When Earth Reigned Supreme (The Human Chronicles Saga Book 12) (5 page)

Chapter 3

The team would consist of only twelve men, not because there was a lack of skilled volunteers, but because of the constraints placed on them by the size of the trans-dimensional portals.

The one from Adam’s garage had been moved to a large hangar on the grounds of the closed Travis Air Force Base outside of Vacaville, California. The opening was only six feet wide, which would allow for two fully-armed and equipped commandos to pass through at a time. During trials, all team members could make it through in five seconds. That didn’t sound like long, but they had no idea how much notice the Klin would get when their portal suddenly activated. Adam had only used the device once, a year ago, and he couldn’t remember if there had been a warmup period. All he knew was that the portal had opened and through it he could see another dimension. The gateway had stayed open for the duration of the rescue mission, right up to the point Panur destroyed the portal on the Sol-Kor side of the doorway.

Adam and Riyad arrived at Travis two weeks before the jump-off date. The enigmatic secret agent Stephen Monroe was already there and neck-deep in the preparations.

“How long have you been planning this operation?” Adam asked as he looked down a long table displaying various items the team would take with them into the Sol-Kor universe.

“From about two minutes after you brought Riyad back from the other side.”

Riyad lifted one of the tiny red pills that was included in the inventory. “And this will allow us to breathe the toxic Sol-Kor atmosphere?”

“That’s right. One every sixteen hours.”

“Hope we won’t need more than one each. If so, well…something’s gone terribly wrong.”

“You’ll have a hundred pills each…just in case.”

“What’s in them?” Adam asked.

“I wish I knew. The good thing about our current state of cooperation with the other races united against the Sol-Kor is that we now have access to some incredible technology from a hundred different top-tier worlds. Some excel in electronics, like the Formilians. Others are chemical wizards. The ones who made the pills were able to analyze the SK air from traces left at the first portal array—the one built by the Klin. From there they figured out what our systems would need to counteract all the negative effects. Just to be up-front, I’m told there will be a detox period when you get back, so don’t plan any big celebrations for at least thirty-six hours afterwards.”

“That’s good to know,” Adam said. “You hear that, Riyad? No booking the late-night talk show circuit for the day we get back.”

“I’m okay with that. Let the anticipation build. Should command a higher appearance fee.”

Moving along the table, Riyad snatched up a rubber mask, placing his hand inside to balloon it out.

“No friggin’ way! This won’t fool anyone.”

“It’s not designed to be a real disguise, just something that at a distance will allow your team to pass as Sol-Kor.”

The rubber mask, complete with gray scales and all, did have the face of an SK, but there was no mistaking it was just a mask.

“You’ll also go in wearing lightweight replicas of the black Sol-Kor armor, but it’ll be reinforced for real effectiveness against flash weapons. Coupled with the masks, this should provide a second or two of uncertainty if faced with a threat. Hopefully that will be enough time for you to neutralize the situation.”

Adam picked up a mask of his own. “Don’t worry, Riyad, this should help. If we’re being observed from a distance, these should be good enough. And in any close encounters they should give us a split-second advantage before the natives discover the truth…and we neutralize the situation, as Mr. James Bond just said.”

Monroe smiled. “You’ll still go in with your assault weapons. The individual gear packs will be slimmed down and disguised as part of the armor. Back-up ammo and other essential supplies will be in two self-propelled carts going in with you.”

Adam surveyed the items on the table and shook his head. “Stephen, you do realize this mission is about as sloppy and jerry-rigged as it can get?”

“What choice do we have? We can’t very well tip our hand by sending in drones or other unmanned reconnaissance units for a look-see. The moment we did that they’d slam the door shut and we’d have no way in.”

“They’re going to do that anyway,” said Riyad. “Leaving us with no way out.”

“We’ll need to secure the portals, both on the Klin ship and in the Queen’s Chambers. If that fails, then we’ll just have to find another way,” Adam said.

“They’ll be a second team that will follow you into the Klin ship. It’ll be their job to maintain control of the portal for as long as they can. Also, keep in mind the portal controlled by Tobias. Your men will have the link information with them. All you have to do in that case is secure a starship and then locate a transport portal that will allow you to program in a new set of coordinates. For the two of you, pulling off something like that will hardly work up a sweat, right?”

Adam tried to stay positive about the mission, but it was becoming harder by the minute. “I hope your confidence in our abilities will be warranted. I would really hate to disappoint you.”

“Then don’t. Just get over there, waste the damn Queen, and then hightail it back to the good ol’ Milky Way.”

Riyad slipped the loose-fitting rubber mask over his face. The eyes were cut out and the mouth had a wide slit running the length of the artificial lips. “That’s the plan, my friend.” His words came out muffled by the mask.

Monroe looked at Adam. “I’d say that’s an improvement.”

“Roger that. Now how about we get this show on the road?”

Chapter 4

Adam wasn’t too concerned with the first stage of the jump. Even though there could be upwards of twenty thousand of the silver-skinned aliens aboard the Klin colony ship, they weren’t known for their fighting skills. Adam’s team should be able to gain entry and secure the portal before the Klin could stop them.

That’s where the mission would enter the realm of the unknown. Were the Klin actually working with the SK? And if so, were they linked to the Sol-Kor universe through a rebuilt portal in the Queen’s Chambers? If the answer was no, and there was no accompanying portal into Sol-Kor Land, then the team would beat a hasty retreat back through the Klin portal to Travis.

But if it did link with the SK universe…well, things would get very exciting from then on.

Each stage of the mission had its “go, no-go” points, although only the first stage offered them a clear exit strategy. With each successive “go” after that, the team would fall deeper and deeper into the realm of the unknown.

Besides the breathing pills, other alien scientists had improved upon the basic  beam neutralizer to form a continuous belt of countering waves each team member would wear around their waists. Four compact batteries, plus eight spares each, would give them protection for up to thirty-six hours of constant beam bombardment. They would also carry an ample supply of high-strength aspirin to help fight off the inevitable beam-created headaches that could affect reasoning and concentration.

In addition to what each commando would carry on their person, two self-propelled equipment carts would go in with them, each ladened with extra weapons, ammo, and other provisions. How long the carts could be attached to combat operations, no one knew. But it wouldn’t hurt to take extra
everything
with them, at least initially.

Adam had been on too many small strike missions to count, but never had he faced one with this many unknowns. This wasn’t how they normally operated in the SEALs. Traditionally, every detail was known, each move choreographed. At least that was the goal. The unexpected always happened, but that was also planned for. For this mission there would be very little redundancy—extra supplies, but that was about it. And they would be operating with no firm timetables. The situation would be fluid from the moment they stepped through the portal.

Adam turned to the eleven anxious faces of his team. Many years ago, after the first Juirean attack on Earth, Human military units had been reorganized into a more uniform, global force. Ranks had been redistributed. The Army, Marines, and Air Force retained their enlisted designations—with a few exceptions—while the Navy secured the officer ranks. No one was happy with this arrangement, especially the generals or the chiefs. Most higher-ranking non-coms were switched to warrant officers, where the designation of
chief
still applied. And any officer with an existing rank was grandfathered in. But the changeover had come nearly a decade ago, so most of the old soldiers had faded away by now, and the new boots didn’t know any difference.

They were also under one central military command, that of the Joint Union Defense Service, or
JUDS
. Within the corps, there were also civilian specialists under the office of the Union Technology Corps, or
UTC
. The strike force included two such men, Specialist Juan “Joey” Garcia and Specialist Adrian “Wizard” Kaczynski. They were the portal experts, tasked with the almost impossible job of hacking into alien portal controls and finding appropriate ingress and egress points for the team.

Adam was glad someone else had that responsibility. He wouldn’t have the first clue where to even begin figuring something out like that.

Besides Adam, the team had two line officers, Lieutenant Fred “Rock” Johnson and Ensign Ronald “Mac” MacTavish. Johnson was a short black man, barely scraping five-foot-six, but as his call-sign suggested, he was built like a rock—nearly neckless, with bulging muscles that required his uniforms be custom tailored.

Mac was from England, and had bucked the higher ups in order to sport the curving handlebar mustache he was so proud of. He claimed it had something to do with his pagan religion. As to why he should be allowed to grow it, Adam suspected he got the pass because he was a distant relative of the Queen of England, who still maintained an honorary position in the former United Kingdom. Retaining some traditions was necessary. It allowed Humanity to hold on to a past and a perspective that, for all intents and purposes, had ended with the Juirean attack on the planet twenty years earlier.

The rest of the team was rounded out by tough-as-nails special ops specialists, including: Sergeant First-Class Mike “Conman” Connors, navigation, weapons, sniper; Corporal Eddie “Neo” Anderson, pilot, sniper; Sergeant Anders “Birdman” Drake, surveillance, drone operation, sniper; Master Sergeant Javier “Hotlips” Hernandez, weapons, sniper; and Sergeant Alex “Ace” Harbison, sniper.

There was also Riyad Tarazi, designated a “specialist” during his time on active duty, and given the nickname “Flash” by the team. He earned the moniker not from any exceptional speed he exhibited, but rather because of the blinding white of his teeth. Some of the men had even gone so far as to fabricate a wrap-around plastic sunshade to cover his mouth, saying it was necessary so as to not reveal their position during covert operations. The shade was secured in Riyad’s pack, unbeknownst to him. 

Each team member would go in weighed down with nearly seventy pounds of gear, secured in black fabric MOLLE packs that blended with the armor outfits they wore. None of the active-duty soldiers seemed to notice the added weight. They were the modern-day equivalent of SEALs and Rangers, young, tough men who ate, slept and breathed this stuff on a daily basis. These packs were actually lighter than what they were used to. And once in Sol-Kor space the lower gravity of their homeworld would then reduce the pack weight to a little over fifty pounds.

If
anyone
was feeling the effects of the gear packs, it was the two old men on the team, Adam and Riyad—particularly Riyad. He was almost fifty years old, and had never gone through special forces training, at least not in a true military sense. His early training came through his affiliation with various terrorist organizations, beginning when he was in his teens. Even then, he hadn’t had any real physical and tactical training in almost thirty years.

A few of the more physically fit members had taken on the burden of some of Riyad’s pack, so that he only had about fifty Earth-pounds to carry, at least initially. That would drop to around thirty-seven on the other side of the portal. To his credit, Riyad didn’t let pride get in the way when he accepted their help.

Adam, on the other hand, took the full load, although he too was way over the hill and out of shape at forty-six. He figured he could handle the burden for the short term. In their most optimistic mission assessment, they’d simply waste the Queen and be back through the Klin portal in time for lunch.

They would know soon enough.

********

“Captain Cain, are we going to do this or not?”

It was Lieutenant Larry Johnson asking the question. Adam looked at him and nodded. “T-minus five minutes, L.T. You have Bravo squad…along with Mr. Tarazi.”

Earlier, Adam had pulled the young officer aside and tasked him with keeping an eye on Riyad. The old man of the team had spent the most time within the Queen’s Chambers, and because of that he was a valuable asset to the mission. Otherwise Adam would have left him behind. Now he worried for his friend.

With a quick nod, Johnson acknowledged the silent understanding between him and Adam. Riyad was his responsibility; he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to him.

“Okay, men…positions.”

The team lined up in twos, Adam and Corporal Neo Anderson taking the lead. Riyad was in the back half of the line, three pairs up from where the two equipment carts would bring up the rear, the last two commandos gripping the elevated handles with small electronic controls built into the bars.

For the initial phase of the operation, technicians had been able to trace the last link made to Adam’s portal through the laptop computer Panur had used as a controller. The equipment the mutant used to build the portal turned out to be very basic and straightforward; it was the programming within the computer that left the Milky Way scientists in the dust. Fortunately, destination coordinates and a recorded data stream had been easy to retrieve. But beyond that they didn’t have a clue what ninety percent of the programming meant.

In spite of that, the scientists had assured Adam and Riyad they could open the link with the Klin portal. Whether or not
that
portal was actually the one aboard the Klin colony ship was one of those “on-faith” assumptions they’d been working with from the beginning.

“Thirty seconds,” Adam called out. He looked to his right, to where secret agent Stephen Monroe was standing twenty feet away with a serious expression on his thin face. There was no tally-ho, no thumbs-up from him. He was worried, just like everyone else. If the mission failed, the war for control of the Milky Way would continue with the same intensity and desperation as before. Eventually, the good guys might even be victorious. But the strike team would be trapped within a sliver of existence only an atom’s width away from where they stood, isolated in a reality completely foreign to the Humans, and there would be no one on the other side to mourn their fallen bodies. There was a good chance they were destined for a Sol-Kor dinner table somewhere, possibly even that of the Queen herself.

“Open the gate!” Adam ordered.

The scene through the once transparent doorway suddenly changed to show what appeared to a still-life image of a dimly lit room with walls lined by banks of sophisticated electronic equipment. The scene didn’t stay static for long, as various devices displayed either steady or flashing lights of multiple colors. Panur’s gift to Adam had indeed linked with another portal, and now the time had come for the moment of truth. Adam didn’t take time to study the image to see if he recognized it as the portal room aboard the Klin ship—it didn’t matter—it was the only portal they were linked with. It would have to do.

Without hesitation, both he and Anderson rushed through the doorway, weapons pressed to their cheeks, short-barrels attached to their M-91 assault rifles in preparation for CQC—close quarters combat.

Mission
Reign Supreme
was underway.