The Tactics of Revenge
Page 25
Either way, Anawar would be satisfied.
Chapter 66
“Son-of-a-bitch! Didn’t we just leave this party?” Sherri Valentine yelled to no one in particular. She ran to the pilothouse just as Riyad approached from the other direction.
Already inside were Adam, McCarthy and Tobias, along with the two aliens Kaylor and Jym. Adam nodded at her as she entered, a look of worry and disgust on his face.
“Juireans, are you sure?” she asked moving to get a closer look at the tac screen facing Nigel McCarthy.
The big Brit didn’t look back at her, but rather kept his attention focused on the screen. “Not just Juireans, Miss Valentine, but ten of them.”
“What are they doing this far out?”
“At the moment they are rapidly closing on our position.”
“What are you going to do?”
“The better question is what are they going to do?” said Andy Tobias. “We can’t outrun them and we can’t out fight them. If they’re in a bad mood, they may just blast the crap out of us.”
Adam slipped into the co-pilot seat next to McCarthy and activated the shields. “I for one am not going down without a fight!”
“Relax, Mr. Cain,” said McCarthy. “We’re already within range of their weapons. I think if they intended to shoot, they would have by now.”
Adam released the controls and leaned back in the chair. He let out a deep sigh. “So what now, prisoners again and hope for an escape or rescue?” He looked around at the others in the pilothouse. “Just about everyone I’ve ever counted on to come to my rescue is right here in this room with me. If we’re going to do this, we’ll have to do it on our own.”
Riyad Tarazi placed his hand on Adam’s shoulder and grinned in his interminable way. “Adam my friend, we are all quite resourceful – as you are well aware. We have been like a cancer to all our past captors, destroying them from the inside out. If I were the Juireans, I would be the ones afraid of taking us prisoner.”
Chapter 67
The Juirean forces dissolved their wells and then moved under chemical drive to surround the much smaller spacecraft. A comm link was established, sending directions for docking the Klin starship within the bowls of the Class-3. Soon, atmosphere was returning to the vast landing bay, as the shimmering hull of the alien craft creaked and moaned, warming from the absolute cold of space.
Anawar had never seen a Klin/Human spacecraft in person before – very few Juireans had and lived to tell about it – so he was anxious to see this one up close. As he entered the landing bay, he was first struck by the circular shape of the craft and its near-uniform gray color. The prominent disk now rested on a wide pedestal that had descended from its center … and a doorway in the base was slowly sliding open.
A squad of twenty security personnel formed a semi-circle facing the doorway, flash rifles leveled and ready for any sign of hostilities. Having read dozens of reports regarding the ferocity of the Humans, the Overlord could not discount the possibility of a head-on suicidal attack by these beasts from within his ship. The guards appeared nervous, yet ready.
Anawar stepped forward to calm his guards. He did not want any premature discharge of their weapons should the occupants of the ship flinch the wrong way. That could get messy.
And besides, he might actually see a Klin emerge from the doorway in the pedestal, and not a Human. To see a Klin in the flesh would be the most momentous event in his life. An actual Klin!
To his disappointment, no Klin emerged from the circular ship. Instead there appeared a Human, about a full head shorter than he, wearing a light tan shirt with an open front, displaying a primitive-looking series of abdominal muscles for all to see. Disgusting. The creature had dirty yellow hair, bright blue eyes and a redness on the left side its face which appeared to be a healing wound. The creature’s arms were bare below the shoulders and exhibited a remarkable degree of musculature – Anawar had read that these creatures were extremely strong and quick with their reactions. Overall, the beast looked primitive and savage, as all the reports had indicated.
Yet the expression on the face, coupled with the sharpness of the eyes, led Anawar to believe that this being also possessed a hidden intelligence not mentioned in the reports. He would have to careful with this one—
And then Anawar involuntarily took a step backwards, as another Human appeared, followed by another and then another. In a moment, Anawar Fe Batlin, Overlord of the Juirean Expansion, was experiencing an emotion he had never felt before. His heart was racing and he felt a flushness on his face. He knew this to be fear – and standing before him was the catalyst.
He now counted thirteen Humans standing before him, all dressed in a variety of tattered and dirty clothing. Some were even larger than the yellow-haired one; there was even a black one, and of a size almost equal to his own. There was an obvious female in the group as well, yet from her demeanor she appeared as an equal to the males, both in resolve and toughness. In the back stood two other creatures, a Belsonian and a Fulqin, yet Anawar could not take his eyes off the Humans.
The Overlord could sense the tenseness in his guards; if he was feeling as such, then surely the non-Juireans manning the flash rifles must be on the verge of panic. Anawar looked over at the sentries and calmly spoke: “Stand at ease. Do not fire unless ordered.”
The row of sentries appeared to relax, even more so when five Juirean Guards entered the landing bay, also armed with flash rifles. They took up positions on either side of the Overlord. Good, Counselor Timino is observing, Anawar thought. He has sent reinforcements.
The yellow-hair Human took two steps forward – he was apparently their leader. “What now, boss?” the creature asked.
Gathering his courage, Anawar himself stepped forward until he was only an arm’s length from the formidable beast. “I am Overlord Anawar Fe Batlin. You and your crew are now prisoners of war. Your ship will be confiscated and—”
Anawar broke off as an excited voice blared through the microphone in his ear. He raised his hand to the side of his head in an involuntary reaction to the sound. “My Lord!” said his Counselor through the link. “Facial recognition has just identified the Human with which you are speaking. It is Adam Cain, my Lord! Adam Cain!”
Anawar suddenly locked eyes with those of the alien. He took a step back. “You are the terrorist Adam Cain!” the Overlord said in a voice that echoed throughout the landing bay.
The creature raised his eyebrows and his lips began to stretch wider across his face. “That didn’t take long. I suppose my mug shot is plastered everywhere from here to Timbuktu.”
“Yes, you are well-known to all Juireans. Your murderous exploits have been related in all their bloody detail. I am also aware that you had been in transit to Juir when you escaped from your captivity, killing nearly all of the crew aboard a Class-3 battlecruiser.” Anawar heard a murmur run through the non-Juirean guards in the landing bay.
“I had help,” Adam Cain said, cocking his head sideways slightly. “Now that we’re all acquainted, I return to my original question: what now?”
Anawar’s chest was exploding with excitement – and trepidation. Here was the infamous Adam Cain, standing before him, and within his custody. There was only one thing he could do.
“You, Adam Cain, will be presented to Council Elder Hydon Ra Elys, the leader of the Juirean Expansion, and the most powerful being in the galaxy. I will personally deliver you to him on our glorious homeworld of Juir!”
The End
Of
Tactics of Revenge
Coming soon…
The Human Chronicles Saga:
Volume 5
The Legend of Earth
The Final Volume of Part One of
The Human Chronicles Saga
Available early January, 2013
The Legend of Earth…
As all the forces in the galaxy converge on the planet Juir, Adam Cain and his team of Navy SEALs and SAS Commandos soon dis
cover that there’s a new enemy on the scene: The Kracori – another of the super-races recruited by the Klin as their surrogates in war.
Yet now the Kracori have decided to take matters into their own hands, not settling to be the puppets of the Klin any longer.
In the exciting Final Chapter of Part One of The Human Chronicles Saga, galactic forces collide, alliances are betrayed and a startling truth is revealed that will leave the Human race either the masters of the galaxy or simply a tragic footnote in the history of the Milky Way.
Please go to:
TheHumanChronicles.com
For more information regarding the entire series.
You can contact author T.R. (Tom) Harris directly by email at:
bytrharris@hotmail.com