount of anxiety recently. As the leader of the Klin Colony, he blamed himself for the circumstances that now found him and his fellow Klin still cloistered deep within the Dysion Void, essentially prisoners and unable to escape.

  With all the vast resources at their disposal with regards to intelligence gathering, Velsum had allowed the Klin to be caught flat-footed with the arrival of the Juirean fleet. Even though they had learned of the fleet’s intentions long before it arrived at the Silvean Nebula, by that time the Kracori and their newfound allies had effectively closed off the Volseen Corridor before the Klin could make their escape.

  The plans for the departure had been in the works for many years, only accelerated now by two recent developments. The first was the Kracori failure to fully eradicate the Human race on Earth. Even though the Humans had suffered another unimaginable loss of life during the attack, they still emerged as a powerful force, and now reenergized by the sly and duplicitous act. The Humans were coming for the Kracori, and the Klin did not want to be anywhere in the area when they arrived.

  The second was the chance discovery of the Colony by a rogue Guild trader a few months back. He had come innocently enough, seeking out new markets for his wares. Yet even though the Klin did not reveal their true identity to the trader—and the record of the encounter had been erased from the databank of the trader’s ship—the Tel’oran could still spread news of the discovery by word-of-mouth, if he chose to do so.

  At the time, the Klin hadn’t worried too much about the encounter, fully intending to be out of the Void and well on the way to their new hiding place by the time any news of this mysterious contact became public. Yet the premature arrival of the Juireans did not allow that to happen.

  Now the Klin would do their best to remain hidden in this faraway region of the Void, while the three main antagonists in the galaxy destroyed each other in a spectacular show of bravado and stupidity.

  Depending on how thorough the destruction of the Kracori, Juireans and the Humans, it was the Klin who would be the last surviving superpower in the galaxy. It had taken four thousand years to reach this point in history, and although much of what was transpiring at this time was not of Klin design, Velsum was ready to take advantage of circumstances as they were offered.

  All he had to do now was to keep the Colony from being detected, at least for another month or so. After that, the Klin would proudly announce their presence to the galaxy.

  And it was this nearing of the ultimate timetable for the Klin’s final salvation that was causing his excess anxiety. There was just too much at stake not to worry.

  “Where to, boss?” Andy Tobias asked as the Kracori pursuers continued to fade far away.

  Adam was standing behind Kaylor in the pilot seat, wondering the same thing. “Trying to get through the Corridor is out of the question, at least until the Juireans and Kracori get done screwing with each other.” He turned to Ruszel Crin, the Tel’oran pilot who had guided Riyad into the Void a few months before. “There are other ways in and out of the Void, aren’t there?”

  Ruszel considered him for a moment, scanning up and down his bloodied and grim-covered body. “I have to assume you are the Adam Cain the others speak of?”

  “Yep, now what have you got for me?”

  “There are many ways for an individual ship to make it through the Shield. The problem has always come from larger and multiple craft passing through. Too much disruption of the material making up the Shield for a safe passage and immediately upon the transit, the passage closes up again.”

  “But you got Riyad and Kaylor through.”

  “Yes, I did, and I can do it for you as well. There is a relatively thin region of the Shield where I can attempt transit. It is not where I brought Kaylor through; that region is now much too close to the action within the Void. It is the location where I brought in Riyad.”

  “Where’s that?”

  “I will send the coordinates to Kaylor. He can take us to the Shield, however I will have to pilot the ship through.”

  “Great.” Adam turned to Kaylor. “You know where we’re going?”

  Kaylor considered the coordinates just sent to his computer. He projected them on a graphic of the Dysion Void. “Yes, Adam, a distant, unpopulated region far away from the fighting.”

  “I like the sound of that. It will be good to relax a little without the whole universe trying to kill us. Take us there, Kaylor. And now, I really have to take a shower.”

  “Yes, you truly must,” Kaylor agreed, his nostrils twitching.

  That’s a first, Adam thought. An alien complaining about the smell!

  109

  Langril Nomar Polimic had several residences where he could have moved to after his accommodations within the Citadel had been destroyed. Instead, he chose to remain in the military headquarters complex, in one of the large, luxurious apartments reserved for the highest ranking Kracori officers. With so much to think about, he did not want to be lulled into a false sense of security by surrounding himself with all the decadent trappings of his office.

  He paced the room, trying his best to find a solution to the gravest crisis to ever face his race. He agreed that by looking only at the short term the Kracori would come out ahead in the looming battle with the Juireans, even if at a tremendous cost in personnel and material. And that would have been an acceptable tradeoff ... if it were not for the Humans.

  And where are the Klin? They had always been acutely aware of all that was transpiring within the galaxy, yet Nomar had not heard a word from them in over three months. He firmed his jaw and walked to the huge desk that was located in the office alcove of the executive suite. He picked up a comm pad and began pressing the secret code that only a Langril of the Kracori would know.

  The Klin and Kracori had still not fully reconciled over their last disagreement, and still they had teamed to help eradicate the Human threat from both their lives. However, since the failed attempt on the Earth, there had been no communication between the two leaders. Yet Nomar did have a way of contacting the Klin Pleabaen Wesselian Velsum.

  When the Continuous-Wormhole link was established, Nomar switched the communication to a video monitor on the desk. He sat in a large chair and leaned forward toward the screen.

  His counterpart within the Klin race appeared. Velsum was pale-skinned, and with a strange luster to his flesh that often caused his race to be called silver in color. They accentuated this effect by almost always wearing garments white in color, or with a translucent sheen.

  “Langril Nomar, I have been expecting your link.”

  “Then why have you not initiated one of your own? You must know what is transpiring within the Void. Where are you?” Nomar was in no mood for the dance most politicians engage in ad nauseam.

  “We are far away, and yes, we are aware of the Juireans within your midst.”

  “Can you help?”

  “I am confused, Nomar,” said the Klin, frowning. “I have been informed that your forces will defeat the Juireans.”

  “Yet then the Humans will be upon us, and we will not be able to mount a defense. Surely you must be thinking beyond just this current conflict?”

  Velsum hesitated before answering; Nomar could detect a trace of impatience in the Klin’s gestures. “The Human situation is a difficult one.”

  “I am fully aware of that, Pleabaen. My question is can the Klin render any assistance?”

  The Klin nodded slightly. Nomar knew already that the meaning of this movement was the opposite as one might expect. Velsum had just indicated a negative.

  “The Klin are not a race who engage in direct combat. We have
always been the ones to provide technical and strategical support.”

  “Just as you did for our attack on Earth? That support proved to be lacking.”

  “We had not counted on the effectiveness of the defense orchestrated by Adam Cain.”

  Nomar’s insides tightened at the mention of the Human’s name. He debated whether to inform the Klin leader that he had had Adam Cain in his custody, and out of a warped sense of bravado, had not killed him when he had the chance.”

  As if reading the Langril’s mind, Velsum spoke: “You should have killed him when the opportunity first presented itself.”

  “Ah! So you do have spies on Elision!”

  “Of course we do, as we do on nearly every important world with the Nebula and the Expansion.”

  “And on Earth; do you know when the Human fleet is expected?”

  Velsum hesitated slightly once more. “To be honest, we have not been able to discern. After your failed attack on the planet, our sources have either lost their valuable contacts, or else the Humans are keeping their plans within a very narrow universe.”

  “So you will not provide material support for a defense against the Humans and you cannot provide an insight into when they will arrive? Is that correct?”

  “I am afraid we have no other choice. The Klin are not violent beings—”

  “And yet you manipulate others into doing the fighting for you!”

  “The Kracori have been willing participants since the beginning.”

  “It was not to end like this! We were to rule the galaxy!”

  Velsum looked away from the screen for a few moments, distracted by something. When his attention returned he gave a dismissive shrug of his shoulders. “Plans are always in flux, Nomar. I regret if you are not content with how they have transpired for you and the Kracori.”

  “Content? My race is about to be exterminated! How can I be content with that?”