Human Chronicles Part 2 Book 2: The Apex Predator (23 page)

Chapter 34

A
dam left his escorts behind and blazed through the atmosphere at twice the legal speed limit, trailing a cloud of white condensation behind the
Pegasus
as he went. He blasted apart a section of the asphalt landing field with the powerful blasts of his chemical engines and set the ship down hard in a blinding maelstrom of exhaust and sand.

Even before the cloud had cleared, Sherri and Adam were out the side hatch, and with arms shielding their eyes, raced for the waiting military Humvee.

Earth’s military command was also located in the Phoenix complex of buildings. Adam had heard that Tobias chose to remain in the area after his retirement, content with the large home he owned on ten acres, as well as the abundant number of golf courses found throughout the area. Even though they had shared a fair number of rounds of golf together in a more innocent and simpler past, Adam still found it hard to imagine his LT – now admiral – riding a golf-cart with all the other wrinkled old retirees in Bermuda shorts through the hot desert sun, chasing a little white ball up and down the course.

As the car pulled up to the towering military headquarters building, Adam thought there would be no time for golf in the near future – if ever again.

A full-bird colonel escorted them to a ninth-floor conference room where Andy Tobias was already knee-deep in charts and schematics, along with half-a-dozen datapads all aglow with their electric light. There were eight other people crowding the room, with more being added every few seconds.

Tobias looked up when they entered. “Welcome, troublemakers,” he said with a smile, although his eyes sent a different message. Obviously, it hadn’t taken him long to realize just how deep the shit was that they were in.

General Jonathan Aronson entered the room next, followed closely by David Charlton and Aaron Johnson, two of the civilian leaders of the World Governing Authority. “Captain and Ms. Valentine,” the General said with enthusiasm. “You may not remember, but we met once before … in the desert outside Roswell, New Mexico. You and a ragtag band of refugees had just landed in a stolen Juirean shuttlecraft. That was just days before the Juireans attacked. And now I see you’ve returned with news of another impending alien attack. How reliable is your intel, Captain?”

“One hundred percent, General,” Adam said with confidence. “We were held captive briefly aboard the flagship of the Kracori fleet as their commander bragged about the plan of attack.”

“Briefly?” Tobias commented from the other side of the large conference table.

“Yeah, we managed to escape … and take out five of their 5’s on the way here.”

“In that little delta of yours?” Even though his voice expressed a question, Adam could see his former commanding officer beaming with pride.

“That’s a trick you’re going to have to fill us in on, Mr. Cain,” said General Aronson. “By my estimates all we’d need are sixty more like you and we’ll have this thing whipped.”

Adam moved to the table so he could get a look at the force estimates being frantically culled together from a variety of sources. “I’ll be happy to fill you in, General, but first let’s see what we have as far as defenders go.”

The General had expressed his comment rhetorically, so he had not been expecting Adam’s serious reply. He let it pass for now and joined his staff at the table. “Welcome back, Admiral. That retirement didn’t last long.”

“I plan on getting back to it in about three days, sir.” He picked up a remote control from the table and pointed it at a large screen on the wall. An inventory list appeared. “We’re beyond bare bones, General,” Tobias began. “I know I’ve been gone for a few months, but damn, how did this get through the chain of command? Nothing larger than an ‘A’ is left, and there are only forty-two of those.” He ruffled through the papers on the table and found the datapad he was looking for. “Twenty-two of those were in repair at the time the fleet deployed, and five are new off the line.”

He turned to another officer in the room. “I don’t suppose we have very many trained crews sitting around looking for something to do?”

“No sir,” The officer didn’t try to hide his frustration. His name was Richland, and he had just learned what this meeting was about, and now he was too mad – and scared – not to show his emotions. “We pulled every able-body we had to man the fleet. Now all we have left are trainees and civilian instructors. And that’s assuming we can even find ships for them to fly.”

“What about the yards?” Aronson asked to no one in particular. “Any ships operational – or operational enough?”

Another officer scanned a datapad. “We’ll have to check, sir, but there should always be about twenty to thirty just waiting for their final readiness inspections.”

“Screw the inspections, Major,” Aronson said. “Get them up and armed and manned by the construction crews if need be.” He turned to Adam and Sherri. “What’s their objective, Mr. Cain? How are they going to carry this out?”

“Nukes, General. They tried it before with only ten ships. Now they have thirty times that many … and one other thing: The Kracori commander knew the planet would be undefended, the timing of this attack is no accident. What exactly is this Jusepi thing I’ve heard about?”

David Charlton, one of the three leaders of the government – and commonly accepted as its titular head having been elected by the people – stepped forward. He offered his hand to Adam and Sherri.
Typical politician
, Adam thought.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Cain … and you too Ms. Valentine. I have heard a lot of your exploits throughout the years; very impressive.”

“Excuse me, sir, but we don’t have much time.” Adam caught the smile on Tobias’s face.

“Of course, sorry. The Jusepi are a member race of the Solar Alliance and have been for about five years. Recently they rebelled against the Alliance and destroyed a number of our military bases in the area, as well as the killing of hundreds of Human civilians.”

“Yeah, but did you have to send the whole damn fleet?”

Adam could tell Charlton was shocked that anyone would speak to him in such a manner, especially a mid-level military puke like him. He didn’t care. This was another example of politics trumping sound military judgment. Adam met Charlton’s steely glare with one of his own and watched the rush of emotions cross the politician’s face. To his credit, Charlton quickly regained his composure.

“It was a near-unanimous vote of the Council,
Captain
.” Adam’s rank suddenly took on the label of an expletive. “By the way, you are partially responsible for this. It was your man Henderson who brought us the McCarthy Coordinates, and your other team member – Riyad Tarazi – who is in the process of verifying those coordinates as we speak. It was decided that since the Kracori were not aware of our knowledge of these coordinates that there would be no harm in making short work of the Jusepi campaign. As General Blake pointed out at the Council meeting, we would then have a fully-trained fleet ready to send against Elision. At the time, we knew of no other threat in the area – other than the Jusepi. And then there are the Klin.”

“The Klin?” Adam turned to General Aronson. “They were with the Kracori and their new fleet, and now you say they’re also involved with these Jusepi characters?”

“It appears as though they have been supplying them with ships and other resources.”

Adam pulled a chair from the table and sat down. “Well, that explains it.”

“Explains what, Adam?” Andy Tobias asked.

“Why the Klin were with the Kracori fleet.” He looked around at the sea of eyes staring at him. “Do I have to spell it out for you? This has all been planned, the Kracori, the Klin, and even the Jusepi. They’re all working together. And the timing of all this tells me that the Kracori
know
we have the coordinates to Elision; that’s why this is all happening now.”

“The Jusepi revolt is a diversion … to draw the fleet away for the Kracori attack.”

“Exactly General, the Klin and the Kracori are partners again, and now they have a third ally. This has all been a set-up from the beginning, and we rushed head-first right into the trap.” This last sentence was directed at Councilmember David Charlton.

“The Kracori will know we have no real defenders to speak of,” Sherri said, her Kentucky accent cutting through the deep tones from the men in the room. “They’ll blast right in here with nothing to fear. So, smart guys, what are you going to do about it?”

Adam was surprised when no one spoke up. In a room full of confident and skilled professional soldiers, none could offer an equally confident and skilled response. What had been discussed earlier now paled in comparison in light of the full gravity of the situation. The Kracori knew the defensive stance of the planet, and they knew that anything the Humans could muster in the last minute would be insufficient to stop them.

Sherri looked down at Adam and raised her eyebrows. She nodded her head.

Adam nodded back. “General, Andy, can I speak with you in private?”

“Of course,” the General replied. “Please everyone, give us the room.”

“We will be staying,” Charlton said, referring to him and Councilmember Aaron Johnson.

Adam glared at the politician. The Kracori fleet commander Runor had said the Klin still had spies in the Human government; in fact they had helped steer the decision to send the fleet to the Jusepi. These men – and those they confided in – couldn’t be trusted, yet Aronson and Tobias didn’t have the authority to restrict them from hearing what Adam was about to tell them….

********

Once the room was clear, all attention focused on Adam. “I’ll get right to it. I have a device implanted in my body which allows me to tap into and control just about any microprocessor or other electronic device within a half-mile of my location.” He paused to let the impact of his statement to sink in.

To his amazement, no one even raised an eyebrow of their own or showed any sign of surprise or disbelief.

“Nobody has anything to say about that?”

“I’ve been out there with you, Captain,” Tobias said. “I’m not surprised by much of anything these days.”

“Is that how you escaped from the Kracori and destroyed their ships?” It was a statement from the General, rather than a question.

“Yes sir. And I’ve discovered a little trick that might help us in the coming battle – yet it’s not a complete solution by any stretch of the imagination.”

“Understood, Captain; go ahead.”

“Since my powers – if you will – are very limited in range, they’re not effective against ships in space, at least not directly. But I’ve found a way to tap into their CW-comm links and create a ghost device within the computer systems aboard their ships and then control them remotely.”

Charlton exploded with enthusiasm. “Then that’s our answer, gentlemen! Mr. Cain here can simply disable the Kracori ships … and the crisis will be averted.”

“Sir, it doesn’t work like that.”

“What doesn’t? You just said you can infiltrate their ships—”

“One at a time; I can only do it one at a time. And then that takes a lot of time and concentration. Then once I’m aboard, I have to follow dozens of electronic pathways just to find the right ones to disable the ship. There are three hundred ships coming; I won’t be able to stop them all.”

Tobias slapped the table. “Well at least we can cut their numbers down some, maybe enough so that our makeshift defense shield can do the rest.”

“That’s all I can promise, Andy. I’ll do what I can.”

“And what about the ship you came in?” the General asked. “I’ve been told it’s something special.”

“It has what’s called concentrated-array gravity-drive.”

“What the hell is that?” Aaron Johnson asked, speaking for the first time.

“It allows for eight focusing rings at a time, making it possible to achieve space-lane speeds while in normal, populated space. It’s why we were able to beat the Kracori here, even when they have Class 4’s and 5’s.”

“Any special weapons, too?” Johnson followed up.

“Unfortunately, no; it was built to shuttle me and my team around the Expansion in record time. That’s about all it’s good for.”