by T. R. Harris
It seemed as though the Juirean’s own cleverness had come back to bite them in the ass.
Chapter 57
Kackil stood round-eyed watching the devastation on the screen before him. The Humans had quickly eliminated all of the Juirean blocking forces at the damper field and now hundreds of enemy ships were entering the Corridor unopposed. The central Human fleet had begun to press his forces further to the bottom of the Corridor, and already the Overlord could see his lines breaking apart in panic.
It was over.
Suddenly something snapped in Kackil’s head. He reached over and grabbed the back of Hoan’s cloak and threw the Fleet Commander into a nearby console. “It is lost!” the Overlord yelled at the stunned bridge crew. “You have all failed me!”
Hoan regained his balance and stood to face the deranged Overlord. “My Lord…calm yourself immediately!” Hoan yelled, while waving with his hand for others around him to come to his assistance. “You must provide the fleet with guidance now. You must not lose control of your mental faculties.”
“Guidance! You want guidance?” Kackil screamed even louder. Several Guards moved up behind the ranting Overlord. “I will give you guidance. The war is lost! Do you realize that, Hoan?”
“No my Lord – only the battle.”
“You stupid fool. This battle was the war!” Kackil rushed toward Hoan once again, but was grabbed from behind by the other Guards. He jerked his arms in a desperate attempt to escape, but the hold was too strong.
“Please escort the Overlord back to his quarters and stand guard upon him,” Hoan commanded. “The Overlord just needs time to rest before returning his manner.”
Yet as the Guards hustled the Overlord off the bridge, Hoan turned once more to the tac screen. His forces were now disappearing from the screen at an exponential rate, as the bright cluster of Human contacts now merged into a cloud of insurmountable size.
The Overlord may return to his quarters, but he will not have time to recover from his psychotic break, Hoan thought. At least not before Hoan’s own ship would disappear from existence.
Chapter 58
How could this be? Linuso thought. The new Human fleet is still in the Fringe. There is no possible way they could have closed the distance between the Fringe and Falor-Kapel in only an hour or two.
He moved to the door of the theater room. “Get me a direct link with our forces in the Fringe!”
Almost instantly, the right side of the screen once again split in two. On the smaller screen, a Klin appeared, startled that the Pleabaen would be linking to him without warning.
“Where is this new Human fleet!” Linuso screamed at the screen.
The mouth of this new Klin dropped open slightly, and then he looked down, apparently calling up data on a second screen. He looked back at Linuso. “They are mid-way through the Void; I have two of our ships shadowing them at this very moment. May I inquire as to—”
“Cut the link,” the Pleabaen commanded. He returned to stand before the screen showing the interior of the Klin flagship, which was now revealing a frenzied scene of chaos.
Hoden’s face swept back into view. “They are definitely Human, and they are now smashing through the Juirean lines with relative ease.”
“I can see that, Fleet Master,” Linuso said, anger in his voice. “My question is where did they come from?”
Hoden hesitated answering for a moment as a Kracori was speaking in his ear. He turned back to the screen. “The Kracori believe the estimates of their losses leading up to this engagement may have been deliberately exaggerated to give the illusion of a weakened force. They estimate that the Humans will survive this battle with a force numbering close to seven hundred ships, maybe more. What should I do?”
Adam saw Linuso bite his bottom lip, his eyes now staring intently at the floor in front of the large screen. He was quiet for almost a full minute before raising his head back to the screen.
“Disengage, Fleet Master. Our force of three hundred ships cannot match the Humans on this battlefield. We cannot afford to sacrifice our forces for a cause we will not win. Layoff the system and await further orders.”
The Fleet Master’s mouth dropped open slightly, and Adam could see all the others within the field of the pilothouse lens suddenly stop what they were doing and stare at Hoden.
He nodded at Linuso. “I will obey. What are we to do now?”
“I do not know. This new situation will require a rethinking. You may cut the link, Fleet Master.”
After the screen went blank, Linuso slowly turned to face the small audience seated in the room. “Do not think this has changed any of your fortunes,” he said, staring directly at Adam. “If anything, it has only hastened your demise. It appears as though you Humans are of no value to us whatsoever, not anymore. Now besides the Juireans, you have made full enemies of the Klin, and you, Mr. Cain, will not live to regret it.”
He moved to the door of the theater room, just as a dozen aliens armed with flash rifles entered the command center. “Take them all away to detention. I will send further instructions momentarily.”
Chapter 59
Detention, it turned out, was not the plush suite Adam and his team had been previously sequestered in, but rather a thick-walled traditional jail setup located in another building on the estate grounds. They were all placed in the same cell, as a single, solid metal door slammed shut. There were no windows in the room, and only six cots, a wash basin and a toilet set into one wall.
The mood of the prisoners was decidedly depressed; to Adam it looked like this could be the end of the line. The only consolation was that the Humans had pulled a swift one on the Juireans, and in the process royally screwed up the plans of the Klin. That was a double bonus. As a soldier, Adam always accepted the concept of sacrifice for the greater good. He and his companions had fought the good fight. They had confounded the enemy and even managed to take quite a few of them out along the way. It looked like the Human race may actually prevail in this war, and now, after the purge of the Klin spies on Earth, they appeared to be in complete control of their destiny.
Adam sat down next to Kaylor on one of the cots. The tall alien didn’t seem to be sharing in his quiet resignation.
“We are to be executed, and soon,” the Belsonian said, stating verbally what was on the minds of all the other prisoners. “And for what good?”
“Rejoice in the knowledge that the Klin have had their plans all covered in shit, Kaylor,” Adam said through a wry smirk. “That’s what’s going to get the rest of us through this.”
“Uh-rah!” John Tindal said.
“Uh-rah!” said all the rest of the Humans.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Kaylor asked, anger growing in his voice. “You have always had a plan. I have never seen you give up.”
“In battle Kaylor, not all the warriors survive. However, just knowing that your side is winning can bring you a lot of comfort.”
“Your side is the Human side. We – Jym and I – are not Human. We do not have a winning side in this conflict.”
“You have a point there, my friend—”
Just then, the door unlatched noisily and flew open, and several more Humans were shoved into the cell – including Nigel McCarthy and Carter Thomas.
Adam sprung to his feet and instantly took up a defensive stance – legs spread, left hand forward, right hand back in a fist.
McCarthy instantly recognized Adam and held up his hands, palms open, facing Adam. “No need, Mr. Cain. We are all in the same boat now.”
“I don’t give a fuck!” Adam yelled, taking a step forward.
Carter Thomas stepped between them. “Chill out, man,” the large black man said. “This is not the time or the place. We have to work together now.”
“What’s the use? The fucking Klin aren’t going to keep a lot of troublemakers like us around for very long. I’d just as soon spend what time I have left kicking the shit out this asshole.”
&n
bsp; Tobias and Riyad flanked Adam and lightly placed their hands on his shoulders. The last thing the two of them wanted was a full-scale melee to erupt in the cell between Adam’s men and McCarthy’s.
McCarthy stepped around his hulking mediator and up to Adam. “Carter’s right. We have to work together now, as unit – if we’re to get out of here alive.”
Adam was stunned by McCarthy’s brazen statement. “You’re crazy. Why do you think we have a chance to get out of here?”
McCarthy leaned in closer to Adam; Riyad and Tobias leaned in, too. “It’s because I’ve never trusted these silver-skinned bastards in the first place,” said the big Brit in his sharp, sing-song accent. “You see, I’ve made contingency plans, like any good Special Forces operative would.” He looked Adam hard in the eyes, only inches from his face. “You with me, mate – or not?”
Adam hesitated for a moment, trying to determine the truth in McCarthy’s words. Finally he leaned in even closer and grunted, “Uh-rah, you son-of-a bitch. Let’s do this!”
McCarthy walked over to the wall near the door to the cell. “I’ve had free reign of this place for almost seven years now, and I always wondered why the Klin would have a jail cell constructed on the estate,” he said turning his back on everyone in the room. “The Klin never commit any crime against each other, so I figured it had to be for us – just in case we caused them any trouble.”
He ran his fingers along the concrete block of the wall until he felt something, and then he pushed. One of the blocks spun outward. He reached inside what was a small cavity in the block and pulled out a long tube, about the length of a pencil with tiny notches placed within it. He held it up for all in the cell to see. “I give you … a key.”
Adam rushed forward, flanked by Tobias and Rutledge. “That’s great, McCarthy,” Adam said. “But what do we do once we get outside?”
“I have that covered, too.” The big Brit nodded to Carter Thomas and the other five men who had been placed in the cell with him. They all moved quickly to the cots and flipped them over. Pulling the long side supports apart, they revealed metal tubes with something hidden inside each one. Thomas lifted up one of the tubes and let its contents slide out into this hand. It was a sword, about a meter long. Adam could tell it was one of the fancy biometric blades which utilized nanotechnology for constant sharpening at the molecular level, just like the ones he and Sherri had used on Hyben. These blades never went dull and provided an almost laser-like cut through just about any material.
“Why not flash rifles or something like that?” Sherri asked.
“These are much more subtle, missy,” McCarthy answered; Sherri bristled at being called missy.
“This doesn’t answer the question about what do we do when we get out of here,” Chief Rutledge said. “We’re up to our assholes in hostiles and no way off this rock.”
“Have faith, mate. Like I said, I’ve got it covered. I’ve seen the Klin operate in the past, with other races they’ve used and discarded. Even though they always said they needed me and my men, I never felt they gave us the respect we were due. I figured it was just a matter of time before they’d throw us all away, too, just like the others. Once we’re out of here, there’s a car park behind the building where we can get some transports out of here. Just stick with me and my men, and we’ll be out of here in a jiffy.”
Besides the eight members in Adam’s team – including Kaylor and Jym – McCarthy had Thomas plus five other extremely fit-looking men with him, all looking to be ex-Special Forces as well. All of McCarthy’s men were now armed with the blades, plus three extras which he passed to Adam, Tobias and Rutledge. Tindal, Riyad and Sherri armed themselves each with a length of pipe from the cots.
McCarthy and Thomas took up positions on each side of the door, and then the Brit inserted the key into a round hole in the door and turned it.
Thomas flung the door open while McCarthy bolted into the room outside. Two guards were there, natives of the planet Marishal. Before either could react, McCarthy had slashed down on one of them with the sword, severing the alien’s right arm. The cut was so quick and clean that the stunned creature had time to look down at its fallen limb lying on the floor and then over at its shoulder – a blank look on its face – before collapsing to the ground. Thomas had swung his blade low at the other guard, slicing through both its legs. The creature tumbled forward, and before it could reach the ground, the hulking black man had brought the blade back down from behind, severing the creature’s head from its body. Neither guard had made a sound as they died.
All the prisoners spilled out into the area outside the cell. The jailhouse was a small building, separated from the rest of the more elaborate structures that made up the Klin estate. In consisted of basically two rooms; the room they now found themselves in and the cell itself. Even though the jail had been built as a contingency by the Klin, they obviously had not been expecting to use it much.
McCarthy and Adam moved to the exit and cracked open the door, just enough to look outside. They were about a hundred meters from the main building, with the jailhouse sitting far off in a secluded corner of the grounds. There were a few trees placed aesthetically between them and the main building, and Adam could now see a large number alien cars parked behind the building between the structure and the wide lake.
“We need to get to the car park without drawing attention to ourselves,” McCarthy said. “Go out in twos and threes and walk casually toward the park. Nothing will draw more attention than fifteen people all sprinting across the lawn.”
“Roger that,” Adam said. He turned to his people and they all paired off, making sure that a Human was assigned to walk with Kaylor and Jym each – just in case they panicked halfway to the parking lot.
McCarthy turned to Thomas. “Get them all to the shuttle. We’ll meet you there as soon as we’re done.” Thomas nodded, and then slipped out the door, followed by all the others.
“What are you going to do?” Adam asked, suspiciously.
“It’s what the two of us are going to do, Mr. Cain.” McCarthy pointed a freckled finger at the main building. “See that antenna array on the roof? That’s the main comm link between the Klin command and the rest of galaxy. I’m sure you’ve been pretty impressed with what they can do as far as communications are concerned. Well it’s through that damn thing up there that all the magic happens.” He grinned broadly at Adam. “We’re going to take it out.”
“With what…these swords?” Adam protested. “You’re fucking crazy!”
“Have faith, mate. Like I said, I’ve planned ahead.”
The massive ginger-haired man stepped out of the jailhouse and began to casually stroll toward the main building; Adam quickly moved up beside him. The other prisoners were now about halfway to the parking lot, and even though they weren’t running, it was still an odd scene, as small clusters of Humans nonchalantly strolling across the green lawn of the estate, yet all headed in the same direction.
There were several aliens outside of the main building, some tending to the grounds, others coming and going from the huge parking lot. There were easily a hundred transports or more parked there. Occasionally, a few of the aliens would look over at the slowly approaching Humans and lock their gazes on them for a moment, but none pursued it beyond idle curiosity.
Tobias and Thomas were the first to reach the parking lot. Since most of the transports were sized to carry four passengers at the most, they would need either the largest vehicle they could find, or a convoy of four of the smaller cars to get all fifteen of them away. Thomas checked the door of a large truck sitting near the edge of the lot. It was unlocked – another consequence of the Klin’s trust amongst themselves. He jumped into the driver’s seat while Tobias run to the back and raised the rear door panel. As the others arrived, they began to climb in the back.
Sherri looked around just as she reached the rear of the truck and didn’t see Adam. Riyad noticed, too, and they both began to scan the gr
ounds.
Adam was nearly at the main building by now and noticed when Sherri hesitate at the rear of the truck. They made eye contact. Sherri shook her head and raised her arms out to her side in a gesture of “What are you doing?”
Adam moved his right hand back and forth and then waved for her to go ahead. Still she hesitated, until Riyad grabbed her by the arm and almost threw her into the back of the truck.
Chapter 60
When McCarthy and Adam reached the side of the huge brick building, the SAS operative moved swiftly to a stone bench sitting near the structure, facing the lake and nestled in a cluster of small trees and bushes with brightly blossoming flowers. Using his considerable strength, McCarthy lifted the stone bench off its base and set it down on the grass. Inside the base Adam saw four canvass satchels.
The ginger-man pulled two of the bags out and handed them to Adam. “Do you know what cyclotrimethylene trinitramine is?”
“Yeah, it’s C4 explosive.” said the Navy SEAL.
“Well we’re going to climb to the roof the building and place these charges around the base of the antenna.”
“That’s pretty convenient, that you’d have these explosives just sitting here.” Adam said.
“I’ve been planning for this contingency for a long time. I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to use these, but we can’t have the Klin sending out word to stop us as we’re leaving the planet, now can we? Knocking out their communications will give us a jump start. It’s basic stuff, Cain.”
Just then, a loud whooping sound rose up from seemingly everywhere around the estate. The two Special Forces operatives crouched down lower in the bushes and looked toward the prison building. There was a small car parked outside of it now, with several aliens – including a few Klin – scrambling about. Adam looked over at the parking lot and noticed that the truck carrying the team was now gone. He breathed a sigh of relief.