The Tactics of Revenge (30 page)

Both he and McCarthy sat up to find themselves crushed into the back seat of the transport with Sherri, with the massive Carter Thomas in the front passenger seat and Riyad driving.

“Why aren’t you with the others?” Adam scolded, looking around at the others in the car.

“We thought you might need a lift,” Riyad said.

Thomas looked at his boss. “I sent Mitchell along with the others. They’re about ten minutes ahead of us.”

Riyad steered the car across the grass and around the main building. The antenna had apparently crashed all the way down through the structure, igniting fires as it went, with flames that now engulfing nearly half the building. There were hundreds of aliens streaming from the building now; many covered in blood with vacant looks on their faces. Others still rushed out covered in flames, only to collapse to the ground, writhing in agony.

A mass of transports clogged the access gates in and out of the complex, so Riyad steered to the left and plowed through the metal fence next to the main gate.

The crash was loud and violent, as the metal fence bounced off the hood of the car, smashing the front windshield. Glass filled the driver and passenger seats, but Riyad and Thomas seemed unfazed. They simply bushed the broken glass off of themselves, not bothered by the tiny moles of blood now appearing across their faces and arms.

They were now on a main street and moving as fast as the small electric vehicle would allow. “Where to,” Riyad yelled, the wind whipping into the compartment through the shattered windshield.

“Turn right at the next intersection. I’ll guide you from there,” said Carter Thomas.

Chapter 61

Adam kept looking through the cracked rear window of the car to see if they were being pursued. Fortunately, there was very little traffic in this part of the city and no one was following them. Soon Thomas guided them into a rundown industrial section of the city where he had Riyad stop next to a row building with the truck from the estate parked outside.

They exited the dented and scratched car and ran through a set of double doors into the building.

Adam was relieved to see a large shuttle sitting in the middle of a cavernous warehouse, the side entrance to the shuttle open, and Andy Tobias standing in the doorway.

“Thank god. We were beginning to worry,” he said, eyeing Adam and McCarthy’s shirtless and soaked torsos with a questioning frown as they slipped in past him. “I guess I won’t ask.” The Lieutenant then shut and dogged the hatch behind him.

Adam followed McCarthy to the pilothouse. One of his men – they had not had time to be properly introduced – was seated in the pilot’s seat. Kaylor and Jym were hunched up against the back bulkhead, looking terrified.

“And of course, you also have a shuttle.”

McCarthy slipped into the co-pilot’s seat. “Every contingency covered, Mr. Cain.”

“How the hell did you get it inside the building?”

“A little push here, a little pull there.” McCarthy then busied himself with the prelaunch sequence.

The man sitting next to him soon turned and said, “Primed. We can go at any time.”

“Do it!”

Instantly – and from all around them – there came such a deafening roar that all those not piloting the shuttle placed their hands to their ears. The building around them disintegrated in a cloud of dust and debris, as the first of a series of thousands of micro gravity wells formed far above them. The shuttle was drawn into the air, a bright flash of sunlight now blazing through the shuttle’s viewport. The debris streaming up all around them soon disappeared and the city fell away quickly below. Within three minutes, they were in space.

Kaylor stepped up behind the pilot. “This is a short-range shuttle. It won’t get us very far,” he said, concern thick in his voice.

“It only needs to get us there,” McCarthy said, pointing through the viewport at the smaller of the two moons of Marishal.

Adam stepped up next to McCarthy’s seat. “Don’t tell me, you also have starship hidden on the moon?”

“Nothing fancy, just a little Klin 722 – you probably don’t even know what that is, do you?”

“
I
do,” said Kaylor. He looked over at Adam. “It’s like the ships we saw on Calamore, at the Klin base there. Basic, but it will suffice.”

Adam placed his hand on Nigel McCarthy’s broad and freckled shoulder. “I’m impressed, Mr. McCarthy. Well done.”

McCarthy looked up at him and grinned. “And that is why the SAS can beat the shit out of a SEAL any day.”

Adam returned the grin. He would leave that comment alone – for now.

Chapter 62

Most beings throughout the Expansion would have been surprised to learn that the Juirean High Military Command was not housed in Malor Tower. Nor was it in one of the five surrounding structures the Tower that made up the Arolus Array high atop the Kacoran Plain on Juir.

Rather, the structure that housed the supreme military force in the galaxy was located a kilometer away in a non-descript building behind a cluster of limillian trees. If one didn’t know where to look, it could be easily missed.

One would think this camouflage of the building was intentional, being as it was the headquarters of powerful and secret military activity. In truth, it was not. Instead, for generations the military operations of the Expansion – and the Juireans in particular – had faded into disinterest and neglect. This was no anybody’s fault; it was simply the verities of the times, where peace reigned and dangerous bombast was suppressed by pragmatic need.

And so it was with eye-opening consternation that Council Elder Hydon Ra Elys traveled the short distance to the building just as the battle of Falor-Kapel was unfolding.

With Hydon’s already proclaimed resolution to rebuild the Juirean military to its former glory, he was shocked and appalled to see just how much work lay ahead of him. Even with the recent upgrades made since the beginning of the Juirean-Human conflict, Hydon still couldn’t believe how archaic and out-of-date were so much of the Command’s equipment and processes.

And the Command was only short walk from the very capital of the Expansion.

In the darkened room, surrounded by other Councilmembers, a dozen Elites and an untold number of Overlords, the leader of the Expansion had waited for any word of the battle taking place on the other side of the galaxy. Communications would take four hours to reach them, and so far, the only communique had been a cryptic flash from a supply ship well outside the battle zone mentioning something about ‘additional units.’

What additional units? Whose units? And to what affect?

So when the first detailed link came through, sent out through space four hours earlier, all the highest and most powerful beings in the galaxy huddled closer to the linking screen for the update.

An image appeared, of a haggard looking Guard wearing the capes of a ship’s commander. He began to speak very fast. “This is Senior Guard Sevan Ra Vulus. I command one of the three remaining Juirean vessels—”

Although unaccustomed to spontaneous displays of emotion, most of those huddled around the screen cried out with joy. Even the Elder smiled. He knew this had been a possibility; the forces were just too close to parity. And yet if the Human fleet had been destroyed, with only a few Juirean ships surviving, then that was an acceptable price to pay. The Juirean fleet could always be rebuilt.

But the Senior Guard was continuing: “The three ships that made it through the meat-grinder have assembled near the third planet in the system. We all suffered considerable damage during the journey. I will soon be transferring my surviving crew to one of the less-damaged ships in order to escape the system.”

Escape. Escape from what?
Hydon thought.

Sevan was still speaking: “The Humans have regrouped outside the damper field, and even as we speak are sending out scouts searching for survivors. I do not have much time. I am sure by this time you know of the fleet’s destruction…”

Which fleet! Human…or Juirean!

“…When the second Human fleet appeared, all of our forces were trapped at the bottom of the Kapelean Corridor. Some tried to run the damper field, but were cut down by the waiting Humans. Also, the Humans appear to have more advanced weapons which can penetrate diffusion screens with impunity. I…wait.” Sevan was handed a datapad from off screen. “I have just now received the latest screen-capture, which was taken just as we entered the asteroids. Seven hundred forty-two was the last count. That is the number of surviving Human combatants.”

The room fell graveyard quiet; stunned looks covered every face, even that of the Elder.
Seven hundred forty-two Human ships!

“I will be ending this link now. I must make preparations to abandon ship. Any additional forces the Command can authorize to this region must be substantial. The Human fleet is unstoppable at this point.”

The screen went blank; no one spoke for a full minute, and then some of the lower ranking techs moved off to other stations.

When Hydon regained awareness to his surroundings he noticed that all eyes were focused on him. He could feel the muscles in his neck as they twitched, knowing that his anger was on visible display.

He turned to Fleet Marshal Relion, who seemed a half-a-head smaller this day than last. “Gather all the data you can on this battle, Relion,” Hydon growled. “I need the clearest picture of what happened as soon as possible. What assets do we have available between Falor-Kapel and here?”

The Fleet Marshal did not consult any screen or datapad. “None, my Lord – none worth mentioning. All our available forces were already deployed.”

Hydon knew his mouth had dropped open involuntarily. He quickly snapped it shut and firmed his jaw. “Have all – and I mean all – remaining military units dispatched immediately to the outer boundary. We do not know if the Humans realize how vulnerable we are to attack. Their journey could take four months, maybe more. Will that be enough time to fortify Juir, Fleet Marshal?”

Relion appeared on the verge of collapse, yet he did manage to say to the Supreme Juirean Leader, “It will have to be Elder. It will have to be.”

Chapter 63

After three hours of fighting, the battle was over. The Humans had lost seventy-four ships, plus another one hundred-two damaged to some degree – including Lee’s flagship. As best they could tell, only three Juireans had managed to escape.

If ever there had been a decisive victory, this was it.

Fortunately – and much to his relief – the section of Lee’s ship that had been struck had been unmanned at the time. It contained berthing quarters and focusing ring arrays – part of the ship’s propulsion system. With all his crew at General Quarters, no one had been in those compartments when the ship was hit. Still, two of his crew had suffered cuts and broken bones simply from the impact. When he visited the injured in the small sick bay, they had both been in great spirits, buoyed by the victory in battle they had all experienced.

Lee still kicked himself for having risked their lives. Others within the fleet were expected to be the tip of the sword – not his command ship. This was something he would have deal with, if possible. During his days of flying the single-seat F-35 Lightning II, if he was hit it would be only he who paid the price. Now he had risked his entire crew on account of his childish recklessness. He was sure his uncle would have more than a few choice words to say about the entire affair when they met for debrief.

Within an hour of the conclusion of the battle, the Humans had begun to locate the Juirean damper field satellites and disable them. Once an opening had been made in the field, the Humans bolted out of the killing field and reassembled just outside the Falor-Kapel system.

A shuttle docked with their ship, and Captain Lee Schwartz, USN, along with Tim Carlson, Second-Generation Human, were transferred to the fleet flagship, one of the KFV-D’s, a large Klin disk easily fifty times the size of their KFV-A.

Lee scaled the last ladder leading to the wardroom aboard the fleet flagship, while Tim followed closely, trying his best to keep up. Lee was operating of pure adrenaline now, having not slept in nearly forty hours. The Captain had confided in Tim, telling him that the thrill of the battle, after all the months of playing nursemaid to an ever-growing shadow fleet, had really brought out the warrior in him. And even though he fully expected to be chewed out by his uncle for having risked his life in the actual engagement, he was ready for anything the top brass wanted to throw at him.

Lee entered the wardroom after a quick knock on the door. Inside were five admirals and two generals, each with wide grins on their faces, either standing or seated – and there was champagne on the long metal table. Also, seated against a far wall was Michael Rittenberg, the senior 2G in the fleet.

Lee’s uncle, Admiral Nate Allen, noticed the young Captain immediately. “Speak of the devil, here’s the man of the hour now.”

Nearly all the senior officers gathered around him, shaking hands and patting him on the back. Tim faded into the background, letting Lee have his moment.

Nate Allen approached and gripped his nephew’s right hand tightly. “I should have you busted you all the way down to seaman-recruit for the stunt you pulled out there. You were in command, not some hotshot jet-jockey.”

“Yes, sir,” Lee said, the light in his eyes betraying the bags that had formed below them. “I couldn’t let the other guys have all the fun. Besides, I didn’t ask for the command, you just kinda laid it on me.”

“That’s true, and that is a subject for another time. But right now, great job, son. Great job. This is a victory for the record books.”

“Yeah, it worked, just like it was drawn up.”

The admiral noticed the young 2G standing against a far wall, looking out of place. “Come over here, Mr. Carlson,” he commanded warmly.

Caught off guard, Tim was embarrassed as all the eyes turned toward him. Everyone in the room was aware that he was a 2G, a Human who was not even born on the planet Earth and who had been raised by the Klin. Most native-born were very stand-offish toward his kind; Tim still had no idea why Lee insisted that he come along.