by T. R. Harris
“Let me take a look—”
Adam took her hand as she reached for his arm. “Relax, babe, I’m okay,” he said with a smile. “You need to concern yourself with your more critical patients.”
She looked at the trace of blood that had oozed through the gauze. Seeing that it hadn’t spread from the last time she checked, she looked back at the glum of the body-strewn battleground. There had been two hundred Human prisoners when the battle began. Now fewer than thirty remained.
“So this is what victory looks like?” she asked in a whisper.
“From my experience…it is.”
Her questioning eyes turned back to him. “What now? This was just a battle, here and in space; there’s still a war to win.”
The weak smile vanished from Adam’s lips, replaced by a fierce, stony look of determination. “I think we both know what has to be done. It’s the only way.”
A moment of quiet acceptance passed between them before Sherri nodded. “And we’ll lead the charge, of course.”
“Who else can we trust to get the job done?”
The pair looked though the shimmering green light to where Copernicus was moving between the survivors, helping them onto carts for the ride to the Najmah Fayd. Without looking at Adam, Sherri said: “You’ve always been the one, you know?” Then she laughed. “I just never knew how long you’d last.”
“Yeah, I have managed to beat the odds. But hey, you know me—I’m indestructible.”
Sherri took his face in her hands and kissed him hard on the lips. As she drew away, she smiled. “I’m beginning to believe that.”
Adam laughed. “Now, go, tend to your flock. They need you more than I do.”
The sad look returned to Sherri’s face. “I guess that’s always been our problem; you could get along fine without me.”
He didn’t have a response, so all Sherri could do was hang her head and walk away into the lingering haze. When she was gone, Adam turned his attention back to the cut on his arm, his own words echoing in his mind. He pulled back the bandage.
The wound was still there, only now it was an angry red line in his skin—fully closed—where thirty minutes ago it had been an open cut a quarter-of-an-inch deep. He replaced the bandage and he let out a long, breathy sigh. He stared off into the distance, contemplating an unknown future.
“Wouldn’t you know it,” he said aloud. “I’m turning into a damn mutant.”
Epilogue
They ended up jumping the Najmah Fayd to Silea instead of Castor; the atmosphere was more suitable for Humans and they had better medical facilities for the injured. On the planet, they also got the news about the space battle with the Nuoreans. It was bittersweet.
An estimated nine hundred enemy ships escaped the nuclear bloom, while only twenty allied ships survived. A makeshift fleet of defenders joined the survivors after that, led by General Angar of the Fringe Pirates. Although the fleet never exceeded three hundred ships in total, the Nuoreans decided not to stay and fight to the last ship. Instead, they bolted away, headed for the edge of the galaxy.
Adam knew word of the battle would make it back to Andromeda, and then the invaders would devise a new game plan. That’s what they did, what they would always do. The Milky Way had become the Nuorean’s ultimate challenge match.
They had to be stopped, and for Adam, there was only one way to do that.
********
Once all the passengers aboard the trans-dimensional starship had been offloaded and cared for, the small crew met on the bridge to decide their next move.
“We don’t have a choice,” Copernicus said. “They won’t stop otherwise.”
“Agreed,” said Riyad.
Four-foot-tall, bear-like Jym looked from one Human to the other, his expression one of shock. “You cannot seriously be considering this?”
“You don’t have to go, Jym,” Riyad said.
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t participate, just that the concept is beyond belief.”
“Like Coop said, we don’t have a choice,” Adam stated. “We have to destroy the mid-point generator—”
“And all the others leading to it,” Sherri added.
“They’ll just build more,” Kaylor pointed out.
“True, but it’ll take a couple hundred years, like it did the first time,” Adam countered. “In the meantime, the Milky Way will have time to prepare. We have the Najmah Fayd; we might as well take advantage of her while we can.”
“Silly name,” Jym whispered.
“What name, the Najmah Fayd?” Sherri asked.
“No…Milky Way. My people call the galaxy Zandon-Zur. That is a much more noble and majestic name for a galaxy.”
Sherri smiled and nodded. “On that we agree, sweetie.” She petted his fur-covered head. He didn’t stop her.
“So it’s agreed” Adam said. “We take the fight to the Nuoreans, all the way to Andromeda, and put an end to this war once and for all.”
Sherri let out a snort. “Yeah, this war. But then they’ll be another and another after that.”
Riyad laughed. “That’s the way it has to be, my love. There’s a small, but dedicated group of people out there who keep track of everything we do. Without more challenges to overcome, more quests to embark upon, no one would give a damn what we do.”
Adam added his laugh to Riyad’s. “That’s right, dude. We have to keep the readers happy. And if that means going all the way to the Andromeda Galaxy to kill a few aliens, that’s just what we’ll do.”
The End
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Novels by T.R. Harris
The Human Chronicles Saga
The Fringe Worlds
Alien Assassin
The War of Pawns
The Tactics of Revenge
The Legend of Earth
Cain’s Crusaders
The Apex Predator
A Galaxy to Conquer
The Masters of War
Prelude to War
The Unreachable Stars
When Earth Reigned Supreme
A Clash of Aliens
Battlelines
The Copernicus Deception
Scorched Earth
Alien Games
The Cain Legacy
Jason King – Agent to the Stars Series
The Enclaves of Sylox
Treasure of the Galactic Lights
The Drone Wars Series
Day of the Drone
In collaboration with George Wier…
The Liberation Series
Captains Malicious
