Prelude to War (The Human Chronicles Saga Book 10)

by T. R. Harris

  “That’s four in a row, Riyad,” Adam said to him. “I’m beginning to believe this game is rigged.”

  “That’s not it, my friend.” Riyad’s brilliant white smile was blinding against his dark Lebanese skin. “The game is actually quite sophisticated, it’s just that I know you too well. I can anticipate your every move. Actually, according to studies, Adam Cain and the Humans win the battle of the Dysion Void eighty-four percent of the time when played by average gamers.”

  “Yeah, but in reality we won it one-hundred percent of the time.”

  “That would take the fun out of the video game, now wouldn’t it?”

  Sherri brought over two cups of steaming coffee to the couch. “Men and their silly video games. You two have been playing that stupid game for most of the trip. Don’t you ever get tired of it?”

  “That silly game, as you call it, has made the three of us very rich,” Riyad said.

  “And I’m not giving up until I figure out his moves as well as he can mine. By the way, Riyad, why do you always take the side of the Kracori?”

  “Let’s just say I love an underdog. And there’s nothing better than beating you, Mr. Cain. I kinda like letting the villain win now and then.”

  Adam took a short sip of the extremely hot coffee, burning his lips in the process. “Still, we need to talk to the manufacturer about the dialogue. The graphics are incredible, but I come off sounding like some caricature of a comic book superhero.”

  “So what’s new?” Sherri asked with a smile. “Oh, and don’t forget to let me look over your speech before we get to Uinsid. The last one you gave at one of these things did sound like something out of a comic book.”

  “Well forgive me, Ms. Grammar, but I’m just a simple soldier with a simple vocabulary.”

  “That’s fine, but you don’t have to sound like one. There’s going to be a couple of billion people hanging on your every word. Let’s give them something to remember, not a bunch of hackneyed tripe.”

  “Isn’t tripe a type of fish?”

  “That would be funny…if I didn’t know you better.”

  “Enough of your lovers’ banter,” Riyad said. “Are you up for another game, Adam? You know eventually you’re going to get lucky and win the Battle of the Dysion Void…just like you did the first time.”

  Chapter 3

  The Union of Orion was the vague and inoffensive name Humanity had settled on for their burgeoning galactic empire. With thirty-five other races now included as members, it became a contentious subject when the Humans wanted to call it the Union of Man or the Union of Earth. No one questioned Earth’s dominance of the organization, it was just that the other races felt like second-class citizens under the proposals.

  Finally it was agreed that since all the planets were located in the Orion-Cygnus arm of the galaxy, that naming the affiliation the Union of Orion would be generic enough to accommodate most species. Even then, it took a lot of explaining as to what exactly Orion was, since that was a Human word. At least the name wasn’t Human-centric. By this time there was a lot of resentment amongst the members over the air of superiority and condescension exhibited by some—most—Humans towards aliens.

  In spite of that, new members were being added at a rate of one civilization every six months, and the pace was accelerating. After a rigorous—and often clandestine—screening process, qualified species were carefully approached and offered a seat at the table. Most of these races had already come in contact with aliens at some point in their history, either the Klin, the Juireans, or the Humans, while a few contacts came through the more obscure races like the Sileans, who had established loose trade agreements with these worlds decades before. Most of the planets admitted into the Union had star travel and a technological level that made adjusting to the reality of being part of an organization of alien cultures as seamless as possible.

  Most new members petitioned for inclusion, having watched the progress made throughout the Arm by the Humans. And when such an historic event was celebrated by a new member, an elaborate ceremony was held, which was broadcast not only planet-wide but also Union-wide. Representatives from the Union governing body would be present, as would delegates from other worlds looking to establish embassies and trade missions. Celebrities were often invited to add a little glitz and glamour to the occasion for the common folk.

  And three of the most sought-after celebrities of the time were Adam, Sherri, and Riyad. In reality, after the stories of his exploits saturated a market as part of the priming process, they all wanted Adam. However, it was a major coup when all three would show, such as was the case for the joining ceremony of the Que’l.

  Of course, the Big Three didn’t come cheap, and even though the officials from the planet Uinsid—where the Que’l originated—had anted up a million base-credits each for their appearance, the Union threw in two million extra to make up for the going rate of their time and effort.

  All in all, Adam and his friends were living the good life, enjoying their celebrity and making a fairly good chunk of change as a result.

  At first, Adam Cain had dreaded these events. He wasn’t comfortable as a public speaker, and the accolades that were foisted upon him were embarrassing. If only they knew how haphazard and reckless his victories had been, and how often luck had played the major role.

  It was Sherri and Riyad who first pushed him into participating. The two of them were celebrities in their own right…but everyone wanted Adam. And in order to command the highest appearance and speaking fees, the trio was needed.

  By now they had the act down, appearing on stage together and bantering back and forth in well-rehearsed mini-plays. Everyone loved the dynamic between the trio, and the stories that blanketed the media markets prior to their arrival played right into it.

  Adam had to admit he was enjoying himself more than he had in years. He found he preferred to appear before alien audiences rather than those at home. He always felt his fellow Humans could see right through his ruse and know that what he’d accomplished over the years wasn’t anything special. Yet to the aliens this was all fresh and new. The mysterious Humans—along with their most-celebrated heroes—were larger than life. After all, this was the race that had once ruled a galaxy. And to top that off, only a handful of them had managed to take control of the Large Magellanic Cloud, the small sister galaxy to the Milky Way. Adam had been instrumental in restoring equilibrium to the Cloud, which only enhanced his legend and godlike aura even more. It seemed that no challenge was too big and no enemy too strong to stop the Humans and their super-hero, Adam Cain.

  For the new member races, all this pomp and circumstance was a big deal. Their race would be part of the Union of worlds which the Humans oversaw. Success and strength through association was the main attraction to joining the Union. Having the Big Three at the Joining Ceremony was just icing on the cake.

  Chapter 4

  The Pegasus II was still three days out from Uinsid when Adam received a link from Admiral Andy Tobias on Earth.

  “Have you read my book yet?” the sixty-year-old officer asked when his image resolved on the large forward viewscreen on the bridge.

  “Read…a book? What’s that?” Adam said good-naturedly. “I’m too damn important to spend my time reading. I normally have someone read things to me.”

  “And just think, I knew him when he was a snotnosed boot on his first day of BUDS. Getting a little too big for your britches there, son.”

  “Sorry, Admiral, sir!” His smiled widened. “Of course I read your book. After all, it’s all about me.”

  Tobias frowned. “Really?” he said. “And here I thought I was the main character.”

  “It’s that frickin’ ego of yours, but seriously, Andy, it was good, even if some of the things you detail in it are pure fantasy.”

  “It’s called having a literary license. Gotta give them a good story, even if some things are embellished.”

  “Or made up.”

 
“Yeah that, too.” The frown then evaporated from the admiral’s face. “But that’s not the reason for the link. I have to give you a heads-up about something potentially very dangerous in sector two-forty-two”

  “That just a hop, skip and a jump from here. What’s going on?”

  “Brace yourself, Adam, because this is really weird. A patrol ran across a Juirean Class-4 in the sector—”

  “In Human Space?”

  “That’s right, and in violation of all the current peace accords.”

  “A spy ship? I wouldn’t be surprised if it is.”

  “Was,” Tobias corrected. “When the patrol ran across the ship, it had been attacked and all the crew killed by an unknown alien race.”

  Adam was silent for a heartbeat, knowing there were very few entities in the galaxy who could take out a Juirean Class-4. “Unknown? What’s the basis of that assessment?”

  “Because the patrol ship—you’ll get a kick out of this, it’s named the Tarazi—was also attacked by the same alien vessel.”

  “But they survived?”

  “By sheer luck. It seems the attacking ship emits a pulse ray of some sort that causes whatever crew they’re attacking to go into a mindless stupor. They’re conscious, but unaware and unable to defend themselves. The ray completely devastated the Juirean crew.”

  “How did the crew of the Tarazi survive?”

  “A boarding party was on the Juirean ship when the ship was attacked. The beam appears to be focused, so the men on the Class-Four were unaffected and able to take out the attacking mothership with the Juirean weapons. Four of the alien boarding craft survived, however, and bolted for places unknown. The captain of the Tarazi did manage to kill three of these new aliens. The bodies are on their way to Camp Reagan for examination.”

  “And you’re sure they’re nothing we haven’t seen before?”

  “Positive,” Tobias relied. “We checked all the databases. These guys are something new. And, Adam, if it hadn’t been for a stroke of luck, the Tarazi crew would have suffered the same fate as the Juireans. And there’s more. Hold on to your hat…all the Juireans were decapitated and then their heads and bodies removed from the battlecruiser. The aliens took nothing else, just the bodies.”

  “No shit! Why would they do that?”

  “If we find a live alien that’ll be the first question we ask—if we get the chance. I’ve attached the complete video record of the incident to this link. You’ll see how effective this suppressor beam is, as the captain of the Tarazi calls it. This is some scary shit, man. The alien ship pops into space in the vicinity of their target, and once the beam is activated, that’s all she wrote.”

  “So what’s the protocol, Admiral?” Adam asked.

  “Convoys. We’re going to initiate convoy movement throughout the sector. The alien beam is focused, so it may only be able to take on one ship at a time.”

  “That makes sense. We’ll be at Uinsid in another two days, and the closer we get to the system the more traffic we’ll run into. That should keep us safe, at least for the time being.”

  “Agreed, and every hour that goes by moves you further away from sector two-four-two. Just keep an eye out for any unknown vessels, and if you do see one, bolt away as fast as you can. We’ll get an escort lined up for your trip back to Earth.”

  “Damn, Andy, what are we dealing with here, another alien species with superior weapons technology?”

  “It’s a big and dangerous universe out there, Mr. Cain. Who knows what’s lurking around the corner just waiting for the chance to rain on our parade? They’ve attacked both a Juirean and a Human ship, so they’re not playing favorites.”

  “Have the Juireans been contacted?”

  “Yep. They’re denying that the Class-Four is theirs. They say we took a derelict and dressed it to look like a C-4, just so we can cause some intergalactic crisis.”

  “You told them about their dead crew, didn’t you?”

  “That’s when they suddenly clammed up. They’re protesting, but also sending a team to investigate.” Tobias raised his eyebrows. “On second thought, we may actually have trouble proving it’s a Juirean ship after all, since there are no bodies on board.”

  Adam attempted a smile. “There was time when I would have welcomed the news about dead Juireans, but this sounds like something really serious.”

  “Roger that. I’ll let you go now, but please, get to Uinsid as fast as you can and then stay there until I give you the go-ahead.”

  “Aye aye, sir. And if you can, send me the report on the dead aliens when it’s ready. I’d be curious to see what they’re made of.”

  “Will do. Signing off.”

  Chapter 5

  The Pegasus II arrived at Uinsid two days later without incident. They were directed to land in a large spaceport next what looked to be a massive sports arena, one that dwarfed anything found on Earth. This one could easily seat a million people or more.

  Adam had only taken a glancing look at the Que’l and their planet prior to arriving. As was his nature, one alien looked pretty much like the other, at least generically, so his curiosity level was virtually nil when it came to meeting another one. Yet in person he found them to be much more impressive than in the vids.

  With the gravity of Uinsid sitting at slightly over half of Earth’s, the natives were much taller than Humans, somewhere between seven and eight feet tall. They were also strange-looking things, with massive necks and huge, square heads that were nearly flat on top. Their scalps were hairless and appeared to be made up of overlapping plates of thick bone. They were two legged, yet had feet that resembled hooves. They were also extremely muscular, even the females, and adorned themselves with drab-looking garments made of course leather. There was nothing flashy or soft about the Que’l; they were an impressive and intimidating species.

  The Joining Ceremony would take place at the huge stadium, atop a stage placed where the fifty yard line would be in a traditional football arena. The Human entourage consisted of no less than two senators, four representatives, an overabundance of personnel from the Alien Affairs Office, along with nearly a hundred reps of the other Union members, all eager for the official joining so trade opportunities could be realized.

  The Que’l had petitioned for membership and the Union was all too eager to let them in. Two of the planets within the Que’l sphere of influence were overflowing with raw materials such as iron, nickel, magnesium, and other heavy metals. They also had substantial gold, silver and other precious metals and gems which appeared to be untapped by the natives. This was something the Union could not abide. Whole fleets awaited the finalization of the joining documents so they could descend on these worlds and begin stripping them clean. The Que’l appeared to be fine with all this, since it would mean untold wealth suddenly being lavished on the population—lavished, of course, upon some more than others.

  The trio’s escort led them to an underground access to the stadium, where they met the lead cultural attaché from Earth, a man named Omar Piero.

  His smile seemed practiced and overdone as he grasped the hands of each of them. “I am so honored to meet the three of you. Of course, I have been hearing of your exploits since I was just a kid.”

  Adam pursed his lips, yet mentally forgave the man for pointing out their advancing age. He had to remind himself that he was only twenty-five when he’d been abducted by the Klin, which meant twenty years of adventure amongst the stars still placed him only in his mid-forties. Of course, he also knew it wasn’t the years, it was the mileage. And as far as he knew, no Human had more mileage under their belt than did Adam Cain.

  “So what’s the schedule, Mr. Piero?” he asked.

  “The ceremony begins in an hour, with the planetary president—a being named Quanick Mur—presenting a speech officially accepting the Joining Invitation. That will be followed by speeches from Senators Hardwick and Bloomberg, and then by Ambassador Reynolds. The ambassador will then introduce the thr
ee of you, following a short summary of your accomplishments.”

  “Have you seen the speech, Mr. Piero?” Sherri asked. “Sometimes they go overboard with some of the things we’re credited with doing. It might be nice to know what’s going to be said about us before we go on stage.”

  “It is the standard bio, Ms. Valentine,” the young man explained. “Mr. Cain’s abduction by the Klin and his escape, your meeting him and then the joining up of Mr. Tarazi as the three of you warned the Earth of the impending attack by the Juireans.” The man seemed absolutely giddy as he spoke. “He won’t tell the whole story. That has already been circulated through media accounts for over two months now, including the release of the movie The Human Chronicles by Cyrus Biggs.”

  All three of them cringed. They’d seen the movie, of course, even though none of them had signed off on it beforehand. It was an over-the-top glorification and exaggeration of the events surrounding the Human/Juirean War and the Human ascension to the leadership of the Expansion. It ended with Adam’s famous abdication speech where Humanity gave the Expansion back to the Juireans so they could return home and begin building their own stellar empire. The storyline would dovetail nicely into the ceremony, and, unfortunately, was becoming part of the standard media kit surrounding all new membership events.

  Omar Piero was still talking: “He’ll then introduce the three of you, at which point you will have a half-an-hour for your presentation. Please feel free to extend it if you like. I have to say, it will be the highlight of the event, and one which billions of beings on Uinsid have been anxious to see.” He flashed his practiced smile again. “After all, no one wants to hear politicians speak unless they have to. Most are tuning in to see you. Following all the official hoopla, there will be a Drunage Match, which you may find interesting.”