by T. R. Harris
“They are nearly on station.”
“I understand. What we have to do now is deploy a platform with each major fleet, as well as speed up the conversion of individual units into beamships.”
“There are only two completed platforms,” said the Overlord. He looked off-screen and conferred with someone. When he came back, he reported. “I am told that since we now have facilities in place to construct the platforms, a new one can be completed every ten days. And the beamships can be converted in sixteen hours once a vessel reports to a work center.”
“That’s good news, Lord Zonus.”
The fleet flagship thundered and shook again from a series of plasma bolts striking the hull. Lights flickered on the bridge as smoke oozed from between bulkhead panels. Alarms clanged with crewmembers engaged in a dance of organized chaos.
“What is your condition?” the Juirean asked.
Ware smiled. “Grim. Power is cycling down.” He nodded off screen to someone. “I’ve just given the order to abandon ship.”
“Then I shall not keep you any longer,” said the Overlord.
“No rush, my friend; I’m not going anywhere. There are many more among my crew to leave first.”
“Yet you are of superior position; you are more valuable to the command structure than are the lower ranks.”
“That may be true, but that’s not how we do things around here. I will wait until the bulk of my crew is safely away before I depart. It’s our tradition.”
“It is a foolish tradition, to waste talent and expertise when it is not necessary.”
“We will have to debate this at another time, Lord Zonus. Until then, get the factories working overtime. The only way we’re going to defeat the Nuoreans is through superior technology.”
The CW screen went blank as the receiving dish on the hull evaporated. That same bolt melted hull metal and entered the Einstein just aft of the bridge and directly into the Combat Information Center. The resulting explosion blew off the front quarter of the huge carrier, killing all who remained on the bridge—including Admiral Victor Ware.
********
The crews were ecstatic. A wealth of immunity points had just been awarded throughout the two fleets and spirits were high. Although this wasn’t how the invasion of the Kac had been originally planned, it would do for now. Once the unified forces of this alien galaxy were suppressed, then the practice of individual challenges would be introduced on a much grander scale.
The forces standing against the Nuor had been effectively outmaneuvered, and now it was only a matter of time before the enemy ships would be either defeated or confined to small, yet well-defended regions within the galaxy. At that time, the Nuor would have free reign of the bulk of the Kac and all the immunity worlds therein. The trouble spots would eventually be overrun, but that would not be the priority. Consolidating Nuor presence in the Kac was the most immediate goal.
As was the practice of any good gamer, fleet commander Sanelis (314) took a moment to place himself into the mind of his enemy. It was obvious they had underestimated Nuorean strength and would be questioning how they could have been so wrong. It would be a logical step to conclude that his forces were now entering through various points, and not just one static location. If he were of the Kac, what would he do to counter such a strategy?
He thought back to the conversations he had had with the three captive Humans—who oddly came from a planet with the translated name of Dirt. They claimed to be part of a survey taking place along the outer edge of the Kac comprised multiple vessels. To Sanelis, that would be the only way of detecting entry points as they became active, yet a very inefficient way. And by immediately transitioning to minimal-output—dark status, they called it—his fleets could be hidden from all but the closest survey vessels.
That was well and good; however, the operation of the transit generators was impossible to hide. It created such a disturbance to local space that even from ten light-cycles away the effect was noticeable. Even then, by the time an enemy fleet could be deployed, the point would be closed and another opened.
Sanelis smiled. It was fortunate he did not have to devise a defense against the strategy his people were employing. He very much doubted he could.
Chapter 8
Adam’s emotions were tied in knots when it came time to leave Incus. He had tried a dozen times more to reach Sherri and Riyad, still with no success. They were past due and out of communications.
If it wasn’t for Lila, he would be on his way to find his friends, rather than his daughter. Unfortunately, he could only do one rescue at time. And if he was able to save Lila, she would certainly come in handy in his search for his friends.
The Najmah Fayd lifted off and entered a conventional gravity-well ten minutes later. All the time on the planet, Panur had been bombarded with even more questions about his suppressor beam platforms from the engineers on Formil, until the time when the first ones were completed, tested and deployed. Even then, the Formilians still wanted to tweak his designs. A day out from Incus, the mutant put his foot down, declaring a stop to such communications. Just follow the plans…and then repeat. It was as simple as that. He would refuse to take any more of their links.
On Incus, they had learned that the personal service module—Zee—had been found embedded in an ancient rock wall, which was itself part of a small, metal-rich asteroid in the Zaniff Asteroid Field. As Dacus explained, the field was located in Cadonic space and the Incus had taken the huge rock illegally. Since then, the Cadons had fortified their border between the two planetary confederations. Rumors about what the Incus had found on the asteroid had filtered back to Cadon, launching a mini gold rush of sorts to find other ancient treasures within the Field.
Panur became concerned that the Cadons might disrupt the orbits of certain asteroids crucial to his calculations. Adam was more worried about the presence of Cadon forces in the Field who might not be anxious to have more so-called treasure hunter in their midst.
With the engineers on Formil no longer a factor, Panur hopped through space with his trans-dimensional drive, first entering a parallel universe, then reentering the Milky Way at another point hundreds of light-years farther along their course. They skirted the Cadonic border guards this way and ended up on the outskirts of the Zaniff Field fourteen hours later.
All four members of the team were on the bridge, studying survey maps of the Field.
“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Adam said to Panur. “Since the Incus took the Aris asteroid away, how are you to trace its path back to their homeworld without the original?”
“Fortunately, the Incus miners kept a detailed recorded of where the original fragment was found within the field. But you are right. We cannot track its orbit to carry back our projections. However, since the original asteroid was made of exceptionally old material, I’m anticipating we’ll find other remnants that ended up in the field. By scanning the remaining asteroids, I hope to find another one that we can track.”
“That’s assuming a lot.”
“It depends. Once the orbits have been plotted, patterns will be revealed. Not every member of an asteroid belt is independent of the other. The majority originate from a common debris field, most often material from an unformed planet. Additional pieces entering the field would have come from outside, and making up only a fraction of the total. These rocks will stand out. We will then match their orbits with what we know of the location of the Aris asteroid and search for ancient rock along the same path.”
“Oh…is that all. And here I thought it was going to be complicated.”
Panur smiled. “Trust me, Adam, compared to some of the other things I’ve done, this is child’s play.”
“Cadonic ships in the vicinity, Adam,” Trimen reported from the pilot seat. “They are challenging us.”
Adam looked at the others on the bridge and smiled. “Well, looks like it’s time to see if my name carries any weight around here.” He sat down at the comm
station and opened a link.
“This is Adam Cain, I wish to speak to your unit commander.”
A moment later the screen before him lit up. The alien on display was a Prime, but with almost glowing yellow skin and radiant red eyes. The face was extremely narrow and covering in thin scales. Adam recoiled slightly from the unexpected nature of the Cadon. He was even more surprised when the skin color shifted to a soft blue before settling on a light brown. He waited a moment for the color to shift again, but it stabilized at something very close to Human skin tone.
“I am Simic Lor, authority administrator for the Zaniff Field. What is your purpose here? I have no record of your entry into Cadonic space.”
“As I said, I’m Adam Cain. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?”
“Yes…the Human. What is your purpose here? You have entered our space without authorization.”
“I just thought I’d pay a visit to your people, kind of a goodwill effort between the Orion-Cygnus Union and your confederation.”
“Under whose authority? The Cadonic are not supporters of your Union. We had wished to become part of the Expansion—until your intervention.”
Adam was taken aback. He hadn’t researched the political leanings of the Cadons, just assuming everyone in the Kidis Frontier had been against the annexation of the spur by the Juireans. Seems he assumed wrong.
“I understand, Simic Lor, and that is why I’m here; to patch up any misunderstandings and to offer assistance.”
“Your Union has sided with the Incus. As long as you support our enemy, you can expect no accommodation from the Cadonic.”
Adam was getting mad. Here was a lowly supervisor of a distance field of space rock making policy for his entire race.
“Forgive me, Simic Lor, but do you have authority to speak for your confederation? Perhaps I should seek a more-senior representative.”
The alien stretched out a wide grin, all the while keeping most of his yellowish teeth concealed. “Your arrogance is humorous and insulting, Adam Cain. Yes, I know of you and your reckless exploits, as well as your interference in the affairs of independent species throughout the galaxy. But what you do not realize is that the Zaniff Field is currently the most-important and valuable region within our confederation. As such, its security has been place under the authority of the ruling family, of which I am a member. Within our hierarchy, I am the third-highest ranking Cadon. So when you ask for a more senior representative, only my mother and father are higher. Now, do you wish me to bother them with your arrogant attempt to subvert my authority?”
Adam had never been known for this diplomatic prowess or instincts. This just showed why.
“Please forgive me; my intention was not to insult.”
“Then what is your true intention, Human?”
Adam couldn’t see how being honest would upset the applecart any more than it already was. “All we seek is permission to survey the paths of asteroids in the Zaniff Field.”
“To what end?”
“It’s of scientific importance is all, not financial. We will remove nothing—”
“Unlike your Incus partners.”
“I had nothing to do with that.”
“It matters not,” said the alien, whose skin had now shifted back to the intense yellow. His original matching of Human skin tone must have been a courtesy. No such accommodation was now being offered. “I find satisfaction in denying your request and ordering you—the famous Adam Cain—from Cadonic space. Comply—or I will be known throughout the galaxy as the being who finally ended your reign of terror and intimidation.”
“I would recommend you reconsider—”
“More vessels closing,” Trimen reported. Adam saw that the mutants had taken up stations on the bridge.
“You have two Juirean minutes to comply.”
“I’m afraid we can’t do that. We’re going to do our survey, whether you let us or not.”
“Weapons charging—they’ve launched bolts.”
“I thought we had two minutes?” Adam said to the grinning alien.
“I lied.”
Adam tried to imagine the shock on Simic Lor’s narrow face when the Najmah Fayd disappeared from his screens. Panur had sent the ship into an alternate universe and then made it reappear moments later behind the ring of Cadonic starships forming to destroy them.
J’nae released an array of flash bolts toward the alien ships, aimed directly at their strongest shield points. She hesitated launching a second wave until the first had contacted the diffusion screens and been absorbed, waiting for the intentions of the Cadons to become known. They didn’t want to kill the Cadons, just make a statement.
The aliens turned out to be more stubborn than smart. They changed course and unleashed another barrage of cannon bolts at the Najmah Fayd. After another quick transition, the ship was once again to the rear of the attacking ships, leaving the released bolts to dissipate in the emptiness of space as their maximum range was reach and then exceeded.
Adam opened the CW link again.
“Are you done playing around?” he asked the glowing yellow face of Simic Lor. The color was even more brilliant, probably the result of anger, fear or frustration—probably all three. “Just let us do our survey and no one will get hurt.”
The red eyes bore into Adam’s. “Do I have a choice?”
“No you don’t.”
“A formal complaint will be lodged with the Union, although I doubt anything will be done to their most revered hero.”
“So…permission granted?”
“Proceed, yet you will be watched. Remove nothing, complete your survey, and then be gone.”
Adam winked at the yellow alien. This time when Simic smiled, it came with a full display of teeth—which meant something entirely different to the alien than a smile.
********
“We’ve identified three asteroids with rock as old as the original fragment, and they follow the same general trajectory.” Panur didn’t bother to look away from his computer screen to make the report. J’nae was hunched over next to him, busily typing on a keyboard. “There are more variables to factor in, and then a smoothing of the findings, but we are very close.”
Adam had his eyes on a different screen. “The Cadons are getting close too. They’ve brought up more ships, and some biggies. I didn’t know they had such a sizeable fleet out here.”
“We’re almost done.”
“Can we not complete the calculations outside Cadonic space?” Trimen asked.
“Just a few more.” Panur looked at J’nae. She nodded.
“Very well, Trimen, you may take us away.”
The mutant had already programmed in a TD-jump to take them away from the Cadonic asteroid belt. Trimen fingered the controls and instantly a greenish glow filtered into the bridge through the main viewport. It remained for nearly a full minute before space outside returned to normal.
“We are now sixteen light-years from the asteroid field and outside Cadonic space,” Trimen reported with relief. “I assume this is the proper course toward the Aris hiding place?”
“Generally. As the calculations are refined, I will feed you course corrections.”
“How far do we have to go?” Adam asked.
“Hard to tell, since we only have an estimate of when the Aris star became unstable. The timeframe could vary by millions of years. As such we cannot accurately calculate the distance the fragments traveled. Yet as long as we follow this course, we should eventually find evidence.”
“But in round numbers, are we talking days, weeks or months?”
“We must remain in this universe to avoid missing clues, so I would estimate days, to perhaps a few weeks.”
Adam was afraid he’d say that. He was already fed up with the cramped conditions aboard the starship. He also had Sherri and Riyad on his mind. The longer it took to find and rescue Lila, the colder the trail for his friends would get.
And now that they were closing in the loc
ation of the Aris, the sixty-four thousand dollar question still remained unanswered: What would they do then? How do you defeat an enemy a million years more advanced, and able to abscond with an immortal mutant genius without batting an eye?
This is what kept Adam Cain awake at night, with questions that were also destined to change his life.
Chapter 9
Apparently, the mutants had the same concerns—at least about Lila—and now that they had a track on the region of space where the Aris may be hiding, the question had to be answered.
“I need to know more about how they were able to subdue Lila,” Panur said to Adam and Trimen. “I am not foolish enough to believe we can rescue her without first learning their secrets. The Aris possess technology beyond even my imagining. We must take them seriously.”
“We’ve told you all we know,” Adam replied. “There’s no more to tell.”
“I understand, but please indulge me.”
Adam looked at Trimen. “Well, let’s see. All the other guards were under the influence of some brain-dulling wave; I figured Trimen and I were immune to the full effects because of our ATD’s. When we entered Lila’s room, we were hit by a more intense beam that gave me one hell of a headache. Lila was encased in a shimmering blue bubble of light. We were alone until the pain went away, and then I saw the Aris.”
“They just appeared?”
“That’s right. They were also in blue bubbles, and when they moved, they seemed to glide along the floor rather than walk.”
Panur looked at Trimen. “My recollection is not as detailed,” the Formilian admitted. “My blindness to the Aris remained throughout. All I could see was Lila.”
“There is more here than you both realize,” Panur stated. “Your minds recorded data even if you cannot recall. If I’m to have a chance of developing a counter to the Aris powers, I will need to extract this hidden data.”
“Extract…like how?” Adam asked.
“I have been thinking on this, and have decided that a mind meld would be the most efficient.”