The Legend of Earth (The Human Chronicles Saga -- Book 5) (9 page)

Nigel McCarthy needed more time to work out a plan, a plan that would put him in the forefront of survival – and to hell with everyone else. Luckily, he had a couple of months to work something out….

Chapter 7

Hydon Ra Elys paced the floor of his personal residence, suffering the anguish of his thoughts. Over the past day he had experienced such a wide range of painful emotions that he was surprised he could still function.

Hydon was the Council Elder, the leader of the Expansion, and as such he was the being who carried the most responsibility for the events taking place – as well as those to come. Just the thought of having the sacred planet of Juir ransacked by either the Klin or the Humans was almost unimaginable, and one he would never have even considered only a few short months ago. But after the humiliating defeat at Falor-Kapel, and the revelation that the capital of the Expansion was now vulnerable to attack, this only meant that the decisions he would make from here on out would be the most important ever made by a Council Elder.

First the Humans – and now the Klin. How have we let ourselves become so exposed and ripe for defeat?

Hydon was taking an awful risk by trusting the Human Adam Cain. Every day they delayed evacuating the Cluster and saving Juirean lives only reduced his options – which he admitted were slim to none at this time. If the Human was lying about the second fleet – this Klin/Kracori fleet – that only meant more Juireans would be killed if and when the Humans attack. And if he is telling the truth, and the Juireans can repel the Klin invaders, then everything would be contingent on Cain convincing his forces to stop their attack.
And if he can’t?

Hydon ran his hands through the long, white hair of his ranking-mane. After so many thousands of years, the survival of the galaxy-wide Juirean Expansion – at least in its present form – now rested on the words and actions of a single being, and not a Juirean, but that of a
Human
being.

The preparations for a defense of Juir would continue now with haste. Two months may be just about enough time to make that happen. After that, who knew…?

Chapter 8

Jonnif Vinn of the Kracori had assumed command of the Klin fleet off Falor-Kapel two months before. The soft-skinned Klin had proved to be no match for his warriors, and soon the Klin strongholds on Olypon and Glasien-4 were all under Kracori control.

Scouts had been dispatched to keep watch on the vastly larger Human fleet, and Jonnif was pleasantly surprised to see that they hesitated making their move on Juir, awaiting the arrival of their second fleet. This had allowed Jonnif time to call up an additional one-hundred fifty ships from Eilsion and elsewhere to strengthen his own forces. He now commanded four-hundred fifty ships with which to make the move on the Juirean capital.

He also enjoyed one other advantage which he was sure no one else was aware he had….

Following established gravity routes, the journey from Falor-Kapel to Juir normally took four months. The Humans had just now departed the F-K system, following the traditional routes. By now the Juireans would be aware of this and would be planning accordingly. But Jonnif knew of a different route, a quicker one,
directly through the galactic center
.

Long ago, in a desperate attempt to escape the growing Expansion, Klin navigators had discovered the obscure and dangerous transit. It was a narrow and convoluted path consisting of just the right combination of matter and emptiness, a rare mixture few would have even imagined existed this close to the Core and the voracious maw of the galaxy’s central supermassive black hole. The path was used sparingly these days – if at all – and all but forgotten by the Klin.

But not by the Kracori.

For hundreds of years Jonnif’s people had tolerated the condescending attitude the Klin exhibited toward them. It was true that their culture had benefited from the advances of science and technology provided by the aliens, yet the Kracori never got the sense that the Klin gave them credit for their abilities. The arrogance of the Klin was such that even when the plan for galactic domination had first been revealed, it was as if the Kracori were expected to go along without question, providing the strength and sheer numbers of bodies it would take to carry out such a feat. And being at the tip of the sword, it would be Kracori blood that was spilled, not Klin. The two-hundred thousand or so Klin who existed at the time could never hope to achieve their ambitious objectives by themselves. The Klin needed the Kracori, yet their actions never seemed to convey that reality.

Being the warriors as they were, the Kracori went along – yet all the while concealing an agenda of their own.

The revolt against the Klin had been inevitable and carried out in a matter of days. Now the Kracori were in a position to launch the most audacious part of
their
plan.

It would be two-fold. The first, of course, included the sacking of the planet Juir and the destruction of the Expansion infrastructure within the Alliance Cluster. The second part was even bolder.

The Kracori Ludif leaders – in their infinite wisdom – realized that even if their forces could lay waste to the Juirean
Legend
of invincibility, it would be quickly replaced by the Legend of Earth, once the vastly superior Human fleet arrived and drove the Kracori from the region, like scared little animals from a carcass. The Kracori would be forced to withdraw, making it evident to all who was the strongest animal of the two. This humiliating action would make the Kracori the laughing stock of the galaxy, and come only months after first exposing their existence to the Expansion. It would be difficult for their legend to ever recover.

So the Kracori needed a way to draw the Humans away from the area, and to give them a reason to abandon their campaign against the Juireans altogether. It was Jonnif you offered a solution.

An attack upon their homeworld of Earth.

Preparations were hastily begun on the planet Glasien-4 once the Kracori revolt was complete. Yet unlike the earlier Juirean attack on Earth, which only utilized energy bombs so as to preserve the viability of the planet for future use, the Kracori attack would be nuclear. As Jonnif and the Council reasoned, it would be one thing to draw the Human fleet away from Juir, only to have it return later with even more resources – and a meaner attitude. It was quite another to ravage the planet with an inferno of deadly radioactivity, rendering the Earth useless for decades to come. The Ludif leaders figured this was the only way of ensuring that the Humans would not be around to interfere with Kracori plans into the future.

Entering the Human stellar system undetected could be a challenge, but the Kracori planners reasoned that the Humans wouldn’t be expecting such an attack, and the strike force would be arriving in Klin-built ships, the same as all the others flitting around the planet at the time. The plan would have a high probability of success, after which the Humans would have no choice but to withdraw their fleet in order to assist in the defense and recovery efforts.

As far as the first part of the plan went, Jonnif was confident in its execution and success. The Juireans would be expecting the Human fleet to arrive in the Cluster in four months-standard, and would be making plans based on that timetable.

Yet with a two month head start – and by utilizing the secret path through the galactic core – the Kracori were already there….

Chapter 9

Two days later Council Elder Hydon entered the darkened confines of the Juirean Strategic Command Center for a meeting with Fleet Marshal Relion. The Juirean military higher commander had sent out every scout and called on every sensor available to try and locate any mass-gravity signatures approaching ahead of the invading Human fleet.

“We’ve been unable to detect anything out of the ordinary, my Lord,” Relion said, frustration thick in his voice. “There
does
seem to be a major exodus from the gravity lanes by just the normal traffic, all trying to avoid the Humans, yet nothing that would indicate a concentrated force of three hundred ships or more.”

“You’ve scanned all along the lanes, even the most obscure?”

“Yes, my Lord. The gravity routes to Juir are the most-traveled and monitored in the galaxy, even coming from that side of the Core. If there was a fleet in deep-well transit it would have been detected.”

“Then the Human has lied to us,” Hydon stated, pursing his thin lips together in anger.

“It appears so – but to what end? He had to surely know we would attempt to verify his claims, and if no traces were found, then our evacuation efforts would have been delayed only temporarily. Are the Humans so anxious to kill Juireans that even a few days’ delay in evacuating the population would mean a few more of us left behind to kill?”

“They are a deceptive and diabolical race. They appear to thrive on subterfuge and underhandedness, so their motives are always in question. I will be in my personal office in an hour. Have Adam Cain delivered to me at that time.”

“Yes, my Lord. And what of the evacuation?”

“Hold off until I have another chance to speak with the Human. He may reveal more in this second meeting.”

Hydon’s personal office was located three stories below the Pinnacle conference room. It was a large room, yet not as large as Adam would have expected for the leader of the galaxy. It was dimly lit, except for the area around the large wooden desk where Hydon sat. There were the ubiquitous computer monitors placed to his right and behind him on a matching wooden credenza, and on a secondary table set off to the left was a pile of datapads all stacked helter-skelter on its top. The entire scene reminded Adam of what an aged college professor’s office might look like, albeit without any disheveled library lining a wall-length bookcase.