Human Chronicles Part 2 Book 2: The Apex Predator (19 page)

“You know I love you, Sherri,” Adam said, not looking away from his console, “but you do have a talent for stating the obvious.”

“Yeah, but it sure beats sitting around keeping it all bottled up inside. Besides, I want to make sure we’re both on the same page.”

“And what page is that, my dear, the one that reads ‘The End’?”

“You know, the frickin Kracori won’t feel the urgency to follow us so closely … if they think we’re dead.”

“And how do you suppose we pull off that magic trick?”

“Hell if I know; you’re the miracle worker in this relationship,” Adam looked over at Sherri to see the smile still stretched across her face. “But you better hurry,” she said. “Once the Kracori decide to launch their whole fleet, they’ll probably just keep on coming.”

Adam began to rack his brain for any idea, for anything the ATD could do to help. How could they convince the pursuing Kracori ship they they’ve been destroyed? And then it dawned on him – they didn’t have to convince this last pursuer that they were destroyed, just the bulk of the fleet, and Adam could do that … if he could get control of the communications system of the ship.

“Stay here … I’ll be right back,” he said as he bolted out of his seat and rushed to the door of the pilothouse.

“Where you going?”

“To the cargo bay.”

“What for…?” but he was already gone before he could reply.

There were twelve canisters of the propellant catalyst for the chemical drive stored in the hold. The containers were high-tech, with their own self-contained transportation modules at their base and with automatic hookups and pumping controls on the top. By command, they would move to the engine supply station in the generator room and replenish as needed. And each of these automated units was controlled by a micro-processor.

Adam had the ATD tap into the processors, and soon a strange parade of hundred-gallon barrels of highly-explosive chemical was making its way not to the generator room, but to the landing bay next to the cargo hold.

Sherri appeared in the landing bay just as the last barrel made its way in.

“You left the Klin in the control room by himself!” Adam scolded when he spotted Sherri’s blonde hair peaking above the last of the barrels in line.

“Don’t worry,” Sherri yelled back. “I gave him some chin-music to listen to … if I didn’t kill him the process. Now, what are you doing?”

“We need an explosion outside the ship, something to make the Kracori think we’ve overloaded a ring or two.”

“They’ll be able to detect that the
Pegasus
is still intact.”

“Yeah, but it will give them a reason to believe we’re disabled when I dump out of the well.”

Sherri was silent for a moment as she considered the plan. “They may still shoot first and ask questions later.”

“There’s that remarkable talent of yours on display again.”

“I can’t help it.” Now she was getting mad. “I’ve kind of grown accustomed to living, dickhead!”

“Me, too,” Adam replied, brushing past her once all the barrels were in position. He rushed out of the landing bay, heading for the pilothouse, again with Sherri a step behind.

They both resumed their respective stations; Adam looked at the unconscious Klin slumped in his seat. “Looks like he’s still breathing … but he’s definitely going to need some plastic surgery to get his dashing good-looks back again.”

Sherri was too nervous to reply. Instead she strapped herself in and began to prepare for the series of events she knew were coming.

********

Through his ATD, Adam vacated the atmosphere from the landing bay and sent the barrels of catalyst hurling off into space. That wasn’t a very adequate description of what actually happened. In reality, the barrels traveled about two hundred yards from the rear of the Pegasus before being captured by the same gravity-well the ship was falling into. This was much too close for the explosion that was about to come, so Adam had to find a way of increasing the distance without the Kracori noticing.

Timing would be everything.

Adam prepared to ignite the chemical drive of the
Pegasus
– something that was never done while in a gravity-well. In fact, he wasn’t even sure what would happen. Would the super-heated exhaust simply curl back on itself, following the magnetic lines created by the well and engulf the
Pegasus
in a deadly inferno? Or would the thrust have no impact at all, since the well controlled all movement within the event horizon?

He didn’t spend any more time debating the answers. Instead, as he triggered the chem-drive he also simultaneously dissolved the well. The blast from the engines struck the barrels just behind the
Pegasus
, while the momentary thrust after the well evaporated opened up the distance between the ship and the barrels to around a mile. It still wasn’t enough. The force of the massive explosion hurled the
Pegasus
forward, sending Sherri and Adam slamming in the backs of their seats. Then the ship began to tumble, so incredibly fast that even the internal gravity wells could not fully compensate. The arms and legs of the two Humans went flailing, twisted into almost impossible positions. Adam felt something snap, and pain engulfed his left shoulder. In the meantime, Sherri was screaming. Or was that him?

Alarms were blaring throughout the pilothouse, and Adam stained to read the screen detailing the damage control measures the ship was automatically engaged in.. The landing bay had lost its outer doors, and most of the external airfoils used for chemical landing control within an atmosphere had been blown off. There was a hull breach just to starboard of the landing bay, which was rapidly being filled with prodigious amounts of sealing foam.

Soon the piloting computer regained control of the tumbling spacecraft and Adam’s vision began to stabilize. The pain in his shoulder was more acute, and he looked over at Sherri to see how she had faired. Her nose was bleeding and her hair was a ratted mess atop her head, yet she appeared to have movement in all her limbs. As a rule, women were more flexible than men, so she had managed not to break any bones or pull any muscles. Even still, she looked to be completely disoriented and unaware of her surroundings.

But not Adam; he leaned in closer to his monitor and checked the location of the Kracori warship. It was there, just outside the ship, sitting about a thousand yards off his port quarter. They had been fortunate to this point that the aliens hadn’t destroyed the hapless
Pegasus
. Maybe they were awaiting further orders before taking action? Whatever the reason, Adam was thankful they were still alive … yet he couldn’t wait around to see how much longer that would hold true.

The Kracori ship was still too far out for the ATD to make contact, so Adam fingered the traditional radio comm. “Kracori ship, we surrender! Please help! We have injuries.”

There was a momentary delay before a voice boomed out of the pilothouse speakers. “There will be no mercy, Humans! You will be destroyed….”

Adam reached out with the ATD and rode the conventional radio waves until they joined with the transmitter aboard the alien ship. The transmitter was a backup to a backup to a backup aboard the alien ship, so it was not linked directly to the rest of the ship’s systems. Panicking, Adam began to feel his way along the various electronic pathways, desperate to find the weapon controls before the Kracori could unleash their deadly barrage of energy bolts against Adam’s defenseless ship.

There was a surge of energy along one particular path; he followed it. There it was – fire control – and a command had just been sent to charge and fire this particular weapons bank. Quickly, Adam diverted the command to another direction … to one of the other batteries aboard the starship; a second later, flash cannon discharged, sending eight huge balls of pure energy hurling off into space – yet on the opposite side the Kracori ship from the
Pegasus
. And then before the Kracori could trace the cause of the firing error, the ATD located all four servers for the weapon systems and disabled them. Adam began to relax. All the alien ship could do now to the
Pegasus
was ram her – which was something Adam did not put past the savage Kracori.

He would take his chances with that for the moment, as he gained control of the CW-comm computer aboard the Kracori Class-5 warship. He sent a flash message to the fleet, a blanket broadcast since he wasn’t sure if the flagship had regained control of their systems by then. “Human spacecraft destroyed … no survivors and no transmissions sent prior to destruction. Own CW-array damaged in the engagement; going offline for repairs.” The authentication signature for the message would be for the Kracori ship, and would be considered legitimate, at least until a follow-up link was established. Adam wouldn’t let that happen.

He cut all power within the Kracori dreadnaught.

The Kracori would be helpless aboard their massive ship, fumbling around in the dark and ever-growing cold trying to repair the unrepairable. Unfortunately, Adam had no way of knowing if the message he’d sent would delay the fleet’s departure from the Aslon system.

He unstrapped and went to check on Sherri. She was still groggy, yet her awareness was returning. “Did we survive?” she asked without looking at Adam.

“Nah, they got us. We’re dead … but at least we’ll be together through eternity.”

“So, we’re in Hell?” she said, her groggy voice devoid of humor.

“Anything broken?” Adam asked as he began to squeeze the joints of her arms and legs.

“Do you mind? I don’t think anything’s broken, but I’m still ticklish.” She glanced over at the Klin. “How’d he make out?”

Even without examining the alien Adam knew he was dead. “Not so good, looks like we may need to grab one of the Kracori if we want anyone to interrogate. And speaking of that, I’m going to wait a few more minutes for most of them to pass out from lack of air and then I’m going aboard their ship. I’m sure I can score some replacement focusing rings to get us back to full power.”

“Be careful, some of the Kracori may be in environment suits and still alive.”

Even though Adam was well aware of that possibility, he simply smiled at her. “Thanks, I hadn’t thought of that.”

“That’s what I’m here for, to keep a motherly eye on you.”

“Oh don’t say that! Now some of the things we’ve done together seem … well, disgusting!”

Sherri wrinkled her nose. “Speaking of disgusting, I think the Klin shit himself when he died. Help me get his carcass out of here before he really smells up the place.”

********

Half an hour later, Adam was decked out in a full environment suit and wearing a gas-powered thruster on his back. With the outer doors blown off, the landing bay was now open to space, so he had to use the emergency airlock located just below the pilothouse to exit the
Pegasus
. Once free of the ship, he activated the thrusters and shot off toward the looming bulk of the Kracori starship, now illuminated only by the light from the nearby stars.

Since the Kracori used energy weapons – like ninety-nine percent of the Expansion – he didn’t bother taking any such weapons with him; his ATD could disable any of these carried by survivors. Of course, he did take his Glock 21, .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun. Old habits die hard. Even though he had dumped the remaining atmosphere from the Kracori ship and opened it up to the deadly vacuum of space, there could still be pockets of pressurized atmosphere trapped in sealed compartments, as well as dozens of Kracori dressed in environment suits with their own air supply. He still needed to be cautious.

Adam knew he’d find ample supply of the larger focusing rings he needed aboard the Kracori warship, and once the
Pegasus
was fitted with them, he could beat the alien fleet to Earth by a couple of days, if not more. It wouldn’t be a lot of time to forewarn the planet, yet it was still better than nothing.

Chapter 28

L
ocated along the shiny metal hull of the massive Kracori starship were numerous access ports used for the loading of stores and to allow ingress and egress for repair crews. Each hatch was joined to a small internal airlock, and it wasn’t difficult for Adam to trace the electrical path to one of these ports and turn the power back on. He slipped inside the ship.

The internal gravity generators were offline, so he floated into the corridor and worked his way aft toward the generator room with the help of various handholds along the way. He was familiar with the layout of Klin-designed Class-5 warships so he made good time. Along the way he encountered dozens of dead Kracori, their hideously disfigured faces having literally exploded when Adam not only shut off the atmosphere to the ship, but also opened it up to the pressure-less vacuum of space. Even though this action had left a horrible mess throughout the ship, it did seem like a more efficient means of incapacitating the crew rather than waiting for them all to suffocate.

The series of compartments which combined to form the generator
‘room’
were secured behind a massive metal barricade designed to protect the rest of the ship in case of an explosion from within. Rather than spend time tracing the various electrical pathways to this particular doorway Adam simply restored power to the entire ship. It would remain without oxygen and gravity, but now the internal lights flashed on and he was able to activate the controls to the huge barricade.

Focusing rings were extremely-vital components of the gravity-drive system, although they had a nasty habit of burning out after about a year of transit time. Large ships such as Class-5’s always carried ample spares, and they would be located in one of the storage compartments within the generator room. It didn’t take Adam long to find what he was looking for.

These high-capacity focusing rings were about four feet in length and eight inches in diameter, with a bulbous end where the energy from the generators would be sent out to begin the dynamo-effect of recycling and compressing the beams from the other rings to form the gravity singularities of the drive. Adam had always been amazed that such small devices helped make faster-than-light travel possible. The technology was far above his paygrade; all he knew was that they worked – as long as they stayed focused and compatible with the energy output of the generators.

He strapped three of the rings together and then tethered the package to his suit. This would give him the two replacement rings he needed, plus a spare.

When he floated out of the storage room and back into the main chamber near the generators, he noticed a shadow move along the deck, coming from the direction of the outer corridor. Sure enough, when he reached out with his ATD he detected the energy signatures of four flash weapons. He paused only slightly before continuing his hand-over-hand journey. The weapons would not be a problem, but the fact that four Kracori were still alive bothered him. They would be dressed in environment suits and possibly even battle armor. The armor would make his Glock useless, so as he moved toward the huge barricade doors and spotted the Kracori, he pursed his lips and nodded his head. Yep, they were wearing armor.

The four startled Kracori turned toward Adam’s floating figure and lifted their weapons. They were confused and visibly upset when their weapons refused to discharge. The line of hulking aliens – dressed in even bulkier body armor – were secured to the metal deck by magnetic boots and formed an effective blockade to Adam leaving the room. There was a moment where he froze in mid-air, staring at the aliens as they stared back at him.

Adam’s ATD traced the comm units within the Kracori suits and opened a link. “I don’t suppose you’ll just let me pass?”

The four Kracori looked at each, confused, yet once they realized the communication was coming from the invader, they stood even taller and tighter, while extracting projection swords from their gear. This was unexpected: who carried
swords
as their normal compliment of armament anymore?

Adam wore only a thin, composite spacesuit, which would offer little resistance to the razor-sharp blades. The Kracori knew this, too, and they began to slowly spread their ranks and advance towards him. Adam pulled himself up and drifted to the ceiling of the generator room, high above the aliens. For an answer, the Kracori deactivated their mag-boots, and employing small gas jets within their battle armor, began to surround his position.

These were not your typical aliens – they were Kracori, equal in strength and coordination to Humans. And there were four of them, armed with deadly swords, and maneuvering through the vastness of the generator chamber with more dexterity than Adam was capable of. He had his thruster pack, yet that was designed for movement through open space, and did not provide the refined control he would need within a confined space. He moved along the ceiling like a monkey through a jungle canopy, trying to keep from being cornered by the advancing aliens.

“You are the Human responsible for the destruction of our companion vessels, as well our crew.” The voice came over the comm as a vicious, animal growl. “I do not know how you have done the things you’ve done, but now we require nothing more than your death to satisfy our
legends
.”

“Can’t we talk this over like civilized beings?” Adam moved further away, while alternately commanding the ATD to begin the priming process for the generators – the nine massive units that filled the floor of the vast chamber.

“If you animals were civilized that would be news to the Kracori,” the leader spoke again. “Your kind will soon be exterminated from the universe, and there will be a celebration of joy throughout.”

They were closer now, skillfully cutting off all his avenues of escape. Adam found a four-inch thick conduit running along the length of the ceiling and wrapped his arm around it. “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched,”

The aliens were now close enough for him to peer through their faceplates … and see the look of confusion on their faces from his latest comment.
Can’t any of these creatures grasp the concept of slang?

Just then, Adam had the generators engage the ship’s internal gravity-wells – yet set on
double
the intensity level of both Human and Kracori. The startled look on the alien faces was priceless – at least for the split second before they plunged a hundred feet to the metal deck below, accelerating at twice normal rate of fall in the heavier gravity.

Adam didn’t have the luxury of watching them impact the floor. Instead he screamed through the pain of his injured shoulder as his body weight suddenly jumped from zero to nearly four hundred pounds, plus with the weight of the three focusing rings adding to his agony. It felt as if his arm was being ripped off as the conduit pipe bit into his flesh.

Through the excruciating pain, Adam commanded the ATD to reduce the level of the internals, in fact now down to about a tenth of Earth-normal. He unhooked his arm from the metal pipe and floated gently toward the deck.

When he landed he discovered that two of the Kracori were still alive, moving in jerky motions inside their thick suits, bodies shattered by the tremendous impact and unable to lift the heavy armor encasing them, even in the near-none-existent gravity. Adam approached the nearest one and opened a link to the alien’s comm.

“One day there will be a reckoning … and only one of our races will survive.” He leaned down until he could look through the blood-splattered viewplate of the Kracori’s helmet. “And look what just one puny Human has done to five of your most-powerful warships.” He smiled at the vacant eyes of the alien. “How’s your
Legend
hanging now, asshole?”

Adam left the generator room a moment later, leaving the Kracori to spend the final few minutes of his life in excruciating agony.

********

Before leaving the Kracori warship, Adam severed the rail-slides for the flash cannon and set the batteries to begin a slow build-up. He made his way back to the
Pegasus
with the replacement focusing rings, knowing that in another fifteen minutes or so a critical mass would be reached and all nineteen cannon would explode in a fiery ball of pure white energy. The mighty Class-5 warship would be left a twisted hulk of death. Adam hoped the advancing Kracori fleet would happen upon the carcass; it would serve as a stark warning to the rest of the aliens not to mess with the Humans. At least not
this
Human….

********

Adam moved the
Pegasus
a safe distance from the Kracori ship before it exploded and installed the replacement focusing rings in short order. Ten minutes later, they were safely wrapped in an unimaginably-deep gravity-well and bolting for home. They would arrive in seven days; the aliens would throw caution to the wind and engage system-disrupting deep-wells of their own. They would arrive two days later.