Jason King: Agent to the Stars 1: The Enclaves of Sylox (39 page)

Chapter 12

T
he next morning, Adam learned that
Day4
meant four hours after sunrise on Nimor. Everyone seemed to be in a better mood this morning, even Jym, as the three of them crowded into a transport
cab
for the trip to the Ministry Complex.

There was a marked increase in activity in the compound this morning compared to the day before, with literally dozens of the hairy creatures scurrying about with obvious purpose. Maybe yesterday they’d just hit the place right around closing time.

It doesn’t really matter,
he thought,
because today is the day I’ll begin my journey home.
He had begun telling himself that, while holding onto the optimistic belief that the ship’s owners would soon come to claim their property. The chant was cathartic, even if comprised primarily of wishful thinking.

As he sat in the back of transport, he proudly displayed the MK-17 bolt launcher he wore on his hip. He felt much better wearing the weapon in this strange, new environment. As a military man, his weapon was his best friend. He’d even found a ribbon of leather in the cargo hold which he used to tie the bottom of the holster to his lower thigh, just to keep it from riding up when he drew the weapon. This had allowed him to quicken his draw even more.

In addition, Adam carried with him a slight superiority complex, based on the reactions he’d witnessed from Kaylor and Jym the day before. They made him believe that he’d accomplished something pretty spectacular against the yellow-eyed lizards. It also meant that if this was the best these aliens had to throw against him, then he really had nothing much to worry about.

As a matter of fact, Adam kept playing the fight scene over and over again in his mind, and each time he did, he realized that he had never been in any real danger from the lizard-things. The speed of their draws was like watching it in slow motion, and even if they had equaled him in drawing speed, they would have stood there for a second or so before firing, waiting for the damn targeting computer to do its thing.

Was this how they all did it? If so…well damn!

Adam followed Kaylor and Jym as they entered the brick building once again and took the stairs to the second floor. The building was packed, but the office of Fredic Dess was empty, except for the ubiquitous bureaucrat.

Dess was especially friendly this morning, much more cordial than the day before, yet he did start the conversation with an apology. “I’m terribly sorry, but I must insist that you remove your weapons and place them over there.” He indicated a table set against the left wall, next to the second door to his office. “We have a dignitary arriving today and we have instituted new restrictions for today only.”

Even though Adam was just getting used to his new sidearm, he obliged, as did Kaylor; Jym was not carrying a weapon.

Once they were all seated in front of the desk, Dess leaned back in his chair and locked his gaze on Adam. Suddenly, seven black-vested guards burst into the room from both entrances, each pointing their long-barrel weapons at him. Adam jumped up from his seat, but after a quick survey of the situation, he sank back into the chair with a sigh of resignation.

“You, the Human known as Adam Cain, are to be detained pending investigation of the unprovoked death of two Rigorian primes yesterday late-day,” Dess announced to him.

“That was self-defense.” Kaylor countered, much to his credit. Adam remained silent, surveying the armed guards.

“That is not what the witnesses relay. A Council will be convened to weigh all the evidence.”

Adam leaned over closer to Kaylor. “I thought you said there wasn’t much law around here,”

“I was present,” Kaylor said, ignoring Adam. “The Rigorians initiated the challenge. It was a fair fight.”

“Two Rigorian warriors dead in a life-challenge against a single being?” Dess shook his head. “I’m not a judge here, but I find that hard to believe. He will be held within the Complex as we investigate.”

It was then that Kaylor noticed the guards were also pointing their weapons at him as well. “What are you doing—?”

Dess cut him off. “And the two of you are also to be detained, pending the arrival of, and the questioning by, Juirean Counselor Deslor Lin Jul.”

Adam saw the utter look of shock on the faces of his two companions, a blood-draining mask of terror different from any previous expressions Adam had witnessed. In was a look of pure fright.

“A Juirean Counselor is coming here – to see
us
?”

“That is correct. The Juirean Authority has taken over the case of your salvage. It is no longer under local jurisdiction.”

Kaylor started to say something before nearly choking. Once he regained his voice, he asked, “When will the Counselor be arriving?”

“He will be here later today, approximately Day10. You will be held here until his arrival.”

“But we haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Immaterial. I am only following orders.”

“But we’re not going anywhere. Why can’t we leave and return when he arrives?”

“That is not my decision to make. Take them away.”

Chapter 13

R
iyad Tarazi had just finished a rigorous workout when the link came through from Angar in Gildemont. Bare-chested, he wrapped a towel around his shoulders and opened the link.

“What do you have to report?”

Angar was seated before a computer screen in what appeared to be a planetside room, not aboard his ship. “The Ministry has completed their survey, and the computer core is
not
on the ship. The report says the
pirates
took it.” His tone was incredulous.

“Well, seeing that it was
your
crew that went aboard, do
you
have it?”

“No sir, absolutely not!” Angar cried out in his defense. “We didn’t have time to do any salvage before – well – before we left.”

“Then the bastard mule-drivers must have it.”

“The report indicates that his ship passed a cursory inspection.”

“They wouldn’t keep it on their ship. They probably took other things as well.”

Angar looked down at a screen in front of him. “Yes, there were several small units missing, but again, all supposedly taken by us.”

“They would have hidden them somewhere along the way to Nimor.” Then the obvious answer popped into his head. “The asteroids; they hid the core there.”

“There are millions of them, sir.”

“Yes, I know. That’s why we need to get the drivers to tell us where they hid it. Where are the bastards now?”

“They are being detained at the Ministry.”

“Detained, why?”

The blood seemed to drain from Angar’s face. “They are awaiting the arrival of a Juirean Counselor for interrogation”

Juireans! Why did they care about this salvage?

“When will the Counselor be arriving?”

“Very soon; the Ministry is making arrangements for the interrogation of the two mule-drivers as we speak … along with the one survivor.”

“Survivor?
What survivor
?” Riyad was upset that this was the first he was hearing of this.

“Yes, there seems to have been one survivor.” Realizing his mistake, nearly all the blood drained from Angar’s face. “One of the beings from the hiberpods is still alive.”

“A
Human
is still alive? Why wasn’t I told of this?” Riyad nearly flew out of his chair, while the facial recognition sensor on the vid camera followed his movement, keeping him on-screen with Angar.

“Apologies, My General. When we went aboard there were dozens of hiberpods. All the creatures were dead – except this one, evidently.”

Riyad stared at the captain for several long moments, while Angar shifted nervously waiting for Riyad to say something. Finally, Riyad spoke. “Where is this survivor now?” His speech was slow and cadenced.

“He, too, is being detained at the Ministry. But he is being held pending a murder investigation.”

This was the last thing Riyad had expected to hear. “What do you mean, Angar? Explain yourself.”

“Early the prior evening, the survivor apparently killed two Rigorians in a life-challenge. Witnesses say it was unprovoked, that’s how two of them could have been killed by a single creature.”

That’s not so unbelievable, not in light of what I’ve just been told,
Riyad thought.
Another live Human, and it didn’t take long for his abilities to manifest themselves.
But that was information Riyad would have to deal with later. Right now he had a more urgent matter.

“Captain Angar, I’m giving you the most important task of your life; fail this and you will not have a life left to live.” Angar swallowed hard, his eyes wide with fear and anticipation. “The mule-drivers must be freed from the Nimorians – alive – and brought to me. If the driver is killed, with him will go the location of the computer core. You can use any of our contacts in the Clans and in the Ministry to secure their release. Do what you must. And one last thing,” his voice lowered slightly, “if you cannot subdue the survivor without risking the lives of the mule-drivers, then you must kill him. Is that clear?”

“Yes sir! I already have a major contact within the Ministry. I will begin planning for the rescue as soon as possible.”

“Keep me informed of your progress, Captain Angar.” Riyad cut the link.

Chapter 14

W
ell this is just great,
Adam thought, as he led the parade out of the office and down the stairs.

The jail block was located in the next building over, and on the way there Adam tried to think if there was any way out of his current situation. Being on an alien planet took away most of his options, and even if he could escape, where would he go? He knew he was innocent of the charges against him; after all, he had killed the lizards in a fair fight. So as the entourage approached the four-story brick building, Adam decided he would just let things ride and see how they played out, even though he had no idea how fair alien justice was.

Solid metal doors greeted them at the prison building, and they entered into a processing room with high counters manned by grim-looking natives wearing tan vests instead of the black ones the guards wore. The three detainees were herded through another security gate made of thin metal bars and taken down a wide corridor to a series of jail cells.

The familiarity of the cells once again amazed Adam. About the only thing that made this scene
alien
were the creatures escorting him. The room itself was long, with ten cells along the right side. Each cell was made of the same thin metal bars as the security door, running up from the floor to the ceiling with no parallel supports between them, and they were all open to the other cells except for a wall of bars separating them. Inside each cell were two cots, one placed along each side wall of the cell, and with a sink and toilet set along the solid back wall. There were no windows to the outside. The three of them were the only prisoners in the cell block.

Adam was placed in one cell, while Kaylor and Jym were placed together in another. Once the gates were locked, the guards left.

Adam walked over to the sink and splashed some water on his face. Looking around, he didn’t see a towel, so he pulled up the sheet up from one of the cots and dried off. Then he sat on the cot facing the cell of his alien companions, where the two of them were in an animated, yet hushed conversation.

“Hey,” Adam called out to them, “what just happened in there?”

Kaylor and Jym continued their conversation.

“Hey … alien dudes!” This time he got their attention. “What are you two so excited about? You’re not the one accused of murder.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Kaylor said dismissively. “I’m sure they’ll get it all worked out once they interview more of the witnesses.” He then turned back to his conversation with Jym.

Adam decided to use a different tact. “So what’s a
Juirean Counselor
?”

Both the aliens suddenly stopped talking.

Kaylor moved closer to the bars separating the two cells. “Didn’t I tell you the Juireans rule the civilized galaxy? Having a Juirean come here to with meet us – well there must be something very special about that ship I found you on.”

“That’s not my area of expertise. Remember, I was just
cargo
.”

Kaylor looked annoyed, while Jym settled on the far away cot and sat down. “You don’t understand how serious this is,” Kaylor said. “The Juirean Expansion encompasses over eight-thousand stellar systems. Juireans don’t bother themselves with every little thing that goes on within them, especially not way out here in The Fringe. I’ve been out in this part of The Expansion for almost twenty standard years, and I’ve never even
seen
a Juirean in person.”

“I saw one once,” Jym interjected. “But that was at a big celebration on my homeworld, and it was from pretty far away.”

Kaylor ignored the interruption. “A Counselor is only one step below an Overlord, and the only other level above that are the Elites – but they never leave Juir. I’ve heard that there are only about ten Juireans in the entire Fringe. Do you see now why we are so concerned?”

“I guess so. But you didn’t do anything wrong, either. So relax; it will all work itself out,” Adam offered, with a trace of sarcasm in his voice.

Kaylor placed both his hands on the cell bars – favoring his broken left arm – and hung his head slightly. “It also looks like they may take away our salvage.”

Adam could tell that the two aliens were really worried. “So, tell me more about these Juireans. How did they come to be the top dogs in the galaxy?”

Adam’s reference to
top dogs
seemed to confuse Kaylor for a moment, as he listened to the translator work through the reference. Then he sat on the cot and leaned back against the bars at the front of the cell.

“First of all, the Juireans are not to be taken lightly. They control the technology and manufacturing capacity of The Expansion. They also have the strongest weapons and largest fleets. They are the ones who have tied the entire known galaxy together, and their Expansion encompasses the other side of the Core, and onto this side of the galaxy and The Fringe, at the edge of the Far Arm – the place where you apparently come from. There’s still a lot of galaxy to explore, and it is believed that eventually the Juireans will control it all.”

“That doesn’t answer the question about
how
they did it.”

Kaylor leaned his head back against the bars of the cell and closed his eyes. He seemed to be lost in his thoughts for a moment before opening his eyes again and staring at the ceiling. “I have never encountered a being before who has not heard of the Juireans. Yet if you insist, I will tell you the history, as much as I know it. Seeing that we have nothing better to occupy our time, you may actually gain a better insight into our dilemma with this information. First of all, you must go back about four-thousand standard years ago and to the time of the Seven World Common Alliance.” Kaylor began. Adam could tell this line of conversation was helping Kaylor take his mind off of his current situation. It was also doing the same for Adam….

“The way it all began, according to the stories, was that within a small stellar cluster of four dominate stars, seven habitable worlds orbited within close proximity to one another. This was long before interstellar travel and gravity drives, but during certain periods their orbits allowed most of these planets to come very near to one another, near enough that powerful telescopes could pick up the lights on their surfaces along with other signs of intelligent life. So as each species evolved, their primary purpose became to make contact with their neighboring planets.

“According to the stories, science and technology advanced very quickly on these worlds, as they bypassed the normal beliefs in religion and such that most other civilizations hold to be true. With the natives of these planets aware from the beginning of their civilizations that other intelligent life existed on their neighboring worlds, the belief in one god – or in even their own uniqueness based upon some divine creation – was an obsolete concept. My own homeworld of Belson – as well as most of the others I’ve visited – still hold onto these ancient religious beliefs even to this day. Studies have shown that such superstitions and restrictions tend to slow the progress of science by thousands of years.

“But not so in the Alliance. While my people were riding steeds and building our first wheeled carts, some of the races in the Alliance were already constructing rockets and developing wave transmitters in an attempt to communicate with the other worlds of the cluster.

“So in a relatively short time, some of these races began traveling back and forth between planets and sharing technology. The Klin, the Diphorians and the Oanneans were some of the first, establishing the rudimentary Alliance. They eventually set criteria for entry into their organization, the most important of which was that each planet must be united under one government before they would be offered full membership.

“The Juireans, according to these stories, were still divided and tribal at this time, yet they, too, knew of the beings on their neighboring worlds and wanted to join them, but the other worlds considered them too barbaric and warlike for membership. This made the Juireans mad. In fact, at that time, the planet where the Juireans come from was called Axlus, and it was made up of hundreds of city-states, with the city-state of Juir being just one of them.

“But then a leader arose on Axlus, a Juirean citizen named Malor, who began a concerted effort to unify the planet. After a long and bloody campaign, he eventually succeeded, and he changed the name of the planet Axlus to Juir in honor of his home. When he was done, The Others – as they were called – arrived.”

Kaylor stretched, giving himself some relief from the hard metal bars against his back, then seeing that Adam was actually paying attention to his lecture, he continued.

“By then, the Alliance consisted of six of the seven worlds in the cluster. Even though Juir was united now, they were still not granted full membership in the Alliance. The other civilizations still considered them too violent and belligerent. This caused an incredible amount of anger within the Juirean population, since they had killed millions of their own kind just to bring about the unification that had been required for membership. So Malor devised a plan to remedy this.

“At the time, the Klin and the Oanneans were in a minor struggle for control of the Alliance, and Malor convinced the Klin that the Juireans could use their more militaristic abilities to provide protection and security for the Klin, a race who had never had to fight before, either among themselves or against others. So the Juireans were eventually granted full membership in the Alliance and given complete access to all the technology the coalition had to offer. This was a mistake – but not if you listen to the Juireans tell it.”

Adam could tell from the tone of Kaylor’s story that he had no love lost for the Juireans. Yet Adam was finding the story fascinating. Here was a tale of
real
galactic conquest by
real
aliens. This was better than any movie or science fiction book.

Kaylor continued.

“Juireans live for a very long time, often a couple of hundred years or more. And over the fifty years or so since Malor had unified the planet – and they were still denied membership in the Alliance – the Juireans had developed an intense hatred for the other members of the Alliance, especially the Klin, whom they considered responsible for this insult. So once Malor and the Juireans gained access to the Alliance technology, including the newly-developed gravity drive for interstellar travel, they attacked. To the Juireans, this is a time of immense pride and accomplishment in their history, and they celebrate
The Reckoning
, as they call it, as their most hallowed accomplishment. Throughout the cluster, the Juireans decimated the other races, who similar to the Klin, had never developed an advanced military or fighting skills equal to that of the Juireans. Yet the Juireans focused the brunt of their revenge on the Klin. They sterilized the Klin homeworld and exterminated the race.”

“Not all of them!” Jym finally spoke up.

“What do you mean?” Adam asked.

Kaylor answered for him. “What he means is that there are accounts – rumors really – that some of the Klin escaped and went into hiding. The tales say that the Klin will someday rise again and vanquish the Juireans … and reclaim the Alliance as their own.”

“You don’t believe that?”

“It’s been almost four thousand years and there has never been any verifiable proof that the Klin still exist.”

“They’ve been to Fulqin!” Jym countered.