This was all Linuso needed to know to allow this incredible feeling of joy to flow through him. Four thousand years, and now the time was so close.
His most-senior Fellows had concurred with his conclusions. The time to emerge from the shadows was now upon them. The orders had been sent; the Klin fleet would be waiting. They would be watching and waiting, as the mightiest clash ever between galactic forces was about to take place within the stellar system of Falor-Kapel.
Linuso smiled, a full-tooth smile that he was not ashamed to display. He wished he could be present to see the expression on the face of Hydon Ra Elys, his counterpart in the Juirean hierarchy, when Klin warships appeared in the skies above Juir. What he would give to be in the room with Hydon, as four millennia of revenge rained down upon his precious homeworld. It would be worth sacrificing Linuso’s own life just to see the expression.
Chapter 28
High Fellow Hunlin Desnor did not like the Kracori Commander Jonnif, but the dark and brooding creature was obviously not going to leave his chambers until he received a comment. The hulking, yellowish-skinned beast with the solid black eyes had barged into Hunlin’s private sanctuary bearing a report just received from the planet Hyben.
It had simply been a fluke that the report had even been observed by a Klin agent sent to the planet to note the closing of the Juirean repair facilities there; the fact that the newscast had mentioned the deaths of Juireans had been what piqued the agent’s curiosity. Even though she knew the Juireans were at war with a race called the Humans, the death of Juireans this far into the Expansion was still an oddity.
The agent had passed along the report innocently enough, not knowing that once it reached the actual Klin that its true significance would launch a complex series of events that would reach from the backwater world of Hyben all the way to Marishal, the titular home of the Klin.
Although the spy was not aware of its significance, from the newscast the Klin computers did immediately zero in on the name of Adam Cain. He was the Human who had played a vital role in the propaganda campaign leading up to the Juirean attack upon the Earth. It was Adam Cain who had been set up as the being who led the Juireans to the planet, resulting in the deaths of over one billion of his fellow natives. From the reports on Earth at the time, Cain had argued passionately that it was the Klin who had set all the events in motion, pitting the Juireans against the Humans. Fortunately, his argument had fallen on deaf ears, especially in the aftermath of the devastating attack.
But then Adam Cain had escaped from captivity on Earth, and had been leading a resistant movement against the Juireans in Sector 17 ever since.
And now here was a newscast from the Sector 16 planet of Hyben, detailing how the terrorist Adam Cain had been captured by the Juireans — and was currently in transit to Juir for final judgment.
Initially, Hunlin had not placed any special significance to this information; after all, the useful idiot Adam Cain would soon meet his maker at the hands of the merciless Juireans. But then another thought had crossed his mind: what if Cain brought his beliefs concerning the Klin before the Juirean Council?
The Juireans carried in them an almost psychotic and manic fear of the Klin. Over the millennia, the guilt of the Klin genocide still weighed upon them. Hunlin feared that anything said about the Klin might be believed by the Council.
So what if the Juireans believed Adam Cain? What if they came to see that it had been the Klin all along who had maneuvered both the Juireans and Humans into a war with each other, when initially they had no reason to war in the first place?
Indeed. What if?
What if the Juireans came to see the Humans not as an enemy, but rather as just another victim of the Klin’s ultimate plot for revenge against the destroyers of their homeworld? What if they became allies instead of foes?
The possibility that Adam Cain could reverse the course of events already set in motion was a slim one, but the feisty Human had already proven to be quite a resourceful adversary. Was this a risk High Fellow Hunlin was willing to take?
The solution seemed pretty straight forward and with little risk. Simply dispatch a small force to intercept the Juirean ship transporting Cain to Juir and either destroy it — killing Cain in the process — or take him captive. Internally, Hunlin considered the idea of presenting the troublesome Adam Cain to the Pleabaen as an attractive bonus to the current events playing out. It was a scenario he could not pass up.
Hunlin made a decision. He looked up at the still-waiting Kracorin.
“Send a force adequate to overwhelm the Juirean vessel carrying Cain. If possible, capture him alive for transport to Marishal. If capture is not an option, then destroy the ship. Either way, Adam Cain must not reach Juir alive.”
The Kracorin nodded sharply, once. “I will lead the force personally. I have longed for a chance to confront a Human directly.”
“That would not be prudent, Jonnif. I need you here with the fleet. Besides, we cannot risk exposure this close to the end. There will be other Kracori on our ships. Make sure they do not have any contact with the Humans, if capture is the result of this operation. Is that understood?”
“Better than you can fathom, Hunlin. The Kracori are patient, yet even we have our limits.”
The large creature turned and left Hunlin’s chambers, not bothering with drawing the door shut when he left. Between the Juireans, Humans and the Kracori, Hunlin wasn’t sure which he hated most. As he walked across the room to close the door, Hunlin cast his vote for the Kracori. After all, they were on his ship, while the Humans and Juireans were light years away, preparing for the battle that would free the Klin from four thousand years of self-imposed anonymity.
Chapter 29
Kaylor and Jym’s Exitor-class spaceship — designated the JU-224 since most alien races did not name their ships — was well beyond the outer boundary of the Hyben system by the time Sherri awoke from her semi-comatose sleep. Tobias and Riyad brought her food and drink, and then allowed her time to make herself more presentable. Normally water was not a scarcity aboard modern starships, yet by the time Sherri had finished washing from her body all the traces of the planet Hyben, it was over two hours before enough could be purified for anyone else’s use.
Sherri dressed in a light blue tunic, tied her hair into a ponytail and then made her way to the common room. Jym was sitting at the auxiliary pilot station, casually munching on a piece of green Filiean bark, while Kaylor, Riyad and Tobias sat at one of the three tables in the room. Kaylor had a datapad placed before him.
Both the Humans rose from their seats when Sherri entered the room; Kaylor suddenly felt out of place and awkwardly stood up as well. Sherri grinned broadly as she sat down in the only vacant chair at the table.
“You appear to be feeling better,” Riyad said warmly.
“”And you smell much better, too,” Kaylor added, “although correctly you’ve returned to the normal scent for your species.”
Sherri patted his arm. “Thank you — I guess. And yes, I feel a thousand percent better.”
“How is that even possible?” Kaylor asked sincerely.
“Never mind Kaylor.” She turned her attention to the two other Humans at the table. “Where’s Adam?”
“He’s about twenty light years from here,” Riyad answered.
“Twenty light years! We’ll never catch up-”
“Relax, Sherri,” Tobias cut in. “Riyad’s ship is tailing the Juireans. They’re fast, but not traveling at full speed. Kaylor says we should catch up to them in about a month.”