The Legend of Earth (The Human Chronicles Saga -- Book 5) (25 page)

They may have made contact with the fleet!

Adam thought he had climbed to the bridge in a hurry, yet he found he was actually the next-to-last person to enter. Only Chief Rutledge was slower; he was the oldest person in the crew and had probably been fast asleep.

“What do you have, Jym?” Adam asked as he entered.

“It’s a very strong hit,” Jym replied, his voice bouncing with excitement. “The word is
Allen
. That’s not your normal
alien
word – to use something you would say.”

“Bring up the full message. Have you been able to pull it out of all the clutter?”

“The program is just finishing. Here it is….”

“Commander SEAL Team Six to A.C. Commander SEAL Team Six, to A.C. Message received. Allen here. We have locked onto your strongest signal and are awaiting contact for urgent message. Once locked, line should be secure. Will monitor this frequency continuously. Proceed at your earliest. Allen out.”

“That’s it!” Adam confirmed. “That’s it! Lock on, Jym, before it’s gone.”

“Already working on it; only take a second … done.” He looked up at Adam and smiled. Nearly all the Humans were now looming over Jym’s station. “The link should now be secure.”

“Can we tell how far they are from us?” Sherri asked.

“Not yet,” Jym said. “The original message has been broadcasting continually for the past three days. There is no way of telling which of those messages they are responding to. Now that we are locked, there will be a direct link with your fleet. We can tell when they respond again.”

“Send a reply, Adam.” Tobias prompted.

“You got it,” Adam said. “Open the link, Jym.”

“Open.”

“Adam Cain to Allen. Action required on the following message: The Kracori are currently sending a strike force against the Earth to initiate a nuclear attack. I repeat: There is an imminent nuclear attack on the planet Earth.”

“Adam, will they know who the Kracori are?” Sherri asked. He knew her words were also being recorded and sent out simultaneously.

“You’re right. Admiral, the Kracori are a race of beings who have been working with the Klin. They are on their own now and have taken over Juir. They’re attacking the Earth now so that the fleet will return there instead of continuing to Juir. Nate, they intend on making the Earth radioactive, to make it uninhabitable. They have to be stopped.”

“Tell them they’ll probably be in Klin-type ships.” It was Tobias’ turn to amend Adam’s message.

Adam grimaced. That was a crucial piece of information he’d forgotten. “That’s right. They will undoubtedly be in Klin ships – just like the ones we have.”

“Tell him about the time line.” It was Rutledge speaking now.

Adam just grunted, but then said: “And the attack could happen at any time. Please confirm that you have received this message, but send a warning to Earth first. We don’t have any time to lose.”

“Is that it?” Jym asked, looking around at the crowd of Humans.

“I believe so,” Adam said, also scanning the anxious expressions of his companions. When no one else spoke, Adam told him to cut the link. “Now all we have to do is wait.”

“Yeah, that’s all,” Sherri said as she turned away and headed for the bridge exit. “It’s still not over yet, not by a long shot.”

Chapter 28

After catching about an hour’s sleep, Admiral Allen awoke restless and groggy and went to the wardroom for some coffee and a sandwich. It was nearing oh-four-thirty hours and he’d been up for going on thirty hours, all except for the brief nap he’d just taken. The excitement of receiving the message from Adam Cain had diminished somewhat, or it could have just been from his lack of sleep. Nothing much sparked his interest in his current zombie-like state of awareness.

But then the 1-MC in the wardroom sounded. A return message had been received and his presence was requested in CIC, immediately.

Nate knew something was up the moment he entered the room. Even in the dim light of CIC he could see that the solemn grouping of men and women standing around RM1 Cobb at the comm console all appeared to have the blood drained from their faces.
Is it just the lighting?
Allen wondered as he met the frowns and round eyes of his shipmates.

The Admiral wasn’t one for beating around the bush. “What happened? This doesn’t look good.” He looked down at Cobb.

“Sir, Captain Cain has reported that the Earth is about to be hit with a nuclear strike by another alien race, not the Juireans or the Klin.”

The petty officer’s trembling voice betrayed his attempt at a straight-forward, professional report. Nate Allen was stunned, but he tried not to show it. He placed a hand on the shoulder of the younger enlisted man and said, “Please play the message for me, Mr. Cobb.” He tried to keep his voice as calm and reassuring as possible, however, once the message was through playing, Admiral Nate Allen had joined the rest of those in CIC in having all the blood drain from his face.

“Cobb, open a link to the Earth immediately. I will record a message, and then attach Cain’s to it. Do it now.”

Allen followed Cain’s advice and sent the message off to Earth before recording a return video message to him. It would take four hours for the message to reach Earth, and then another for a response. The fleet was constantly receiving and sending messages back to their homeworld, so any news from Earth would only be four hours behind. So far they’d received no information regarding an attack on the planet. Hopefully the four-hour delay in warning them would not be too late.

But Allen also knew – better than most – that simply receiving the warning didn’t guarantee that the Earth could prevent such an attack. There were so many plans and preparations to be put in place. There was an entire planet to defend, and they had no idea from where the attack would come – except that it would come from space. The attackers would be in ships just like theirs, so how could they be detected? How many ships were in the strike force, and will it be a tactical or a suicide attack? There were just so many unknowns, so many variables.

Allen felt impotent. All he could do was record a bunch of suggestions and send them off to Earth, where thousands of other minds, just a brilliant as he, would be working on the same problem. Being stuck way out here on the other side of the galaxy meant that he would be unable to see real-time data or fully assess the situation, and he wouldn’t be able to witness the results of any plans that were implemented. Everything he would receive – data, sit reps, updates – would all come four hours late, if ever.

If these new aliens – the Kracori, whoever they are – were successful, then Allen
would
order the fleet back to Earth immediately, followed by nine months of worry, stress and anger which would take a heavy toll on him and his entire fleet.

The message they’d received from Cain had been audio-only, but in the rather disorganized and confused recording he’d heard the voices of both Lt. Andy Tobias and Chief Geoffrey Rutledge, two of the SEALs from ST6 that he’d known intimately for many years. That was really good news – if anything about the message could be considered good. He’d also heard the voice of Sherri Valentine, who Allen knew to be Adam Cain’s on-again, off-again companion. Of the group of Humans who had gone missing several months before, that only left petty officer John Tindal and the civilian Riyad Tarazi unaccounted for. Hopefully they were with Cain as well.

All further communication with Cain and his team would be video and RM1 Cobb had calculated the turn time for messages at around seventy-five minutes. That wasn’t bad, but it did mean they were still a couple of months out from a reunion, if one was even in the cards. If the Earth
was
successfully attacked then Cain would not have a fleet to rendezvous with. By then, Allen and his fleet would be well on their way back to Earth.

Chapter 29

Even with the dire mood that hung over all the Humans on the bridge, the sight of Admiral Allen’s face on the monitor gave them all just the slightest glimmer of hope.

“Captain Cain, it was such a relief to hear from you again. First off, a message has been dispatched to Earth warning of the attack. If you have any other intel regarding this situation, or can provide more details about the enemy, please send it as soon as possible. Anything could be helpful since you indicate this is a new set of
frickin
aliens out to harm us now.” Allen flashed a quick, yet sad smile at them through the monitor. Adam could see the lines of stress and concern on his face; they mirrored those on his own.

“I’m glad to hear the voices of Andy, Geoffrey and Ms. Valentine in your recording. What’s the status of John Tindal and Riyad Tarazi? I hope they’ve made it through with you as well.

“I have to be honest with you, Captain, I’m seriously contemplating turning for Earth right now, no matter what the results of our defense against this attack ends up being. Even if we’re able to stop this one, it doesn’t mean they won’t try again. More information about the Kracori would probably go a long way to helping me reach a decision.

“It looks like the fleet and your ship are still about a month and half apart, seeing that we’re both rapidly closing on one another. Unfortunately – according to your initial report – any success in stopping this attack, as well as the status of the fleet, will have been determined long before then.”

Allen left the unspoken consequences of his words linger for a moment before changing the subject. “Let’s keep a steady stream of reports going back and forth, even if they’re mundane ‘nothing new to report’ reports. It will help both of our moods knowing that the latest intel we have will be the most up-to-date possible.”

Then Allen leaned in a little closer to the screen. “Adam, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for your warning. Even though the news was shocking, it would have been infinitely worse to have received a message from the Earth describing the horror taking place there, and with no warning at all. You’ve given us hope – and a chance. Let’s keep our fingers, toes and whatever else crossed. Awaiting your next message – Allen out.”

There was a collective sigh of relief from all on the bridge. “So no attack yet, at least not as of four hours ago,” John Tindal said. “That’s encouraging.”