Human Chronicles Part 2 Book 2: The Apex Predator (21 page)

Chapter 31

“E
h, Riyad, something is happening outside.” Canos had his nose placed about three inches from his nav screen.

“What do you have?” asked Riyad, as he hurried from his station to stand behind Canos. It had been five hours since they’d left Kracori space, and prior to this they had been bolting through empty space without a soul around.

“Contacts … literally hundreds of them.”

“Where?” Ruszel shouted from his station.

“All around us … and closing!”

“Shit! What did we do wrong?” Riyad jumped back to his station. “Strap-in, we may have to make a run for it.”

Cano mirrored his screen to Riyad’s. Indeed, the entire space around them was now littered with intense gravity signatures, essentially forming a thin, white bubble around their location. Something tipped them off, and now the Kracori seemed bent on stopping them from reaching the Shield.

“There’s some sort of interference directly ahead, like we experienced with the others – the Klin,” Ruszel shouted from the comm station. “We are within it now.”

The gravity-well suddenly dissolved, sending them back into normal space and the limitations of Relativity. The Kracori had apparently changed their minds about letting them go, and with his CW-array blocked by the Shield, he had no way of relaying his findings to an anxious Earth before whatever was about to happen happened.

Riyad made a decision; he reached under the console of his station and withdrew a Smith & Wesson .45-caliber semi-automatic he kept hidden there. Canos saw him do it.

“I thought you said you carried no weapons onboard, especially not Human-style projectile weapons!”

“I keep this one around just for insurance.”

Both aliens stared at him with unblinking eyes. “Don’t worry,” he said, “I’m going to do my best to save
your
lives.”

“You cannot fight off the Kracori with a single weapon,” Canos said, his youthful innocence showing through.

Riyad stood up; the aliens followed suit. “They’re going to board us,” he stated matter-of-factly. “And when they do, they’ll find the two of you tied up in one of the staterooms.” He stepped up to the taller Tel’oran pilot. “Listen up; you’re going to have to follow this precisely. Tell them you were hired by me to help establish these new trade lines. You were paid an enormous amount of credits to do this. Show them the credits if you have to. You were not aware I was a Human until just now, at which time I tied you up and then tried to escape in the mini-pod I have in the landing bay.”

“They will not allow you to escape.”

“I know, but they may let the two of you go.” He placed a hand on the shoulder of the Tel’oran pilot. “You have done a remarkable job, Ruszel … you both have. Now I must ask you to do me a favor. Does your race understand the concept of a
favor
?”

“Yes, I understand. You need us to do a task for you without the possibility of reward.”

“Exactly, although I believe that with all I’ve given you so far – plus my ship – it would hardly be uncompensated.
 
Are you familiar with the planet Formil, they’re the largest supplier of electronics to the galaxy?”

“Yes, Formilian technology is highly sought after in the Nebula. Why do you ask?”

“If you are able to return to Guild space, I need you to contact the Formilian Speaker, a female named Arieel Bol. It will not be easy for you get through to her, so you must mention the name of Adam Cain when you link to the Formilians.”

“Adam Cain? Is that another Human?”

“That’s right, and the Speaker will know who he is.”

“What do you wish us to say to this being?”

“Tell her of my mission and that the coordinates for Elision are correct. Ask her to contact Adam Cain with this information.”

“Why wouldn’t we contact the Humans directly?”

“I have to assume the Klin and Kracori have monitoring stations on both sides of the Shield. If they detect a link with Earth, then they will know that the location of Elision has been discovered. This will cause them to increase their defenses around the planet and bring about many more deaths of my people when we attack. However, a link to Formil will appear innocent enough; simply a trader arranging for a shipment for electronics.”

“That is all you request?”

“That is all, my friends. Do this and then you can enjoy the credits and your new ship without guilt.”

“I feel no guilt associated with the negotiation we shared, Riyad.”

“Still, I hope you both have a long and prosperous life enjoying the fruits of your encounter with me. I didn’t expect to meet the likes of you when I first entered the nebula. It has been an honor working with you both.”

Riyad could see that the two aliens were genuinely touched by his sentiment; Riyad was himself surprised at his words. He had never really bonded with aliens before, not even Kaylor and Jym from the old days. Maybe he was just getting sentimental in his old age.

“Let’s roll,” he said motioning with the S&W toward the exit of the pilothouse. “We have to make this look convincing.”

********

Once the two aliens were secure in one of the two staterooms aboard the
Ifrit
– and still thoroughly confused over the term
‘let’s roll’
– Riyad went to the landing bay and began to prep the small escape pod. The tiny craft had air and supplies enough for ten days, as well as a miniature gravity-drive barely capably of sustaining an event horizon. The craft also had a small chemical drive which would be unaffected by the dampening field that now surrounded the ship, but it wouldn’t get him far enough away to escape the Kracori.

He really held no hope of escape. The Kracori were all around them, and they would detect any pod leaving the
Ifrit
. So he hesitated entering the pod. Should he stay aboard and help convince the Kracori of the alien’s innocence? Or should he climb in the pod and put some distance between him the
Ifrit
?
 
In the latter case he would more-than-likely to be blasted to atoms … and without ever knowing if Ruszel and Canos had been allowed to leave.

He felt a heart-wrenching disappointment. He had come so far and had found the homeworld of the Kracori. But unless the aliens survived, no one would ever know. And then what would become of the Human attack on Elision? Would another agent be sent, or would the fleet simply plow head-first towards the coordinates, unaware of the Shield, the Void or even of the Klin colony he had encountered?

Taking a more metaphysical perspective, Riyad figured he would leave those questions to the living, as he was about to finally learn the truth concerning the afterlife and all that entailed. A strange calm now filled him. This was it. He had reached forty-six years of life, much more than anyone would have anticipated, and he’d seen and done things no one could have ever imagined. If it wasn’t for the uncertainty hanging over this last mission, Riyad felt he would be welcoming this moment. The doubt was the only disappointment he now held concerning his life. He would have to see it through. After that, death would surely come. Of that he had no doubt.

He entered the pod, yet didn’t launch. Instead, the Kracori would find him there – having stopped him at the last minute before launch. As he sat in the warm interior of the pod, listening to the sounds of the aliens gaining entry to his ship, he knew some Kracori soldier would receive a meritorious citation for preventing Riyad from escaping that day.

He would let the bastards have their little victory. His would come in another life.

********

As expected, the seven-foot-tall Kracori warriors flooded into the
Ifrit
with full body armor and weapons at the ready. They spread quickly throughout the small spaceship, discovering Ruszel and Canos in the stateroom just as a wide-eyed Kracori soldier spotted Riyad sitting calmly in the escape pod.

He pulled the hatch open and placed the barrel of his flash rifle in Riyad’s face. The Human calmly raised his arms in the universal sign of surrender, while five other Kracori pulled him from the pod and threw him to the deck. The young Kracori soldier then placed a powerful kick to Riyad’s ribs.

“You are a Human, scum of the universe, who dare to place a price upon the
Legend
of the Kracori.” He pressed the barrel of the rifle to the side of Riyad’s head. A decision crossed the face of the Kracori, and the fingers of the alien began to tighten on the trigger of the weapon—

“Stop!”

The fiery-eyed Kracori hesitated, as another warrior broke through the crowd surrounding Riyad. He wore a purple sash across his chest.
 
He glared at the younger Kracori. “Secure the prisoner. We do not kill sources of information, at least until they have revealed all their secrets. Bring him to the central room.”

In a blur, Riyad was dragged through the
Ifrit
and to the common room. The area was full of Kracori, several with colorful sashes on their uniforms. Ruszel and Canos were seated on a sofa, still in their bindings.

The angry young Kracori handed Riyad’s Smith & Wesson to another tall Kracori, this one with a white sash.

“There! That is the weapon he threatened us with,” Ruszel shouted. “It is a Human weapon, is that correct?” Even through the pain of his beating, Riyad still admired the tenacity – and frankly – the natural ability of the Tel’oran to lie on command. Maybe being a merchant-pilot taught one to embellish the truth when attempting to make a sale? If so, then that talent was universal among traders of all species.

Riyad was lifted up and placed in one of the chairs in the room, after which the officer with the white sash approached him. “You are a Human spy, sent here to learn of our location; that is undeniable. And you have apparently enlisted the assistance of these two Guild members, our brothers within the Nebula.”

“They served their purpose, even though they are spineless creatures who were about to give me up once they learned of my true identity. Indeed they are your brothers.” Riyad looked at the two aliens with open contempt.

“They did not know of your mission prior to entering the Void?”

“Not even then. It wasn’t until you began to close on the ship that they began to suspect. And why did you change your mind and stop me?”

“It was your energy-signature, Human. No race within the Nebula has a ship such as this, yet there have been rumors of these large-array drives being employed by a small band of Humans working for the Expansion. It was better to be cautious than to let you leave.”

Riyad looked around the room at the sea of Kracori all staring at him with open contempt. “Now what; I suppose my execution will be the spectacle of the year on Elision?”

“You will not be executed, at least not yet. We shall enjoy extracting all you know concerning the Human plans for invading the Nebula. And then depending on your importance, we may even save you until the invasion, so we may transmit your evisceration to your approaching fleet, destroying your
legend
and sending a warning to all who approach. In the interim, we Kracori have never had a Human to play with.” The officer turned to his troops. “This shall be a sport! We shall make an example of this Human spy.”

The other Kracori in the room cheered and slapped their chests, and then the senior officer leaned in closer to Riyad. “You will beg for death, yet you will not be granted your wish. If I could keep you alive until the stars burn out, just so you can experience an eternity of pain, I would do so. Our science will do what it can. Your death will not come, not for a long, long while.”

The Kracori officer stood tall. “Take him,” he commanded.

“And these two?” another Kracori with a purple sash asked of his commander.

The tall Kracori approached the two trembling aliens. “In a very short while, all will know of the Kracori within the Nebula. Our secret will no longer have value. You must be returned to Guild space, where you are to warn others of the impending plague coming this way. The Humans will destroy everything you know – your planets, your societies, your bloodlines. Take this ship and return to the Guild. Then be prepared to assist the Kracori to save your Nebula. We are indeed brothers, forged from the fires of the exploding stars of the Silvean Nebula. This,” he pointed a long finger at Riyad “… this is your enemy, just as he is the Kracori’s. Don’t you forget where your allegiance belongs. Now go.”