Cain's Crusaders (23 page)

“The plan sounds reasonable, Pleabaen,” Polimic stated. “But will two hundred ships be adequate to initially counter the Human response?”

“Not in straight combat. But these ships will be used to raid Human settlements within the region, causing civilian casualties. The damage will be widespread, requiring an inordinate number of Human ships to respond.” And then the Klin actually smiled. “It will be chaotic for many months within the tiny Human Empire. If there is one thing we have recently learned regarding the Humans, it is that they will either wait too long before acting, or else they will overreact to a situation. Seldom is the Human response equal to the situation. They are extremely emotional and impulsive beings.”

Polimic knew that the Klin classified the Humans and the Kracori as equals in ability and in traits, so what Velsum was saying about the Humans was also directed at the Kracori. But he would let this go. The Klin were very good at manipulation. Their plan with the Jusepi would take place basically as designed, with enough latitude figured in for the unexpected.

So even if McCarthy was to reveal the location of the Kracori homeworld to the Humans, the tiny pink beings would be so involved in quelling the Jusepi uprising that they would have little time nor resources to send against Elision.

And then the Kracori would strike, ending the Human problem once and for all. After that, all the Kracori would be concerned with would be the Klin….

Chapter 16

O
ver the next six days, Adam and his stolen ship were able to evade most of the other traffic saturating the space leading to Formil. This task became much harder the closer they got to Arieel’s homeworld, as the hunters began to congregate nearby in a last-ditch attempt to collect the bounty.

Adam’s plan to plot a less-direct route to Formil had paid off. They had only been challenged twice, and both times the military transponder aboard the ship gave them clearance.

They were fortunate that the transponder code had not been reported as stolen. By this time, he was sure the theft had been discovered, but fortunately communications between the more backwards Siyvelan system and the rest of the Coalition was not that sophisticated.

But now the situation would get dicey. Adam was now steering a direct course for Formil, requiring him to enter the mass of ships now filling the system. The Formilians would be checking all ships, looking for assassins or others with evil intent. This was their
Speaker
that all these beings had come hunting. They were out to kill the Supreme Celebrant of their religion, their embodiment of the living-god.

To that end, the Formilians were taking the situation very seriously.

In most cases, this would be welcome news for Adam and Arieel however the temptation of thirty-million credits was complicating the matter. Adam had thought about contacting Convor as they neared the planet, seeking a safe zone to bring her in, yet he decided he couldn’t trust anyone beyond the High Celebrant himself. Others may be listening.

The bounty McCarthy was offering could also be earned not with the killing of Arieel, but simply by preventing her from reaching the Temple by the time of the Rites Ceremony. She wouldn’t even have to die for the conspirator to earn a planetary fortune. This made Adam’s task grow in difficulty the closer the time came for the ceremony, an event now only eight hours away.

It would take all of Adam’s ingenuity, as well as Arieel powers to pull this off – even if her powers were artificially created.

The planet Formil was now solidly in view of Adam’s stolen spaceship. The Formilians had restricted the landing of all craft for the next twelve hours without special clearance from the Order.

Adam broadcast the landing request using the Armplanese military code.

“What is your business upon Formil?” the dispatcher asked. Adam had painted his skin black using grease from the landing bay, and dressed in an Armplanese military uniform. He didn’t know of the Armplanese came in black, but he was also hoping the dispatcher didn’t know either.

“The Order has requested all the assistance in guarding the Temple that members of the Coalition can provide. We are a detachment of security personnel sent to assist.”

“I am not aware of any such request. You are the only vessel claiming this request.”

“It has been relatively recent that the request was made, since the efforts to prevent The Speaker from returning to Formil appear to have failed. The High Celebrant himself has determined that all efforts must now be placed in guarding the Temple at this time.”

“But we have sufficient personnel within the Formilian population to guard the Temple.”

The dispatcher was being exceptionally cautious. Adam would have to get a little more forceful. “I am an official representative of the Armplanese people. I have come at the request of your High Celebrant to assist in a mission of paramount importance to our sacred religion. Without clearance, we will not be able to perform our mission, and my government, as well as your own, will be very upset. Is it your wish to cause an inter-Coalition incident, when all we are attempting to do is help?”

The dispatcher began to look uncertain. “I will have to contact my superiors within the Order—”

“There is no time for that! The Rites Ceremony is only hours away, and my forces need to be in place well before that time. We are already behind schedule due to the traffic surrounding your world. Every moment lost in this meaningless banter will only cause further damage to Armplanese and Formilian relations. Your name will read prominently within my report should this come to pass!”

This seemed to push the dispatcher over the edge. He typed something on the keyboard in front of him and looked up at Adam once again. His face was full of contempt. “I have transmitted your landing code. You are cleared to the Order landing field just outside the compound walls. I have requested transports to be at your disposal for the movement of your troops to the Temple. Is there anything else you require?” The question came off dripping of sarcasm and disgust.

“No, that will suffice. I regret the confusion, but the situation we are facing is grave. I do appreciate your cautious approach. That, too, will be noted in my end-of-mission report.”

The dispatcher seemed to perk-up, just a little, but then he simply nodded and cut the link.

Adam leaned back in the pilot’s seat and looked over at Arieel, who had been sitting off screen, listening to the conversation. He let out a deep sigh.

“We’ll at least be able to get to the surface,” he said to her, “and maybe all the way to the Temple doors. How do we get in from there, and what happens once the ceremony starts?”

“The Temple is a large building with many chambers. The Rites Ceremony is conducted in the Throne Room. I sit upon the throne and recite the Sacrament. It only takes a couple of minutes.”

“How many others are present?”

“Several dozen, mainly those of the High Order, along with a few visiting dignitaries who have made the pilgrimage. The event happens every twenty-eight days, so it is not that important among my other duties.” She suddenly took a deep breath, the seriousness of all the prior ceremonies now hitting her all at once. “At least I had never considered it to be very important. Now I know better.”

“We’re almost there, Arieel. Once the deadline for the bounty has passed, then you’ll be safe. And I’m sure the Order will now institute new security procedures around you to prevent another event like from ever happening again.”

Arieel’s expression suddenly grew very hard. “I am especially distressed that members of my own Order may be conspiring to kill me. There will be a purging, Adam Cain. Only those truly loyal to the Order will remain when I am done. Those who would kill their Speaker simply for credits will be no more.”

Adam had no doubt she was serious. Head would roll for this, especially since Adam was fully convinced that her kidnapping had been an inside job. McCarthy had almost admitted as much when he spoke of the inside information he had about Arieel, even knowing about the explosive within her body when even she was unaware of its existence.

In a way, Adam felt sorry for her. She had always lived her life behind a veil of protocol and ceremony, unable to experience life beyond the walls of the Temple Complex. And yet she was a lively and curious personality. It was a waste the way she was living, and yet it was what she had always known. It was simply another example of a person’s predetermined place in life confining them to a living prison.

Having experienced a brief, yet tumultuous, look at life outside the Temple walls, Adam wondered if Arieel would ever be content with her regimented existence ever again? He looked over at her, only to find her arranging her hair in the reflection of the nav monitor, completely lost in the primping. Hell, she may welcome the return of the old routine. At least that way she could always look her best – which appeared to be her main priority at the moment.

“This is getting critical Major,” Carter Thomas said. He was looking at a clock on the wall of the common room aboard their spaceship, now located somewhere between Uniss-3 and their secret base. “Three fucking hours left and still no word if they’ve been found or not.”

For his part, Nigel McCarthy was also very concerned. The bounty offer had started off with such high promise. Cain had been located within hours of its disclosure and a short chase ensued. But then he simply disappeared, having not been seen nor heard from again in over six days. It was virtually impossible for this to have happened. At one count, there were over two thousand spaceships looking for him.
How the hell did he slip through?

“I assume all the steps have been taken on Formil?” Nigel asked. “As the hours go by their path will become narrower and narrower. I simply refuse to believe that they’ll be able to get inside the Temple. How could they?”

“How could they evade two thousand ships, too, but they did? At this point, I’m tempted to put my money on Cain.”

McCarthy glared at his second-in-command. “I put my money on us – thirty-five million credits worth. Have a little faith sergeant-major. It’s not over yet.”

Carter looked at the clock again. “It will be, in two hours and fifty minutes. Either the bitch will be dead, or we’ll be back to square one.”

Nigel looked at the clock as well.
There’s no arguing with that,
he thought.
Maybe it’s about time I started working on a backup plan?
And then he laughed out loud, causing Thomas to frown. But then he thought,
So, I need a backup plan for my bloody backup plan! Ain’t that some shite? You know, at some point, I’m really going to have to kill that bastard Adam Cain.

The small Armplanese spaceship dropped to the surface of Formil unmolested and settled down under chemical drive on the vast Order landing field outside the walls of the Temple Complex. Adam had departed for Uniss-3 from this very field eleven days earlier, having never expected the sequence of events that would unfold during that time. But his mission wasn’t complete, not yet. In fact, the most-dangerous part may still be ahead of him.

True to the dispatcher’s word, two large transport vehicles pulled up to the ship, expecting to transport the security detail to the Temple. Since there were only two passengers aboard the ship, that discrepancy might be difficult to explain.

The black grease he had worn to deceive the dispatcher wouldn’t work face to face, so he had cleaned up, revealing his true pink complexion. He still wore the uniform of the Armplanese military, and he had even found a hat that looked like part of the official outfit. He pulled the soft-brimmed cap down as far as he could on his head while still being able to see and then opened the outer hatch. He also wore an MK-17 secured to his hip.

The driver of the first transport was a young Formilian. If Adam had thought the Formilian males he seen to date were handsome beyond belief, the younger ones were even more so. The firm, tanned body, the narrow waist and bulging muscles again appeared to be in perfect proportional to the rest of the body, leading Adam to believe again that this was genetic rather than manufactured.

“Greetings,” Adam said as he approached the Formilian.

“Greetings, are your troops ready? I understand you are to help guard the Temple. We must hurry, the ceremony will begin soon.”

Adam was surprised how well-informed the supposedly lowly transport driver seemed to be.

“This is true,” Adam said casually, “yet before I disembark my troops, I wish to survey the Temple grounds so as to best form a defensive perimeter.” Adam smiled slightly, actually impressed with his off-the cuff remark.