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

by T. R. Harris

  The question was settled soon enough, as a literal parade of starships lined up and streaked off toward space—and not in the direction of the portal. Instead, they arched off to the east and left the atmosphere on an oblique course. Within minutes the spaceport was down to only nine starships, many of them the ubiquitous mainships as the Sol-Kor called them. These were fairly large ships, capable of carrying the original compliment of Human captives plus its own crew and passengers. Adam was confident he could figure out how to fly one, if given the time and opportunity. But now the landing area was swarming with Sol-Kor. They appeared to be loading the other ships, readying them for departure, as well.

  And then right before their eyes, the Humans saw the entire camp begin to be disassembled.

  “They’re packing up!” Adam looked to the distant area where the prisoners were being held. He could see that it was still filled with people and they didn’t appear to be moving. But neither were they lying in a heap of bodies on the ground, which was encouraging.

  “C’mon, let’s move closer to the where the others are. If the Sol-Kor start shooting, we may be in a position to stop them.”

  “Now you want to save them?” Sherri asked, exasperated.

  “If the aliens are on the way out of here, they may not want a lot of extra baggage tagging along. So we can sit back and let all the others get massacred, or we can do something about it. And once the Sol-Kor are gone, then we can try to figure out a way off this rock.”

  “Whatever you say. I just think that if the aliens are getting out of here in a hurry, maybe we should, too.”

  The fleet entered the star system from three directions, staggered in time at fifteen minute intervals. Already it was obvious the enemy force was much larger than anticipated, with three hundred ships or more lining up on the screen before him. They were forming a defensive line aimed at his ships, which was precisely what he wanted them to do.

  He gave the command, and the ships dropped out of their gravity-wells and charged their weapons. The forward wave broke into squads of ten ships each, spreading out as wide as they dared so as to diminish the effect of the suppressor beam, a weapon the aliens were sure to deploy.

  Admiral Andy Tobias was getting too old for this. Not that his age hampered him in his duties; indeed, his years of experience made him the perfect overall Commander of the Fleet. It was that he really did enjoy the thrill of battle, and this caused his heart to race. He was already on blood pressure medication, so any added stress could be problematic. He didn’t care. He’d already lived a long and satisfying life…and he did have a second-in-command he trusted implicitly.

  What a way to go, he thought—if this was indeed his time to go—at the head of a massive fleet about to engage an invading enemy determined to destroy everything he held dear. It sure beat dropping dead from a massive coronary while fixing his morning coffee back home in Phoenix.

  “Just about in range, Admiral.”

  “Very well. Make sure the autopilot is active. We may need it for a while.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  And then almost on cue, the entire crew of the Orion Union Starship Abraham Lincoln fell into a near-comatose state. Tobias could still hear and see, yet he just didn’t care what he heard or saw. It was as if he was floating in air—or more correctly, being held in place while floating in air. He thought he wanted to move, but he wasn’t sure. Yet even if he did, he believed he would be unable to, which was fine by him….

  And then the haze cleared. He had an incredible headache, which quickly subsided, and when it did he found himself back in command of the Lincoln.

  “What’s our status, Chief? Time lapse?”

  “All systems functioning; still on course. Times lapse was only six minutes. The enemy ships have broken rank and are forming into—”

  Andy Tobias was back in the peaceful arms of the air again, wondering ever so slightly if someone had been talking to him….

  And then the headache returned.

  “Dammit, we can’t keep getting hit by their beams. Fire at will!” he barked out the command.

  “Admiral, as planned the enemy ships were caught off guard by our three-prong attack,” reported Lieutenant-Commander Ron Walker. “It’s just that we weren’t expecting there to be so many. We’ll probably keep getting hit by their beams on and off for a while, at least until we get them fully on the run.”

  “What about conventional weapons? I see some flashes.”

  “Light armament on most of the smaller vessels. The larger ones just have more batteries, but all about the same strength, as far as we can tell. They must really rely a lot on their beam weapon.”

  ‘Mistake number one, Mr. Walker. All we have to do is get them moving in the right direction. And what about that, Chief?”

  Senior Chief Tamara Allen checked her boards. “Good news, Admiral. So far they don’t seem to have any beams mounted on their asses, so when they turn to split, we’re pretty safe. And as Commander Walker just reported, their conventional weapons aren’t much of a threat to our shield integrity. They’re running, sir.”

  On his command tactical screen, Andy Tobias could see how the three phalanx assault had worked. First the aliens lined up to face his large force with his ships taking the brunt of the blue pulses. But then the flanking units attacked, causing the aliens to break off their beams and change course. When they did, Andy’s ships were fully functional again. The black ships were caught in a vice, unable to cover a multi-front battlefield. The only way out was to exit the star system and engage what method of deep space travel they had available. If the aliens managed to do that, then they’d be hard to catch and impossible to track.

  Of course, that was just what Andy was hoping they’d do. He’d intentionally left the narrow escape route open, and now the hundred or so remaining enemy vessels were streaming into it.

  Andy grimaced. Looking at it now, his fleet could have handled the entire situation themselves. Instead, the Juireans with their fleet would get to finish off the black ships.

  Andy shook off the thought. This was a glorious day, no matter how you looked at it. Yet he still had one more thing he could do to make it even better.

  “Mr. Walker, have Blue and Gray form up with us. We’re heading for the planet.”

  An hour later, the ships from the Human fleet appeared in the sky above the unnamed planet-x. The larger ships stayed off at a distance and shot at anything that came off the surface. Even then, three or four of the black ships did manage to slip through and disappear in a pop when they engaged their star drives.

  “Any readings?” he asked Chief Allen.

  “Some, but faint. The array is still operating, yet at a lower power level. Nothing seems to be coming through the portal at this time.”

  “You mean it’s broken?”

  “It would seem so, Admiral.”

  “Okay then, locate the planetside array base and prepare the MN-1’s for strafing runs. Caution them that civilians are present in the area, so make sure all missiles are on-target before releasing. Commence attack run when ready.”

  Thirty-two small, two-man strikeships poured out the back of the Admiral’s two large carriers and streaked for the surface. Fourteen seconds later, starfire missiles were released. On extreme magnification, Tobias could see explosions on the surface below. And then the mile-high towers became to topple. It was evident that a small settlement lie to the south of the array, and fortunately, the huge structures fell off to the east.

  “That’s it, Admiral!” Walker called out. “They won’t be sending anything else through there. I’d say: ‘Mission Accomplished.’”

  Tobias shook his head. “Almost, Commander, but not quite yet.”

  He turned to the stunning creature seated near the back of the bridge. “It’s all yours, Arieel. Work your magic.”

  “At one time even I considered it magic. Now it is merely science.”

  The Speaker of the Formilian race accessed her embedded te
lepathy device and sent a signal toward the surface of the planet, two thousand miles below. Within seconds she looked up at Andy Tobias and gave him a heart-stopping smile. “I have them. Should I say hi, or would you prefer to surprise them?”

  “A surprise is always preferred. Let’s transfer to a shuttle and drop down for a visit. I’m sure Adam will be glad to see you again.”

  “I detect that Sherri Valentine is with him,” Arieel Bol said as the smile vanished from her face.

  “Yeah, now that’s a whole other subject, isn’t it? Shall we go?”

  196

  “Dammit, are they trying to kill us!”

  “It would appear so.”

  The three Humans at first thought they were safe from the attacking vessels, since their fire was concentrated on the small hill to the north of them. But then the ships angled south, targeting the landing area and the few remaining Sol-Kor ships. They spared the main part of the camp yet sent a flurry of streaking missiles heading their way. The explosions pulverized the space port, the very location at which Adam and his group had just arrived.

  They dove for cover, as the ruddy ground around them erupted. They felt the concussion and the heat of the explosions, even going so far as to drop into a recently created crater for cover. Fortunately, this phase of the attack didn’t last long, before the small craft looped back around and headed for outer space.

  As the dirty, bloody and shell-shocked trio climbed out in the open, Sherri flipped the bird at the departing strikecraft, while Riyad and Adam looked to the east and the place where the Humans had been kept prisoner. At first they feared the worst, since none of the prisoners could be seen. But then a few here and there began to emerge from cover and look up into the morning sky. Some appeared angry, while others cried and hugged each other.

  None of the Sol-Kor guards could be seen, so the Humans prisoners were no longer under the influence of the blue beam. Now they were confused, yet alive. Riyad took off in a sprint for the prison area. Adam was about to follow, when Sherri grabbed his arm. “Let him do it,” she said. “Besides all it will be is mushy hugs, kisses and tears. You know, all that sentimental bullshit.”

  Adam turned to her, and seeing the dirt-crusted face and mottled hair, took her in his arms and kissed her long and hard, himself succumbing to all that sentimental and mushy B.S.

  An hour later, several Human ships, along with a smattering of Juirean vessels, now sat on the desert floor a half mile east of the old space port, which by now looked like Swiss cheese from the aerial bombardment it had suffered.

  Adam, with Sherri at his side, and Riyad, with Ophelia at his, approached the still hot and popping hull of a command shuttle and waited for the hatch to crack.

  Adam was delighted to see his former SEAL team leader appear in the opening, displaying a wide grin under laughing eyes and a shiny bald dome of a head. It was who appeared immediately behind him that made Adam gasp.

  “Oh, this is just great,” Riyad heard Sherri say under her breath.

  “Who is that?” Ophelia asked.

  “That, my dear, is Adam’s old girlfriend,” Riyad answered.

  “But she’s an alien, isn’t she?”

  “I don’t think that mattered much to him.”

  “I can see why!”

  “Yeah, that’s how most people react to her.”

  “If I hadn’t given up women in college, I’d be all over that!”

  Riyad whipped his head around to look at Ophelia. He found her looking back at him with a wide grin and sparkling dark eyes. “You had me going there for a minute,” he said.

  “Who said I was kidding?”

  Adam stopped listening to the conversation around him the moment Arieel’s long, black hair and perfect face showed itself around Andy’s shoulder. She was the last person he expected see, yet now it made sense. He broke his gaze from what many considered to be the most beautiful Prime female in the galaxy and looked at Sherri.

  “Hey, we’ve been down this road before,” she said to him. “Go ahead and get your slobbering reunion over with.”

  Adam turned back to Arieel just as the alien reached him, wrapping her supple arms around him and pulling him close to her impossibly voluptuous body. “I am so glad to see you again, Adam Cain. We feared we would not make it here in time.” After a long moment, they broke the embrace and Arieel looked at Sherri. “Greetings Ms. Valentine. I see you are looking…well.”

  “Sit on it, Arieel,” Sherri snapped. “We’ve just spent one hell of a night just trying to stay alive. I’d like to see what you’d look like after what I’ve just been through.”

  “I am sure it was traumatic.”

  Andy was now within the gathering. “We used Arieel to track your devices after you went missing. You really do need to get yours tuned up, by the way. She says the range and sensitivity features were damaged somehow, otherwise she could have contacted you from back on Formil.”

  “To be honest, most times I forget I even have it. It only works with Formilian designed controls, and they didn’t have many of those in the Cloud or here, among the Sol-Kor.”

  “Sol-Kor?” Andy asked.

  “Yeah, that’s the name of the aliens you just slaughtered.”

  “That’s good to know. I get tired of calling them alien bastards all the time.”

  Adam pointed to the Juirean starships also occupying the makeshift landing field. “Speaking of alien bastards: Friends of yours?”

  “They were already pretty upset about their Class-Four being taken out, and with their Third Fleet sitting just on the other side of the border in The Fringe, they insisted on joining the party.”

  “No mention of their trespassing in Human space, I suppose?”

  “Maybe later, but for now we need all the help we can get. The alien bastards—I mean the Sol-Kor—have a very potent beam weapon. Fortunately, shock-n-awe is still an effective strategy, but it does take a lot of ships to pull it off.”

  Andy looked off to the north and the smoldering ruins of the trans-dimensional array. “I guess that’s it. Won’t be having any more hungry aliens shopping for dinner around here anytime soon.”

  “Maybe, maybe not.”

  “What does that mean?” asked Admiral Andy Tobias, suddenly turning serious.

  “The Klin built the array—”

  “No shit!”

  “That’s right. And they could build another. Also, there’s a creature named Panur who may have survived the attack. Did any ships get past you?”

  Andy grimaced. “Yeah, a handful, and all from the planet.”

  “Then it’s a good bet Panur was with them.”

  “So who’s this Panur character?”

  “He’s the one who built the original portal in the universe the Sol-Kor come from. He’s a freaking genius and he, too, could build another array if he wanted, and probably out of popsicle sticks and rubber bands.”

  “Did I just hear you right? You said universe?”

  “That’s right. You just destroyed a trans-dimensional portal kind of thing, whatever.”

  “And here I thought it was just a novel way of moving within this universe!” And then Andy turned serious. “If they do build another portal, it’s a good bet they’ll come at us with a different strategy. We may not even know they’re here until it’s too late.”

  Adam smiled. “Just one more excuse for you not to retire, Admiral.”

  “Hell, I was already retired, until you started making trouble for me again.”

  “Good, then I saved you from an early grave. Fighting alien bastards keeps a person young.”

  197

  “You say the Klin and the Sol-Kor have partnered up?”

  “Apparently,” Adam answered.

  “That’s probably where the ships that escaped are headed. So in reality, they’re gone for good, or at least until they choose to show themselves again.” Andy Tobias said dejectedly.

  “Not necessarily,” Sherri said. “I may be able to tr
ack them.”

  “That’s right,” Adam said, suddenly perking up. The three of them were in the Admiral’s away room, kicked back on soft couches and sipping a very potent Scotch whisky. Riyad was off somewhere with his new love, while Arieel was making herself scarce while Sherri was around.

  “What are you talking about? You can track their ships?”

  “I did it once before, after we found the empty delegation ship over in Que’l space. It’s a very faint, yet distinctive signature. We don’t have anything like it, so if you aren’t looking for it, it would be missed.”

  Adam frowned. “However, if you recall, we did walk right into a trap by following that trail. Maybe they left it intentionally.”

  “We can find out. If it’s not here, then we’ll know it was a plant in the first place. If it is there, then we’ve not only got the Sol-Kor, but also the location of the hidden Klin colony—which I didn’t even know existed.”

  “I think we’d be surprised just how many Klin still survive. They are a tenacious bunch of silver-skinned bastards,” Andy said.

  “If you don’t mind, Admiral, we’ll tag along with you for a while,” Adam said.

  “Yeah, sorry about the Pegasus, buddy, but it was right in the middle of the alien landing field. I hope you didn’t have anything really valuable aboard.”

  “Just as heap of medals and plaques we got on Unisid. Quite honestly, I don’t have room left on my walls for any more of that stuff. They probably would have just ended up in a box in the garage anyway.”

  “Said the always humble Adam Cain.”

  Andy Tobias had shared many an adventure with Adam in the past, even predating his abduction by the Klin. He had been Adam’s first team leader—just a lowly lieutenant at that time—when Adam joined SEAL Team Six. That seemed like several lifetimes ago now, yet the memories were just as vivid as if it were yesterday. And then Adam cringed. He had a wife and child back then, both now long gone. Back then he never dreamed of aliens and galactic wars, or journeys to distant galaxies. And never in his wildest imagination could he foresee invaders from another dimension. What the hell was that all about, anyway?