The Legend of Earth (The Human Chronicles Saga -- Book 5) (2 page)

Chapter 2

Adam Cain thought this is how people on death row must feel.

An hour earlier, an announcement had blared from the PA system of the Juirean Enforcer-class starship informing all the prisoners that they had entered the Juirean stellar system and were now to begin preparations. Adam was at a loss as to what preparations he needed to make. After all, how does one prepare for one’s own execution?

With nothing better to do for the past two months, Adam found his imagination to be his own worst enemy. During that time he had managed to conjure up all kinds of outrageous and improbable scenarios for how his stay on Juir might transpire. In one such scenario he and his fellow Humans would convince the Juireans to set them free. In another they would escape in a hail of flash bolts. Or lastly – with trumpets blowing – the Human fleet would sweep in at the last minute to save them all from certain death. Yet no matter how convincing he made the fantasies out to be, there was only one thing he knew for certain: he had no idea how the next twenty-four hours would play out.

The fact that Adam and the Humans were still prisoners of the Juirean Overlord Anawar Fe Batlin was a testament not only to the alien’s effectiveness, but also to his paranoia. It had been two months since they had surrendered to the ten-ship convoy commanded by the elderly Overlord, coming only five days after escaping from the Klin stronghold on Marishal. The Humans had surrendered to the Juireans believing that it made more sense to take their chances as prisoners, as opposed to being blasted out of space in a hail of energy bolts. And besides, they had history on their side; no prison or jail cell had been able to contain the Humans for very long. As in the past, the Humans treated their imprisonment as just a temporary setback. To them, it wasn’t a question of
if
they could escape, but rather
when
.

But then the Overlord had pulled a fast one….

They had only been aboard the Juirean Class-3 starship for two days when Adam was summoned into Overlord Anawar Fe Batlin’s private chambers.

“I’ve made new arrangements for your detainment,” the gruff, old alien had said. Adam stood silently before the Juirean’s desk waiting for more details.

“I will not have a repeat of what happened the last time you were held aboard a Juirean vessel, so you and your companions are to be transferred to another ship – a small, unmanned
Enforcer
. You will have full run of the ship, all except the bridge and generator rooms. Explosives have been fashioned around these spaces while monitors have been placed throughout the ship. I will not tolerate any efforts to access these spaces, or any attempts to escape.”

Anawar leaned back in his chair and ran a wrinkled hand through his light blue hair. Adam knew Juireans signified rank by the dyed color of their manes, great masses of hair that billowed from the tops of their head to cascade halfway down their backs. However, this Overlord was old, and the constant battle between the dark blue of his rank and the ravages of age was quickly being lost to stubborn streaks of gray.
Maybe he’ll do a better dye job for his command appearance before the Council
, Adam thought.
A little Just for Aliens would go a long way to help cover up that gray
.

“I am fully aware of your reputation, Adam Cain,” the Overlord continued. “I am also aware of the outcome of the latest engagement between our two races. This convoy is headed for Juir to add our firepower to the countering forces being assembled there, a journey which will take two standard months.” Anawar paused a moment to look Adam up and down. “You Humans are the gravest enemies of the Juirean Expansion and I would not be faulted for simply destroying the prison ship at my discretion, killing all of you in the process. I have the Klin-designed spacecraft you were captured aboard, which by itself will gain me great favor with the Council. But I must admit, I
would
personally like to present you to Elder Hydon as well, but it is not a necessity. The last thing I will tolerate is any further loss of Juirean life by your hands. Be forewarned, I will be looking for a reason
not
to kill you and your co-conspirators. Eliminating you as a threat as soon as possible would make my life much simpler. So whether you live or die now depends entirely on your actions aboard the prison ship.”

Anawar briefly flashed his teeth, a gesture that would normally be called a smile, yet one Adam knew to be sign of defiance and arrogance in alien culture. Adam did not respond; it was too early in his captivity to cause problems. Besides, this particular Juirean seemed serious about keeping him in chains. That may change, but for now he had to be careful.

“You seem to have thought of everything,” Adam complimented. “When will this transfer take place?”

“Immediately; as we speak your companions are being escorted to the landing bay.” The Juirean hesitated, fighting back the urge to say something more. Finally he gave in to his urges. “The Juirean people do not deserve the pain and destruction your barbaric race has brought to the Expansion, and if you were any other group of Humans, I would have summarily executed all of you as an act of war. But you are Adam Cain, the terrorist, and I know how much pleasure the Elder will get from personally putting an end to your evil existence. But remember, you arriving at Juir alive would simply be a bonus.”

The shuttle skidded into the Enforcer’s small landing bay, and once the atmosphere had returned to the chamber, all the prisoners were hustled out under heavy guard. Anawar’s Counselor, another old Juirean named Timino, was in charge of the transfer. He barely said a word, seeming instead to be put out by the whole affair. When everyone was off the shuttle the old Juirean stepped up to Adam.

“I would have cast you all out into the cold of space if I was in command,” he said without preamble. “I know that as long as you and your kind are alive, you are a threat.”

Adam grinned at him, flashing his teeth in his own sign of challenge and defiance. “Yeah, I get it: The only good Human is a dead Human – something like that?”

“That is a very accurate way to express it,” the Juirean agreed. Then he motioned for all the guards to reenter the shuttle. He turned back to Adam just before the hatch was shut. “We will be monitoring you. I welcome the opportunity to recommend detonation of the explosives – just give me a reason.” And with that he disappeared into the shuttle.

The prisoners all quickly moved out of the landing bay and into an observation room, before the atmosphere was evacuated from the chamber once again and the shuttle departed. As soon as it was clear, the room exploded with over a dozen different voices all trying to speak at once. McCarthy’s booming command soon brought immediate silence.

“Carter, I saw that there are environment suits in the landing bay. We’ll suit up and spacewalk back to the command ship. They won’t be expecting that. Once we get there, we’ll look for some way to get inside.”

“That would be very risky,” Kaylor spoke up. “If the convoy enters a well, everyone outside would be sucked in. That won’t work.”

McCarthy’s eyes darted back and forth widely. “Then we’ll have to get onto the bridge. “Connors and Sato, the two of you see if we can gain access through the air duct system—”

“Hold on!” Sherri yelled, her high-pitched voice cutting cleanly through the low, guttural tone of the men. She stepped in front of McCarthy, who towered over her by a good head-and-a-half, and pointed a finger up at his face. “Who put you in charge?” she asked. “To me, you’re just a god-damn traitor. You were quite content to play along with the Klin until they stabbed you in the back. As I see it, you’re just as responsible as the Klin for all the crap that’s been going on for who knows how long. You probably even knew that the Juirean attack on the Earth was a setup. You knew the Klin could have stopped it before anyone got killed, but you did nothing. You’re just as responsible for all those deaths as the stinking Klin!”

Adam had been watching the expressions of McCarthy’s men as Sherri had unleashed her tirade. None seemed surprised by the allegations. That was not good, meaning they had been part of the conspiracy against their own race, too, just like McCarthy. However, it did provide Adam with a valuable insight into their loyalties.

Finally, McCarthy had had enough. He raised his hand to strike the feisty female, only to have all the Human members of Adam’s team suddenly rush forward. They were immediately blocked by several of McCarthy’s own men, and a tense standoff ensued.

Adam shoved his way between McCarthy and Sherri, separating them. “Everyone just calm down; fighting amongst ourselves will not accomplish a thing.”

“But we can’t do nuthin,” said one of Nigel’s men, aggressively moving to within a palm’s length of Adam’s face. He tolerated the man’s foul breath; he was sure they all suffered from the same malady. “They’re just going to kill us when we get to Juir,” the man finished.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Adam said.

“What the fuck does that mean?” the man asked. Adam remembered his name was Simpson – or something like that – and he was one of the Australians.

“The Juireans have been a victim of the Klin’s manipulations, just as we have. I think we have a good chance of convincing them that we’re not really their enemy—”

“Bullshit!” McCarthy said, replacing Simpson in the face-to-face standoff with Adam. Tobias and Riyad moved up to flank him.

“It’s okay, guys,” Adam said to them. “We’re just having a discussion.” He turned his attention back to McCarthy. “Whatever’s going to happen on Juir is a couple of months away. Until then, we have run of this ship and time to assess our situation.” He looked over at Simpson. “We may find a way to escape – I’m not opposed to that – but we can’t jump headlong into something until we have all the facts. Most of us have Special Forces training. We know better than to simply react to a situation.”

There was an awkward silence in the room, as McCarthy’s team looked to him for guidance. Eventually, the hulking, ginger-hair man smiled at Adam. “Fine, we’ll do it your way – for now. But get one thing straight, mate, you’re
not
in charge of me or my men.”

“Roger that, Mr. McCarthy, but we
are
on the same team. We have to work together.”

The space opened up some around the two men as people in the room began to relax. Adam held out his hand to McCarthy and smiled.

Nigel gripped the hand tightly, squeezing it hard in a macho act dominance. Adam matched his grip – and then reeled off a powerful left hook to McCarthy’s jaw.

McCarthy fell heavily to the deck, as tensions soared once more between the two opposing teams. Adam jumped back and raised his hands. “I owed him that!”

“Stand down!” McCarthy commanded from the floor, while propping himself on one elbow and massaging his jaw with his other hand. He grinned up at Adam. “Good form, Mr. Cain. I guess I did deserve that.” He rose to his feet. “But that’s the only free one you’ll ever get.”

McCarthy turned away, shoving his way through the throng surrounding him, heading off into the ship; his men followed like a gaggle of steroid-enhanced geese.

Adam looked over at Sherri and winked.

“Men,” was all she said.

McCarthy and his nine-man team claimed the ship’s forward compartments for their own, with McCarthy in the captain’s quarters and Carter Thomas in the XO’s. This area was reserved for the ship’s Juirean contingent and therefore offered more-spacious and better-appointed accommodations.

As the ranking officer onboard, Adam should have been able to claim the captain’s quarters, but he chose not to make an issue out of it. Instead, he and his people took the more modest quarters found mid-ships. Soon a tense equilibrium was established between the two camps. In fact, the less interaction Adam and his team had with Nigel’s, the better.

If McCarthy didn’t get them all blown to vapor over the next two months, Adam would have time to think. He needed that time, because a germ of an idea had begun to percolate in his mind….

For much of the first two weeks aboard the prison ship, Adam’s two alien companions, Kaylor and Jym, had done all they could to find a way around the Juirean’s safeguards, but with no luck. And once the convoy entered gravity wells for the journey to Juir, there wasn’t much more they could do except sit back and enjoy the ride.