Cain's Crusaders (2 page)

“Precisely, Velsum, but even at the moment of your greatest triumphant – when the Juireans
were
destroyed on their homeworld – you were not able to celebrate that victory.”

“Because of the betrayal of the Kracori!”

“Let us take a moment to study the reality of the events that took place back then. Yes, the Kracori had revolted against the overbearing control of the Klin. And yet, just as the Kracori were preparing to end the Human threat once and for all through our nuclear bombardment of their homeworld, the Klin intervened. This left the Human forces intact, and subsequently they drove us from Juir and assumed control of the Expansion for themselves. Then to add even more insult to our loss of Legend, the Humans relinquished control of the Expansion and simply left, giving up voluntarily the one thing both of our races covet the most. However, if the Klin had allowed us irradiate Earth at the time, none of that would have transpired, and the political landscape of the galaxy would look far different than it does today.”

“Yes, with the Kracori fully ensconced as its rulers.”

“Possibly, but remember the Kracori and the Klin had been working together for many generations towards that very goal, maybe not with the Kracori in the lead position, but at least with one of us there. And who knows, by this time we may have worked out some sort of a partnering agreement with the Klin, leading to a cooperative form of leadership. On this point we will never know what would have been the consequences of Earth’s destruction. But at the very least one thing would have been for certain: both our races would not be cowering from the Humans like some frightened clan of
bothrats
.”

Polimic paused and took a long swallow of the beverage in front of him. When he looked at Velsum again, it was with a fierce intensity that made Velsum uncomfortable. “Pleabaen, it is time for the Kracori and Klin to renew our alliance. Our goals are the same, and the means for reaching them lie along the same path. As I have mentioned – and you are well aware – the Legend of my race has been greatly damaged by the humiliation suffered at the hands of the Humans. The only way to regain our Legend will be the complete destruction of the Human race as a factor in galactic affairs. Once this is accomplished, then both the Kracori
and
the Klin can rise up out of the shadows and claim our rightful positions within the Expansion. At the time of the war, the Kracori had only just revealed our presence to the galaxy. Since that time, we are now a pariah, and without an established past to help mitigate our humiliation. And the Klin – for so long running and hiding for something that was never your fault – you have come so close to being able to reveal yourselves as the true founders of civilization throughout the galaxy. Now you are just like the Kracori. That is why we have a future together, Velsum. It is a future of mutual benefit, of mutual redemption.”

Velsum was stunned. He had never expected the Kracori to be able to mount such an impassioned and effective argument. And besides the efficacy of his presentation, Polimic was also right. The futures of both the Klin and the Kracori
were
intertwined, and the resolution to all their current and past tribulations lay in the elimination of the Human race.

Velsum, for his part as leader of the Klin, was fully aware that the fate of his race was now at the mercy of the Humans. That was why plans were currently underway which had the chance of resolving this issue permanently – yet in the distant future.

Traditionally, the Klin were a patient people … or at least they had been. Having hidden from their Juirean pursuers for thousands of years, the process of living on the run had become second nature to them. And yet the Kracori was right: They had come so close to having that part of their history come to an end.
 
Even now, grumblings among the scattered Klin population were calling for more immediate and proactive action on the part of the leadership. The reality of assuming their role as the true leaders of the galaxy had been so palpable, that anything less than that now was barely acceptable to the majority of the Klin.

Velsum was part of this new movement among the Klin. He was younger than most of the past Pleabaens, and therefore shared the impatience of the young. Having the Kracori as allies once again could provide the planners within the Klin leadership with more options….

But could the Kracori be trusted? Probably not, but in light of the current situation the Kracori were in, the overture they were making was certainly understandable.

“Your argument makes sense, Polimic. I must admit that since coming so close to fulfilling our ultimate destiny, we Klin have grown impatient for results.”

“As have the Kracori.”

“So what is your specific proposal?”

“Simply that we begin to work together again, but this time focused exclusively on the destruction of Earth.”

“The Humans have now branched out to other worlds within the Far Arm and are no longer a one-world race. Their mini-empire now counts thirty-nine members.”

“And that is precisely why I have come to you, Velsum!” Polimic said. “Even though the Klin are an outlaw race, just as the Kracori, you still maintain an elaborate network of spies and surrogates; you are aware of what is happening throughout the galaxy. Unfortunately, we Kracori are not as well-informed. We had always relied on the Klin to provide us with such information.”

“Yes, our contacts are still intact, yet not as numerous as before. We cannot count planetary governments as our allies any longer, but rather on individuals within those governments. No government wants to risk suffering the wrath of the Humans for assisting us.”

“Still, your network is better than ours.”

“So our two races will once again join forces,” stated Velsum. “You do know there will be resistance and concern among many of my kind. We are so few in number that the ones you did kill during your revolt has hurt the Klin immeasurably. They will ask if you can be trusted.”

“That is understandable, Velsum. But you must assure them that our new alliance will initially be aimed only at the elimination of the Human race. After that, then we will decide what is best for our respective races. With the destruction of Earth, we will both be free of the cloak the Humans have draped over our people. We will be free once again to enter the universe and to fulfill our destinies, be they together or separately.”

Velsum was excited. This was not what he had expected to be the outcome of this meeting. As a matter of fact, he was surprised to find that the Kracori Langril was still alive this far into the conversation. Then he noticed the Kracori lean in closer to the table, a stern look on his face.

“One more thing, Pleabaen….”

Concerned, Velsum matched Polimic’s expression. “And what is that?”

“You may not be aware, but at the end of our occupation of Juir, the former Langril allowed a small group of Humans to immigrate to Elision. They were led by a former associate of the Klin, Nigel McCarthy.”

“Yes, I am very aware of Nigel McCarthy. It was his escape from Marishal that caused the injuries to the former Pleabaen, from which he eventually succumbed. However, I was not aware you had allowed him to live on your homeworld.”

“Unfortunately, he was. He served as a consultant for a short time before essentially being forgotten by our government.”

“But there is more.”

“Yes. Approximately three standard years ago, McCarthy and his fellow Humans escaped from Elision, and they have not been heard from since.”

Velsum tensed. He knew where this conversation was headed. “So he knows the location of your planet.”

“Yes.”

“But it has been three years. One would think that if he had revealed the location to his fellow Humans that they would have responded by now.”

“That was our thought as well, and for all this time we’ve watched the skies and waited, expecting the worst. The strain on my people has become intolerable, all because of this one Human creature. It is obvious he has not revealed our location to Earth; it also means he could do so at any moment.”

“Then he must be eliminated as a prerequisite to any of our future dealings.”

Velsum saw relief sweep over the Kracori’s face. “I am happy to hear you say that, Velsum, and that is where the Klin can come to our immediate assistance. As mentioned before, we do not have eyes or ears outside our nebulae. We have no means of locating McCarthy.”

“Then we will find him for you, however it will be up to the Kracori to dispatch him. The Klin do not engage in such overt activities.”

“Agreed! We Kracori will welcome the opportunity to do battle once more; we did so enjoy it before. We will bathe in its glory again, and the killing of Nigel McCarthy will be a fine preamble to our elimination of all the Humans of Earth.”

Adam Cain is an alien with an attitude.

His story continues…

Chapter 1

Adam Cain hated the smell of alien…

 
…and the creature sitting across the table from him was certainly no exception. Even though he had never witnessed the smelly beasts consuming large amounts of fish – or any fish-like substances – they always seemed to reek of that pungent, rotting stench that often sent Adam’s throat and stomach to war with each other.

 
And besides the smell, the Yakilian crime boss was also spitting some greenish liquid from his mouth as he spoke. Occasionally, a long tongue would snake out of his mouth and wipe the fluid from his elongated chin, and each time he did another gust of the foul-smelling odor would be sent Adam’s way. Also, the beast’s yellow eyes looked more jaundiced than intimidating, and if that weren’t enough, when the creature spoke, he revealed a complete lack of teeth per se, but rather a set of blackened corrugated membranes used in the chewing and grinding of whatever food the thing consumed.

Yes, the Yakilian was truly disgusting, yet Adam Cain was right where he needed to be, seated before the alien crime lord, strapped to a chair, his hands bound securely behind him – and facing death right in the eye….

As the senior agent for the New Expansion Force-One Enforcement Division, Adam and his partner Riyad Tarazi had arrived on the planet Yaki three days earlier, tasked with seeking an audience with the leader of the sector’s illegal intoxicant trade, a native named Jakian Foruka. The Yakilian had recently been making overt moves into the neighboring Sector Four, a region of space still loyal to the New Expansion and it administrator, Kroekus of Silea. The potent drugs Foruka flooded the region with had already caused over a thousand deaths on the bordering worlds, and the locals there had appealed to Kroekus to do something about it.

The New Expansion was at a fragile point in its existence, as Kroekus and his allies sought to rebuild the once galaxy-wide empire back to its former glory. Since the collapse of Juirean rule twelve years before, a slight majority of the eight thousand worlds that had made up the former
Juirean
Expansion had gone their separate ways, resorting back to their pre-contact independence and vulnerabilities. Even though the New Expansion still counted nearly four thousand worlds as Members, the chaos of the independents was beginning to spread across borders, with rampant lawlessness and disregard for the sovereignty of others tested on a daily basis. At this critical point in the reconstruction of the Expansion, Kroekus was obligated to take action against Foruka and his drug dealers, if only to show the galaxy that the New Expansion had the backs of their loyal members.

This was where Adam’s Force-One operatives came into play. With the authority to go anywhere within the realm of the old Expansion,
Cain’s Crusaders
– as they were called within their own ranks – could dispense with diplomacy and protocol and use whatever means necessary to accomplish their missions. Adam called this blanket authority a
License to Kill
, however in this case, it was a license to kill
aliens
.

In fact, Cain’s Crusaders were often called in when diplomacy failed or when there was no central government or other authority causing the problems. Adam’s team specialized in delivering messages, and the message of the day was:
‘Don’t go up against the New Expansion or else terrible things will happen to you.’

Jakian Foruka was about to have that message delivered personally by Adam Cain himself.

Like any self-respecting crime boss, Foruka was hidden behind several layers of security, so when Adam and Riyad first landed upon the planet, it didn’t take them long to realize that just finding Foruka could be a problem. By traditional means, it could take days, if not weeks, and all the while the crime lord could get wind of their inquiries and flee, wasting all their time and effort.

The two Force-One operatives needed another plan.

So after spending three days scouting out several of the criminal’s more well-known warehouses, Adam decided on a more direct approach: He simply walked into one of Foruka’s warehouses and demanded to see the boss.

This particular warehouse was in the Yaki capital city of Mufoon, a sprawling, ugly conglomeration of brick and concrete buildings seeming to infect several radically steep hills like a malignant tumor on the land. A river carved a steep quarter-mile-wide canyon between the hills effectively separating the disgusting part of Mufoon from the truly-disgusting section. The warehouse Adam entered was located on the truly-disgusting side.

Inside the building Adam found over forty Yaki natives – Adam figured he’d call them
natives
, since it was obvious he was the
only
alien in the warehouse – and within moments of his arrival, they all produced flash weapons of every make and model, apparently out of thin air.

One of the Yakilians approached him – obviously an underboss or capo of some kind. He towered over Adam, as did most aliens, and stared down with sickly yellow eyes. Other natives rushed in to disarmed him, taking from him his Smith & Wesson Model 629 .44-Magnum with Hoghunter Laser Grip – not his usual weapon of choice, but one selected specifically for this mission.

The towering native asked him about his reason for being there and Adam stated that he was from the New Expansion and had a message for Foruka from the Administrator himself. The Yakilian then placed the barrel of an MK-17 bolt-launcher against Adam’s forehead. “You will reveal to me this message – now.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Adam said, calmly meeting the alien’s glare. “This message is for Foruka only.”

“Then I will kill you now—”

“And when your boss learns that an emissary from the New Expansion had come with a personal message for him, and you did not allow it to be delivered, how do you think he will react? There will be others who come after me; you will not be able to hide this information from Foruka.”

Uncertainty filled the alien’s eyes, and after a bout of face-covering bloviating, the underboss eventually had Adam bound, blindfolded and placed in the back of a transport to be taken before Jakian Foruka.

After about half an hour, Adam could hear the sounds outside the transport begin to echo off nearby walls as the vehicle entered another structure. Still blindfolded and bound, Adam was perp-walked into the inter-sanctum of Foruka’s criminal headquarters. The blindfold was removed and two Yakilians placed straps across his chest and legs, securing him to a wooden chair.

Adam’s eyes adjusted quickly to the dim light inside the room, and he found he was sitting across a desk from a boney-looking creature with two curved horns sprouting from his forehead. Despite the horns, Foruka looked more like an emaciated ram than a devil, and Adam gave himself a mental pat on the back.
I love it when a plan comes together….

Adam met the Foruka’s alien stare evenly, attempting to look slightly bored with the whole affair.
Just a little more prodding and this smelly bastard should be ready….

“For such a powerful criminal, I was expecting a more imposing creature,” Adam said. “You’re not much more than a goat that can talk.”

“I do not know why you are trying to provoke me, or even for that matter, who you are?” the creature said, his voice popping out of his throat like bubbles from a pipe. The translation bug imbedded behind Adam’s right ear efficiently converted the Yakilian language to English, but it could not disguise the gurgling sounds coming from the alien. “The fact that you so boldly walked into one of my most important distribution centers proclaiming to have a message from Kroekus tells me that you are simply a courier and therefore expendable once the message is delivered, hence you gain no advantage by being provocative. So tell me, what is this message you carry?”

Adam grinned widely. “Yeah, about that – I lied. There is no message. It just seemed like the quickest way to meet you face-to-face.”

Foruka narrowed his eyes and stared at Adam for a long moment before speaking. “You are truly insane to try such a ruse on me. Who are you and what do you want?”

“My name is Cain, Adam Cain,” he replied in his best James Bond accent – the Sean Connery version, the only one that really counted.

Foruka didn’t pick up on the significance of the accent, but the name did evoke a reaction. “
Adam Cain
? I do not believe it. I have heard of this being, but you cannot be he.”

“Why not?”

“Because he is a Human, and all the Humans have left Expansion space.”

“Apparently not all of us….”

Foruka shook his head – at least that gesture was something the two races had in common. “You are using this name in an attempt to intimidate me, but you cannot possibly Adam Cain. He is a great person within the Human clan and he would not be way out here on Yaki – and certainly not foolish enough to arrive without backup or entourage.”

Adam smiled – a large, toothy grin that he knew would be a sign of defiance and challenge in alien culture. “I don’t need backup, especially not against an inferior creature such as you.”

He watched the anger grow in the Yakilian, an emotion that caused the alien’s eyes to water to such a degree that Adam thought he was crying. But he knew better; Adam had done his research.

Foruka bit his bottom lip, trying to restrain himself. “With no message to deliver nor any force supporting you, I do not understand your blatant arrogance,” Foruka said, with almost pity in his voice. He looked down at Adam’s .44-Magnum resting on the table separating them, placed there by the tall Yakilian Adam had first met at the other warehouse. This creature now stood to Adam’s left the anger apparent on his face, infuriated that Adam had lied to him to gain access to Foruka. If Adam hadn’t had other plans for the natives in the room, he was sure Foruka’s lieutenant would have hell to pay for allowing this imposter to get this close to his boss.

“You may be a Human, or you may not,” Foruka said, “but you have indeed arrived bearing a strange weapon.” He reached down to pick up the shiny silver, long-barrel handgun with the wooden grip. Adam maintained his challenging smile as he saw the shock cross Foruka’s face when he realized just how incredibly heavy the weapon was – at least for a Yakilian. The alien tried to hide his surprise and discomfort while barely managing to lift the gun with one hand, his arm trembling slightly from the effort.

“Why do you carry such a cumbersome weapon?” Foruka asked. “An MK is much lighter and much more advanced. Projectile weapons are far too primitive to be effective.” The alien pressed the only button on the firearm – the one to the laser sight contained in the grip, and Adam’s smile spread a little wider.

Instantly, Foruka noticed the green dot appear on the wall across the room. His eyes widened and the bony plates above them lifted. “Ah, this is indeed a primitive weapon; you must use
manual
sighting rather than computer targeting.” The crime lord looked to his right, at his lieutenant. “What do you make of this, Hicun? What are we to do with this beast now that we know he carries no official message and has lied to gain entry?”

Foruka’s lieutenant maintained a stern expression, determined to salvage the situation if he could. “If this is indeed Adam Cain, then the one who kills him would be feared and respected throughout the galaxy. I say kill him, Foruka; kill him now before he has a chance to cause further trouble. No creature will challenge you after this deed is done.”