The main Human fleet had arrived at Juir six months before and found the planet to be a chaotic mess of gigantic winter storms raging across its surface. The fires that had burned most of the forests had been snuffed out by the falling snows and falling temperatures. Now it was just the cold they had to contend with.
However, there were signs that the planet was beginning to heal itself. As it turned out, the impact event was not as powerful as first suspected; the cloud that enveloped the planet had been thinner and carried within it less ash and debris. Temperatures had plunged to fifty below normal for a short time, but now the global average was only about twenty-two below the norm.
The experts estimated it would still take another ten to twenty years for the planet to return to normal — at least climate-wise. But with the massive deforestation that had occurred from the fires, the once manicured expanse of the former capital planet of the galaxy would never return to its former glory, at least not for many a lifetime.
Admiral Allen had clustered nineteen of the KFV–C’s atop the Kacoran Plain and then connected them with conduit passageways to form a fairly large base of operations on the planet. He kept his D’s in orbit and required that the entire staff rotate up to the floating cities on a regular basis to experience Earth-normal gravity — one week in orbit for every two weeks on the planet. It was just one of the many inconveniences that came with making your headquarters on a lighter-gravity world.
The Human fleet had occupied the Alliance Cluster with gusto, but soon found the entire place to be cesspool of pain, suffering and death. The Kracori had ripped the place to shreds and it was all Allen could do to even acknowledge the thousands of calls for assistance streaming into his command center from the members of the Expansion, let along act on any of them.
Adam Cain and the rest of his team — Sherri, Riyad, Tobias, Rutledge and Tindal — had just finished their latest week on the ‘D’ and only fifteen minutes before entered the vast complex of silver saucers on the surface.
It had been months since Adam and his team had last experienced Earth-normal gravity and they had a hell of a time re-acclimating to it. For his part, Adam had spent over a month on a Juirean starship as a prisoner under Juirean-standard gravity, and then the whole team was locked away on a Klin ship for two more months for the trip to Marishal. Even though their stay at the Klin estate had been brief, they were soon aboard another Juirean ship for the two-month journey to Juir. Even the last three weeks before being picked up by the fleet had been spent at reduced gravity onboard the Kracori ship they’d stolen from Juir. The ship was too small to have segregated internal gravity wells, and out of consideration for Kaylor and Jym, Adam had set the gravity at a more comfortable level for the two aliens.
But now the team was trying to get their strength back and it had been a long, exhausting effort. They had spent two full months on the Bunker Hill, the flagship for the Human fleet, exercising and regaining muscle-mass before being allowed to return to Juir.
Adam and his group were scheduled to depart the Alliance Cluster in three weeks, along with the first big rotation back to Earth. A small number of relief ships had arrived — about forty — which were far fewer than had been originally planned. Back on Earth it had been decided to keep a fairly large number of reserve units in the Solar System to form a more effective shield against any further attacks by the Kracori, or anyone else. That left fewer ships to relieve the fleet.
The attempted nuclear attack had been an eye-opener for Earth’s military and political leaders. Now the system employed much tighter security, including for commercial and private ships as well. They felt that with a home force of over four hundred warships, they could provide a fairly reliable defense against any future attacks.
Sherri and Adam were in one of their on-again, off-again stages in their relationship — this time off — so they took separate quarters in one of the outer saucers in the nineteen-ship complex. He and the rest of team would spend their remaining days on Juir being debriefed like never before by the fleet intel geeks, seeking to squeeze any additional information regarding their experiences within the Expansion before they left. Riyad had the most seniority, having spent a full six years out among the aliens before Adam ever met him, so he provided the most detailed information. Sherri came next with three years’ experience and then finally Adam. The three SEALs — Tobias, Rutledge and Tindal — had very limited knowledge of actual Expansion races, planets and cultures — except when they landed upon an alien world to kill Juireans.
In addition, the spies were especially interested in everything and anything Kaylor and Jym could tell them. The Humans fleet had entered the Expansion en mass and with the singular purpose of defeating the Juireans in battle. But even after a year-and-a-half in space, very few of the Humans in the fleet had had any direct contact with members of the Expansion. This intel would be vital in helping the Humans interact with the aliens.
And interaction was inevitable. Just as Admiral Allen had surmised through his Medieval Strategy, the Expansion readily accepted the Humans as the new leaders of the Expansion. They were now the King of the Castle and all the subjects were now clamoring for attention. This was something very few of the Humans — either here or back on Earth — had even considered. Their goal had been simply to defeat the Juireans as revenge for the attack on the Earth. Now they found themselves actually in charge of a galactic empire, and Admiral Allen, for one, was very ill-prepared for the experience.
To help him better cope, the Admiral had essentially deputized Kaylor and Jym to be his personal assistants, and they had been a tremendous benefit to him. Even though there were still a few 2G’s around, their real-life experience with the functioning of the Expansion was very limited. They had been placed with the native-borns to serve a very narrow purpose, and that purpose definitely was not to help the Humans rule the galaxy.
Adam had just stowed what little gear he had accumulated over the past six months in a small drawer when the intercom in his cabin beeped.
“Captain Cain, your presence is requested immediately in Comm. Urgent.”
He walked to the small unit on the wall and pressed the button. “I’m on my way.”
It still took him over six minutes to make his way through the maze of curving corridors and plastic-covered walkways between the saucers to reach the radio shack. As he entered, he noticed Admiral Allen’s creased forehead and knew immediately that something was up. He looked to the big screen behind the Admiral and saw the large, angular face of a white-haired Juirean looking out at him. The face was familiar and it only took him a second to recognize him.
“Lord Wydor, isn’t it?” Adam asked as he walked up next to Admiral Allen.
“That is correct, Mr. Cain. I am pleased to see that you have survived the ordeal you encountered while on my world. You are one of the very few beings who can claim as much.”
Allen looked at Adam, still frowning. “Lord Wydor has asked to speak with you personally, Captain. Needless to say, we were a little surprised to receive his call — or link — you call it out here.”
Adam looked back at the alien. “From the lack of delay in your message, can I assume you are close by, Lord Wydor?”
“Yes, but my message is scrambled, so you will not be able to locate its source. Even though we have been evicted from our system, we still have certain resources in the area at our disposal.”
“So why have you returned?”
The alien expressed a look of deep sorrow. “I have come to personally witness the damage done to my world by the savage Kracori. I must say, I am staggered by the cruel and vindictive nature of their actions. I’m sure even the Humans would not have resorted to such barbaric and childish behavior.”