Prelude to War (The Human Chronicles Saga Book 10)

by T. R. Harris

  It had been decided that no ship-to-ship communications would be allowed in order to coordinate the attack, since these signals might be detected. The Que’l gunners had to go by intuition, surveying the locations of the mainships within the fleet until they believed all their counterparts were ready.

  After a tense few minutes, the first Que’l gunner made a decision and fired his weapons. This was the moment the rest of them had been waiting for. There followed such a brilliant flash from within the Union fleet that sensors were overloaded and eyesight temporarily blinded.

  Then it was over. Within three seconds, over eight hundred Sol-Kor mainships were exploding derelicts cluttering the space between the Union fleet. There were still over four hundred mainships left intact, mainly forming a cluster of vessels between the Union fleet and the portal, but they now retreated, falling back to protect the array and the portal.

  The Human crews quickly recovered once the mainships were destroyed and the beams disappeared. Grateful for the assistance of the Que’l, they took over piloting and weapons control, surging their vessel forward after the retreating Sol-Kor.

  Chapter 37

  Adam and the Que’l Drunage team reached the Continuous Wormhole Communications Center of the Klin space station and began crowding into the confined space. All the Que’l had been issued Xan-fi flash rifles with extra battery packs while still aboard the speeder, and now they gripped them confidently in impossibly large hands, making the weapons appear small and insignificant. For his part, Adam wore a tac vest and carried an M-91 carbine and a holstered .45 Smith and Wesson. He also had a thin breathing tube in his left nostril, fed by a small oxygen supply bottle in his vest. It only gave him an hour of supplemental air, but if they weren’t in and out in that time, then breathing probably wouldn’t be an issue anymore.

  In the far corner of the now overpacked room, the mutant Panur was busy at a console, assisted by three very nervous-looking Klin. Adam walked up to him.

  “We’re ready when you are.”

  “All is set. I provided a schematic to the Queen’s complex in your wrist monitor, with the most direct route to her chambers. The portal is about a hundred yards from where she spends most of her time.” He then paused and looked at Adam with concerned eyes. “Are you sure you want to pursue this course of action? Mr. Tarazi may be somewhere near, so you might be able find him on your own.”

  “We’re flying blind, Panur. Holding the Queen hostage until Riyad is released will get him to us no matter where he is, and without having to look for him, assuming he’s even in the complex.”

  “There’s a ninety-four point-nine percent chance that he is.”

  “That’s good enough for me. Now, tell us when to go…and be sure to close the door behind us. I wouldn’t want to make it back here just to find some uninvited guests waiting.”

  Adam and the forty-five Que’l looked awkward and out of place, all shuffling nervously in the small room, with apparently nowhere to go. For this to be the entry point to another universe seemed so unlikely as to be absurd.

  And then Panur flicked a switch somewhere and a shimmering, seemingly holographic image appeared near the middle of the room. Everyone backed away from it. Although it could only be viewed from one direction, the portal did show another room beyond, with three Sol-Kor hunched over a console with their backs to the doorway.

  One turned toward the portal, a look of confusion on his face. Then his eyes grew wide and he turned back to the console in a panic.

  Adam ran forward, unleashing a spread from the M-91. The three Sol-Kor were riddled with slugs, blood splattering the work console. But the damage was already done. An alarm was sounding.

  Adam turned back to the portal, only to see the Que’l standing on the other side with looks of trepidation painted on their square faces. “C’mon!” Adam cried out.

  Dravis was the first of the Que’l through, which then started the stampede Soon the portal room in another universe was crawling with rabid-looking eight-footers, just looking for something to shoot or ram.

  Adam looked through the portal and saw Panur standing on the other side, a universe away. The pale alien nodded and then the portal disappeared in a wisp of blue haze. Adam was shocked by the sudden feelings he had, not expecting this moment to affect him so. He was now in another universe…and cut off from his own.

  The press of Que’l brought him back to reality.

  He referenced his wrist monitor, and after getting his bearings he turned to the anxious Que’l and said with heroic emphasis, “Follow me!”

  If he hadn’t been so distracted with his feelings of isolation, Adam would have noticed that the gravity on the planet Kor was even lighter than that found aboard the Klin ship. As it was, his leading step toward the exit doorway was much faster and stronger than he needed, and he found himself soaring into the air, with his head crashing hard against the upper doorjamb. He fell backwards, blocking the passageway—just as the mass of Que’l began to pass through. Like a scene from an old Keystone Cops movie, bodies tumbled like dominoes, and alien curse words echoed throughout the room..

  Righting himself, Adam noticed the angry looks on the faces of the Que’l.

  Damn, this is an awful way to start the mission!

  All animosity was soon forgotten, however, as the now-angry horde rushed headlong down a wide corridor toward the Queen’s chambers. With the alarm having already been sounded, scores of Sol-Kor guards were responding. At first these hapless creatures came around corners to point their blue beams at the invaders, even though the entire complex was already saturated with the beam constantly. Unaffected, Adam and the Que’l unceremoniously cut them down where they stood. Yet, to their credit, word quickly spread among the Sol-Kor that the beam was ineffective on the invaders, and soon the brilliant streaks from flash weapons began to fill the corridors.

  Several of the Que’l had now taken the lead, and it was amazing to see them lower their heads and take the full brunt of the flash impacts on their bony top plates. Adam could see the burn marks and smell the sickening odor of charred flesh, yet the Que’l showed no reaction to the damage, apparently lacking nerve ending on the tops of their heads. They continued unabated in their charge until they crashed full speed into the Sol-Kor defenders. Bones snapped and lungs collapsed despite the fact that the Sol-Kor were only a few inches shorter than the Que’l. Their huge bony heads and thick necks made all the difference in this clash of titans.

  Up ahead, at an intersection requiring the charging horde to turn left, a barricade had been hastily constructed out of furniture and electrical equipment. The Sol-Kor were shooting from behind it, often now with deadly accuracy. The Que’l were fine as long as the bolts hit the tops of their heads. If not, they fell just like any other creature would. Adam was saddened to see several Que’l fall to the floor of the hallway, their comrades having no time to tend to their wounded or their dead. They just kept barreling forward.

  Dravis—being the fastest among them—reached the barricade first. He lowered his head and plowed right through, until his large anvil of a head caught a Sol-Kor defender and slammed him flat into the far wall. In one of the most bizarre scenes Adam had ever witnessed, the alien’s head literally popped off as a result of the crushing impact.

  With no time to savor the moment, Adam and his Que’l swept around the corner, where more deadly plasma bolts greeted them.

  Adam soon found himself in the middle of the pack, surrounded by towering gray creatures and unable to bring his weapon to bear on any target beyond the wall of Que’l. He looked at his monitor. They were almost there.

  “On the right, ten meters!” he called forward to Dravis, who glanced back quickly with an acknowledging nod. The Drunage team captain spotted the door ahead, and then without even slowing down to open it, lowered his head and took aim….

  Chapter 38

  Riyad hadn’t expected to be shown to the Queen’s quarters so soon after his arrival on Kor. But without s
o much as a bathroom break he was fitted with a small breathing tube and brought into a huge, columned room where the Queen was to be found.

  The first thing he noticed as he entered was the god-awful smell, like a mixture of soiled underwear and dirty feet. Then there was the squishy sound coming from somewhere farther back in the room. But his greatest shock was saved for the moment the small entourage of guards—led by Vosmin Yon—guided him around a tall blind to the Queen herself.

  As would be expected from a unique member of a species tasked with producing all the others, the Queen was larger than the normal Sol-Kor, easily three times as large, with similar features as the males, yet distinctly female as well. What was most disconcerting, however, was the fact that the Queen’s head was about the same size as a normal Sol-Kor, appearing so out of place sitting above a bulbous, rippled blob of flesh barely covered in clothing that looked as if it hadn’t been changed in years. There was also a long, fleshy tube of some kind extending from between a pair of pale, fat legs, and where Riyad could see small, softball-size objects working their way down the tube to disappear behind another partition. Eggs? Riyad thought. Was that how she could produce so many offspring?

  Looking at the smelly mass of living tissue, it was obvious the Queen hadn’t moved in…who knew how long? And although there were probably attendants responsible for her personal hygiene, they obviously weren’t doing the job.

  But the worst part was the face. Granted, this was an alien, and who was Riyad to judge the beauty of the one-and-only Sol-Kor female? But damn! She was butt ugly—wrinkled, pockmarked, baggy-eyed and with a spider web-like mass of steel wool on her head that passed for hair. Her mouth was like that of the males, yet the lips were cracked and her few remaining teeth were a sickly mustard color.

  Being this close to the filthy mess nearly made him puke.

  Vosmin stepped past him and bowed, while simultaneously placing a powerful elbow into Riyad’s midsection. “Bow before the Great Queen, the Creator of All, the Guiding Mother to the Sol-Kor race.”

  Riyad obeyed, if only so he could divert his eyes from the disgusting sight before him.

  “Vosmin Yon, is this the creature that has caused all the concern among my planners?”

  “Yes it is, my Queen, a representative of the strain called Human.”

  “Has he been tested?”

  “We did a non-invasive probe, since you wished him kept alive for this audience. The findings were exceptional, much like the others from U-Five.”

  “This is good news. I am informed that this is the richest crop ever discovered.”

  “That is true, my Queen.”

  “So why have you not begun harvesting?” The Queen’s tone changed from one of curiosity to accusatory. “Surely we have the resources to suppress the resistance, Noslead.”

  Vosmin shuffled nervously. “We will, as soon as the prime stations are completed. Until now we have been limited by the primary site’s primitive nature and size.”

  “And the base station? I understand that is no longer operational as well.”

  “Correct, my Queen. My ship was the last to pass through. Yet prime station one is now complete. I will be returning to U-Five through that portal, along with a force large enough to subdue any resistance.”

  “And what of Panur? You have lost him.”

  “He is not lost, my Queen. He is following his own path, as you know he has a tendency to do. I could not stop him.”

  “I do not have to tell you how important he is the Colony. Upon your return, make it a priority to have him returned to me. Tell him I demand it.”

  “Of course, it will be done.”

  The Queen of the Sol-Kor now turned her attention on Riyad. He smiled broadly and winked.

  “Do you suffer from an infliction of some sort? Are you diseased?”

  Riyad was amused. “No, I’m not diseased. I’m just greeting a very lovely female in the way my people are accustomed. I must say, I know now why the Sol-Kor worship you so.”

  “It is because I gave them birth.”

  “No, it is because of your hypnotic beauty, my Queen.”

  “I am aware of the concept of beauty. I have studied countless strains who revere such things. Do you truly find me to be in this category? I would not expect such attribution from my children, yet from others the comment has evoked a strange sensation within me. Strange…and not entirely unwelcomed.”

  “As my people have a saying: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I, therefore, cannot help myself based on what I see.”

  Vosmin glared at Riyad. “My Queen, I have seen how this strain manipulates situations to their liking. Believe me, he is only teasing you, playing with your emotions with undeserved compliments as a means of gaining favor.”

  “You believe the compliment is undeserved, as in unworthy of my attention? Or is it undeserved because it is not true?”

  Riyad saw Vosmin’s jaw fall open as he hesitated answering. “Eh, my Queen, you are my Creator, therefore I have no opinion on the status of your beauty. You are…what you are.”

  The Queen considered Vosmin for a long moment before returning her attention to Riyad. “I have decided to keep you around longer, as we study further this concept of beauty within females. I suppose that as the only female in the Colony, I could be considered both the most beautiful—as well as the most hideous—of all the females, seeing that I occupy the only place on the scale.”

  “That may be so, my Queen,” Riyad said, “yet even then, there is no denying your status as the most intelligent within the Colony.”

  “That would be Panur, Human, and that I accept. However, seeing that he is a mutant—an exception—I will acknowledge my place as number two without complaint.”

  Just then the sound of distant popping could be heard, like that of a faraway fireworks show at a local carnival. With Riyad knowing nothing about the goings on in the Queen’s complex, he did his best to keep his hopes in check. Yet any time he heard the sound of automatic weapons fire, only one thing came to mind: Adam Cain!

  The confused looks on the faces of the Sol-Kor now spoke volumes. Vosmin barked out an order and three of the guards ran from the room to investigate. Then the room was filled with other Sol-Kor, all with weapons in their hands and worried looks on their faces.

  “What is happening?” the Queen asked.

  Vosmin looked at Riyad, who flashed back a Cheshire Cat smile before saying, “Maybe you shouldn’t have messed with the Humans.”

  As if to punctuate the statement, the thick, ornately-carved wood double door at the end of the large chamber suddenly imploded. Several huge gray creatures with oversized, solid block heads stormed into the room, some firing flash weapons, while the majority stampeded heads down into the surrounding guards. Bodies went flying, people screamed, and the sound of hooved feet clacking on the stone floor was deafening.

  It was over in seconds; the room swarmed with these hulking beasts.

  Vosmin pulled his flash weapon and grabbed Riyad, wrapping a thick arm around his neck and pressing the barrel of the weapon against his head.

  That’s when Adam Cain calmly entered the room.

  “Party crasher,” Riyad said, just before Vosmin tightened the grip around his neck, choking off any further speech.

  ********

  The stunned look on Adam’s face was priceless. He never imagined he’d find Riyad this quickly, and in the Queen’s chambers of all places. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  All Riyad could do was nod. Then Adam looked to the incredible, smelly blob that had to be Queen of the Sol-Kor. “Holy crap, is that her?”

  Again Riyad nodded.

  “Asexual wouldn’t be enough for me,” Adam said. “If I looked like that, I wouldn’t even do myself.”

  “I do not know what you expect to achieve here, Human,” said Vosmin. “Within seconds there will be so many Sol-Kor in this room that we will sacrifice hundreds just to deplete your charges. Then we will overwhelm
you…you and your animals.”

  Dravis took a step towards Vosmin. Struggling against the alien’s grip, Riyad called out: “No, Dravis, I got this one.”

  Riyad had both his hands on Vosmin’s forearm…and now he began to squeeze. The alien’s eyes grew wide as the pain began to register, even while Riyad slipped a hand around the thick wrist of Vosmin’s gun hand and twisted. The weapon discharged, but it missed Riyad’s head with inches to spare. The Human turned around, still gripping Vosmin’s wrist and arm, and soon the alien had been flipped around with his back to Riyad. The flash weapon fell to the floor.

  Now it was Riyad’s turn to place an arm across Vosmin’s neck, soon evolving into a full nelson chokehold. This wasn’t easy for him to accomplish, not on a creature over a foot taller than him. So Riyad pulled back, bending the alien backwards to get a firmer grip.

  “Hurry up, Riyad,” Adam said. “We gotta go.”

  Tarazi obeyed. He pressed with the arm behind Vosmin’s head, bending the alien’s neck forward until a pronounced crack was heard. The Sol-Kor officer fell limp in Riyad’s arms, and was then casually tossed aside. Riyad bent down and picked up the discarded flash weapon.

  He and Adam stood before the wide-eyed Queen of the Sol-Kor, one with an M-19 aimed at her, the other a plasma handgun. In unison, they pressed their triggers.

  Just then a white blur passed their vision, and the mutant Panur was standing in front of them. The single round fired by Adam struck him in the chest, as did a sizzling plasma bolt fired by Riyad. The bolt spread out across his burnt clothing, causing the alien’s skin to glow white. Panur threw back his head and inhaled sharply. Then he leveled his intense gaze at the two stunned Humans. The white glow of the flash bolt quickly dissipated, even as the bullet wound closed before their eyes and disappeared as if it had never been there.