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

by T. R. Harris

  Adam sent him a curt nod. “Kaylor, take the pilot seat,” Adam commanded. “Jym, Ruszel: navigation; Trimen: the comm station. The rest of you lay to the common room and standby for when we have actual intel to analyze and relay back to the fleet. I’ll be here, in the pilothouse. Now everyone ... to your stations; Kaylor, take us out of here.”

  “Yes sir!” Kaylor said with a thin smile. After all these years, he had finally learned to say sir.

  “The three ships—there are now three of them—have merged and are following a track right of our present course and about twenty degrees up,” a Guard-tech was informing Command-Overlord Enulic. Wydor could hear the report from his command chair. “There is no chance of catching them; their drives are too deep.”

  “And yet no undue disruptions?”

  “No, my Lord, very minimal and very contained.”

  Enulic nodded to the tech, who then turned and left. “How can they travel at such speeds and not send gravity wakes all around them?” he asked more rhetorically than expecting the Juirean Elder to provide an answer.

  “They are scouts, Lord Enulic. Perhaps they are built for such high-speed to enhance their mission. And yet if the technology exists for these vessels ... then why not more?”

  “Precisely, my Lord. The only race with the capability to build such ships—with a breakthrough in technology—would be the Humans.”

  “Or the Klin.” Wydor added.

  The comment stopped Enulic in his tracks. For so long the Command-Overlord had been preparing for a military clash with both the Kracori and the Humans, that he had almost completely disregarded the Klin as a viable threat in that regard.

  “They are technologically superior to every other race in the galaxy. It would not be unusual for them to have advanced gravity-drive technology. It would also explain why we have not been able to locate any substantial Klin concentrations in space.”

  Wydor smiled. He hated to play such what-if games with his fleet commander, but it was the Elder’s job to assess all sides of an issue and then select the best course of action for the Juirean people. “However, Enulic, if the Humans did possess such technology, then the presence of these odd ships could be explained.”

  “My Lord?” Enulic said with a frown.

  “This new drive could have allowed them to reach the Nebula ahead of schedule, which would explain the screen scouts placed out before a hidden Human fleet.”

  “So which is it, my Lord?” Wydor could detect the frustration in Enulic’s voice.

  “That is what you must learn, Command-Overlord—and learn quickly.”

  It was thirty minutes after Lord Enulic dispatched his own forward scouts that reports of unknown contacts began to filter back to the fleet. The contents of the reports only added to Wydor’s confusion and concern.

  “That’s impossible,” Wydor could hear Enulic exclaim. “Twenty miles or more? Are you sure they are constructs?”

  “Yes my Lord. The mass of the vessels is so great that the scans are undeniable. They are spaceships, five of them.”

  “Course?”

  “Not directly in our direction, yet about twenty-degrees relative left.”

  Wydor was already collating the data in his mind. The scouts they had detected earlier were now traveling away from the fleet to the right. These new contacts were located to the fleet’s left. So either the scouts were attempting to deceive, or else there are two unknown forces operating within the Void. It was Wydor’s conclusion that the scouts and the large spacecraft were of the same origin, otherwise the coincidence was too improbable. And yet who could build spaceships over twenty miles in diameter....

  “Forgive the interruption,” Lord Wydor said. All the others nearby stopped and waited in deference to the status of the Council Elder. “Has the shape of these huge ships been yet discerned?”

  The question caught the tech off guard. “I have no knowledge of that, my Lord, yet I will ask for an immediate analysis.”

  “Very good.”

  The tech left, without waiting for Command-Overlord Enulic to dismiss him.

  “We shall soon learn, Enulic,” Wydor said, a tinge of excitement building in his tone.

  “Could it be possible? Would not the Langril have known?”

  “He may have known, and yet did not reveal the truth to me.”

  Lord Enulic tightened his jaw. “Deceit on this level—”

  “Yes, Command-Overlord,” Wydor interrupted, “could cause our prior agreement to be set aside. And although it was my idea to sequester the fleet in this part of the Void, I feel we may have underestimated Langril Nomar Polimic’s talents at persuasion and subliminal suggestion.”

  “We must beware of a trap, my Lord.”

  “Yes. The presence of these massive spaceships, accompanied by the remarkable gravity-drives of the smaller vessels, could prove that we are about to confront something entirely new and unexpected, and possibly for this reason Nomar believed it would spell the end of our fleet and without the massive loses of his own. Send out more scouts and probes. I want to know all that occupies this part of the Void. There is much more here than was originally surmised.”

  “They cannot be the Kracori,” the Klin Pleabaen Wesselian Velsum exclaimed, “so it must be the Juireans.”

  “We concur,” said the senior military strategist for the Klin, Annis Corshum. Velsum was with the main section of the Colony now skirting the wall of the Shield, many light years from the five pods now under surveillance by the Juireans. “There may be an opportunity for a clash between the Juireans and the pursuing Humans.”

  “Can you effect a joining, Annis? In the confusion, the pods may be allowed to escape.”

  “The Humans are being cautious about closing the gap between their fleet and our pods. They may still be unaware who we are.”

  “I could instruct the pods to turn back on the Humans.”

  “They could see that as a hostile act and fire upon them,” Velsum said. He thought for a moment, studying the track screen. “Have the pods steer left ninety-degrees. That will force both fleets to turn to follow and they should join up on their flanks. All that is required is a mutual detection on the part of the two great fleets. After that natural forces will take over. And on their new course, the pods should be able to rendezvous with us as the mighty fleets smash each other to atoms.”

  “And yet, my Pleabaen, the questions remains: What are the Juireans doing this far into the Void, and seemingly to have suffered no losses to the Kracori and Nebula forces?”

  “That I do not know, yet this fortuitous event may serve to save our fellow Klin within the pods. It has indeed been a strange few hours within the Dysion Void, but it is apparent that we Klin are now fighting for our very survival. Of all the forces now moving about the Void, we are the most unprotected. Drastic measures may be needed if we are to escape.”

  116

  “The large targets are moving away, my Lord, turning to our right ninety-degrees. Gravity readings have increased yet are now holding steady within deep-space range.”

  “Acknowledged, Guard-tech, continue to monitor.”

  Enulic studied the track of the large objects. Only moments before, it had been confirmed that the objects were indeed disk-shaped and almost twenty-five miles in diameter. They were undoubtedly Klin, and each vessel that large could easily carry a population of twenty-five thousand or more individuals.

  The Command-Overlord shook his head in disbelief when first the thought of one hundred thousand Klin housed within those ships had dawned on him. There had never been a good estimate as to the current strength of the Klin population, yet none of even the wildest speculations put them at more than a million. And to find such a huge number of them contained within only five spacecraft meant that the Juireans may finally have solved the mystery of the Klin survival throughout the millennia.

  It also raised the specter of more such vessels—arks in a manner—existing within the Void. Where there were five, sur
ely there were more.

  And Enulic bu Lornim was now absolutely positive that the Kracori Langril Nomar Polimic knew of their existence.

  “Navigator!” Enulic called out. “Change course to heading one-eight-zero, down four. Execute on my command.” He paused so the various personnel involved in a fleet course change could perform their pre-turn tasks.

  “Execute!” And with that command, the lead elements of Enulic’s nearly five thousand unit-strong force began to take a serpentine track following the giant Klin starships. The entire fleet did not turn in unison; rather the head of the fleet led the way, while other units began to fan out from the main body to create a large cone-shaped formation. Nearly a thousand ships now had a clear view of the space ahead—an extremely strong defensive posture against attack—while the bulk of the force remained safe within the cone.

  In addition to the added defensive posture of the fleet, dozens of scout ships flashed ahead and to the flanks, while even more streaked off in multiple directions intending to survey this entire section of the Void. With each passing minute a more detailed picture of what lay beyond their current sensor horizons would be revealed to the Command-Overlord and his Elder. Enulic was filled with excitement as to what the survey might reveal.

  Fueled by an almost in-bred fear and hatred, Enulic hoped he would find more Klin. More than anything accomplished in the time since the Reckoning, the final extermination of the Klin race would prove to be the fulfillment of a passion every Juirean shared, and had shared, throughout the ages. Enulic’s chest swelled as he felt an overwhelming sense of pride and purpose in his current mission. Today could be the day: the day of the Final Reckoning.

  117

  The Pegasus shot off from the main Human fleet at near maximum acceleration for the concentrated-array gravity-drive. Adam knew they didn’t have much time to find the answers to what had happened to the Kracori fleet. The huge Klin ships were leading the fleet directly towards Elision—and the Juireans—and within ten hours, at the most, Kracori sensors should begin to detect the lead elements.

  However, an hour into the flight, Adam received a message from Command. The Klin had changed course and were now moving away from Elision following a more portside track. The course change had come abruptly and radically, and the Human fleet had slowed its forward speed and shifted course to compensate, at least temporarily.

  With the three scouts in Lt. Kimball’s squadron running for their lives, no new data had come in with regards to the location and activities of the Juirean fleet. Drones had been dispatched, capable of more stealthy observations, yet without the speed of the manned scout ships, any new data was still an hour or so from coming in.

  Fleet Command had wished to remain on course for Elision, yet with the unknown strength and condition of the Kracori—along with this menacing Juirean fleet in the vicinity—Admiral Nash was holding off committing his forces fully. Adam would be in Kracori territory in five hours. If the fleet could remain hidden from the Juireans until then, Nash would have more options—possibly.

  At the present time, the Humans and Juireans were not at war, however, it was unknown what would result from a direct contact of the forces. With Humanity’s new directive of punishing any alien race that had wronged them, the Juireans definitely were on the list. Yet with a full fleet—and the Kracori to fight, too—Nash wasn’t anxious to open a two-front war.

  The message from Fleet almost begged Adam for quick results. Until he reported back, Nash would be unable to finalize his plans. And Adam also knew that if it turned out that both the Kracori and Juirean fleets were at full strength, then probably the most prudent route for Admiral Nash to take would be right back through the hole in Shield. The fleet was nine thousand light-years from Earth; it could not sustain substantial loses and still function as a viable force, not this far from home. Support units were being moved into place along the path from Earth to Elision, but they would arrive too late to make a difference, not with the accelerated timeline for action within the Void.

  As Adam watched the light from the Shield fill the very space within the Void in an almost iridescent glow, he instinctively knew something had gone terribly wrong with the planning for the Kracori assault. He was at a loss as to what could have happened over the course of five days to completely change the dynamic within the Dysion Void. As hard as he fought for an answer, nothing came to him. He would just have to find the answers in real time, and that was never a good way to go about military operations.

  118

  “Lead Commander, we have detected a vessel entering one of the outer kill zones,” said the young Kracori conscript.

  The steely-eyed Kracori officer approached the Operator’s station. “Which one?”

  “Eighty-Nine, my Ludif.”

  “That one is located on the opposite side of the planet from the Corridor. It is a single vessel?”

  “Yes, my Ludif. Remote sensors picked it up traveling at incredible velocity.”

  Lead-Commander Ioniff raised a bony eyebrow. As all Kracori at the central command on Elision knew, the ship that had wreaked havoc on the Citadel had fled the planet at an equally unbelievable speed, leaving all the pursuers far behind, until it had quickly disappeared off their screens. Could this be the same ship returning for another destructive pass on the planet?

  “Activate the mines, Operator. If this is the ship that destroyed the Citadel, then it must be stopped before it can return to Elision.”

  “Understood, Commander.” The young Kracori placed a series of commands into the computer. “It is estimated the ship will be through the kill zone in fourteen minutes, however, on their current track, they will enter Seventy-Six shortly thereafter. There are multiple opportunities to destroy the target before it reaches the planet.”

  “Good,” said LC Ioniff. “I am creating a task-unit to monitor and destroy the vessel. You will be in that unit.”

  “Most appreciated, my Ludif.”

  “Do not let the vessel through, Operator.”

  “As ordered, Lead-Commander.”

  “This is odd,” Ruszel Crin said to Jym seated next to him at the nav console.

  Before Jym could respond, Adam had already bolted from his seat and rushed to the station. “What’s odd, Ruszel?”

  “These intermittent magnetic readings,” the green-skinned Tel’oran said. “They appear random, yet they fade as we pass and then gain strength as we draw near.”

  “You said magnetic?”

  “Yes. There does not appear to be any outgoing radiation, just a strengthening and diminishing of the readings, almost as if whatever is out there is gaining magnetism as we near, and then losing it as we pass.”

  “What can do that?’ Adam asked.

  “The only knowledge I have of any such occurrence is with passive detection devices—actually manufactured by the Formilians.”

  Adam reached across the console and pressed an intercom button. “Trimen, to the pilothouse, immediately.”

  Almost before the sound of Adam’s voice finished echoing against the steel bulkheads of the Pegasus, Trimen was in the pilothouse. Andy Tobias and Sherri Valentine lingered at the doorway, curious what was going on but not wanting to add to the crowded conditions within the room.

  Ruszel quickly filled Trimen in the odd readings he was picking up.

  Trimen shook his head. “I am sorry, Adam, but I am a Celebrant, which is a religious post. I am a scientist as well, yet my specialty is in biology, not electronic technology. However, if I was to guess, I would say this is some kind of proximity trigger.” He pointed at the series of readings on the screen Jym had posted. “You see the correlation between the strength of the reading and our distance from them. They are stronger the closer to them we come at perigee.”

  “What kind of devices would use such triggers?”

  “Beacons, comm relays, magnetic mines—”

  “Mines?”

  The word instantly brought shocked looks to all in the p
ilothouse. Tobias entered the room. “This could be some kind of minefield the Kracori set for the Juireans, and maybe for us. If we get close enough to one of these mines, it could lock on. So far, we’ve been lucky.”

  “All stop, Kaylor! Back-wells on full.”

  “Be careful Captain that you don’t disrupt the gravity field in the area with a full-array back-well,” Tobias said. “You don’t want to pull one of those things into us.”

  “You heard him, Kaylor. Slow down ... slowly. Ruszel and Jym, now that you know what to look for can you see them coming?”

  “We will try,” Jym said.

  “That was close. Good job Ruszel,” Adam said, patting Ruszel on the back. “You’ve earned your pay for today.”

  “Am I to be paid for my assistance? I was not aware. You know that is not necessary.”

  The pointy-eared alien actually smiled, sending his ears into a flutter, before burying his attention back into the readings scrolling across the screen.

  Adam opened his mouth to explain the figure of speech, but then changed his mind. Sometimes it was better just to let the aliens figure things out on their own.

  Adam had no idea how extensive the minefield was, so with each passing minute his frustration grew. They didn’t have time for this; Admiral Nash was counting on his intel.

  After half an hour, the aliens at the navigation console no longer detected any of the magnetic mines, so Adam ordered full power and the Pegasus resumed its headlong rush toward Elision. But now they had to be especially careful knowing that passive defensive measures were being employed by the Kracori.

  As it turned out, the Pegasus had been luckier than first thought. When the tracks of the magnetic mines had been plotted, it was found that the narrow focus of the gravity-well forward of the ship had been absorbing the mines directly in front of them. With a traditional, more diffused and distant gravity-well, the mines would have been able to operate as designed. The Pegasus would have been blown to bits within minutes of entering the minefield using a standard three-ring drive.