The Copernicus Deception (The Human Chronicles Saga Book 15) (3 page)

“Got it! Officially CS Systems  Repair and Hauling, registered owner, C. Smith.”

“That’s it!”

“Do you have a link number?” Tobias asked.

“Yessir. Kind of vital in his line of work, I would imagine.”

“Dial it!”

A moment later a female voice came over the speaker in the datapad. There was no image linked to the call. “CS Repair and Hauling, is this an emergency?”

“You could say it is. This is Admiral Andy Tobias, Supreme Military Commander of the Orion-Cygnus Union. To whom am I speaking?”

“I am Dora, an automated answering service for CS Systems.”

“Do you have cognizance reasoning?”

“Yes, Admiral Tobias. How can I be of service?”

“I need to speak directly with Copernicus Smith, do you have his location?”

“I can link to his vessel, yet I am unaware of his present location.”

“Please open a link immediately.”

“Mister Smith has placed restricted access to his personal vessel.”

“I just told you who I am. Does that not give me access?”

“Without confirmation, you could be anyone claiming to be Admiral Tobias,” the pleasant voice said without hesitation.

Andy’s jaw tightened.

“You’re arguing with a computer, Admiral,” Paulson warned.

“Then—Dora—can you send him a message?”

“That I can do.”

“Good. Tell him this
is
Admiral Andy Tobias and that I demand immediate communications with his two passengers, Adam Cain and Riyad Tarazi.”

“I am familiar with the names Adam Cain and Riyad Tarazi. They are quite accomplished adventurers within the galaxy. Do you know them?”

Andy’s jaw fell slack.
Hero worship…from a computer?

“Yes, I know them. They are under my command. Please relay the message.”

“I will do so immediately. Have a pleasant day, Admiral Tobias, and thank you for calling CS Systems Repair and Hauling.” The link was cut.

“What if they won’t turn around and come back, Admiral?” Tom Paulson asked.

Tobias shook his head. “Oh, they won’t come back. That pair is insubordinate enough that that’s a given. But when they do…you better hope they’ve saved the galaxy once again from some unknown threat. Otherwise I’ll have their hides drying over my front porch in the hot Arizona sun.”

Chapter 2

The escort squadron consisted of a cruiser, two destroyers and four frigates, which crossed the border between the Union and the Kidis Frontier near the Luminis Cluster. They had left Earth two weeks before and bolted at full speed to reach this point, with still another week to go before reaching Worak-nin, the planet where Admiral Tobias was located, and referred to by the natives as Panur’s Planet.

The border between the Frontier and the Union was nine thousand light-years long and located within a vast void area between major and minor arms of the galaxy. The Luminis Cluster was a rarity in the region, with forty-eight habitable planets in the area. It was a way station for transiting vessels, and the Human presence there was substantial.

Several of the worlds within the Cluster were protectorates of the Union, with applications in for membership, so the path the squadron took was relatively safe and established. So when a contingent of nine Juirean ships began shadowing them, CW links were opened with Earth, asking for guidance…just in case.

Protests were subsequently lodged with Juir, which were quickly dismissed. The Frontier, they were told, was now technically Juirean territory, so the Human starships were in violation of sovereign Expansion space. They were instructed to turn around and return to the Union arm of the galaxy.

Along with this brazen demand, a force of a hundred Juirean Class Four’s and Five’s set course for the Cluster, giving the Union population there only ten days to evacuate the region before they would be rounded up and forcibly removed.

All along the border, both Union and Expansion units moved into position, as tensions stretched to the breaking point. Diplomats—mainly on the Union side—burned up CW links in a futile attempt to head off the inevitable.

Captain David Morris was in command of the small escort squadron. He understood his mission, as well as the significance of getting the TD-capable starship into Union space. But now he had just received news that the ship was gone. He tapped the arm of his command chair with impatient fingers, waiting for amended orders to come through.

“Are we going to let the mane-head tell us where we can and can’t go, Captain?”

The ship’s XO was a young commander who had distinguished himself fighting the Sol-Kor, receiving meritorious advancement beyond his years-in-service as a result. His name was Omar Said, and he tended to come down on the side of action first, negotiation second. Morris doubted if his young second-in-command could see the larger picture: the Juireans had just set in motion a path that would lead to war between the two galactic empires, and this coming on the heels of the bloody struggle with the Sol-Kor. It made no sense to Morris that the galaxy was about to be cast once more into a major conflict, and without even a moment’s rest.

Yet it appeared young Omar Said was itching for even more action.

“Relax, Mister Said,” the captain said. “I’m sure the Juireans are sensible enough to know that what they are doing here could set off another war. What creatures in their right minds would want that?”

“But they can’t go around grabbing entire galactic arms and making them part of the Expansion. The Cluster is as much Union territory as any place. And let’s face it, we have a lot more forces available near Kidis than do the mane-heads.”

“Let’s just wait for orders from Earth.”

“And what of Admiral Tobias? He’s well into the Frontier. I wouldn’t put it past the Juireans to place him under arrest, or even accuse him of being a spy. And this after what he and the others did in the Sol-Kor universe. It just ain’t right.”

“I’m sure the Admiral can take care of himself. Our mission was to bring the TD ship back to Earth. Now that it’s gone, we’ll probably be told to return to Union space and let tensions cool down some.”

“So the Juireans win?”

“Common sense wins. Now return to your station. You may get your war, Omar, but let’s just pray it comes later rather than sooner.”

********

The cluster of re-enforced buildings that made up the Juirean Military Center sat atop the Kacoran Plain, the revered table-top plateau that had served as the training site for combat personnel dating back more than four thousand years. Recently, the Center had had been rebuilt, following destruction of the original by Kracori forces seventeen years before. Today it was a study in high-tech design and function, as were most of the buildings that currently sat atop the mountain.

Synnoc Qriss was becoming a regular at the Center, having spent more time here than any Elder in recent memory. He had advanced through the ranks of the Juirean military, having been a section commander for many years before being appointed to the Council. Now in his tenth year as Elder, his military training was being called upon as he carefully maneuvered the galaxy closer to the much-needed war with the Humans.

Synnoc himself was housed in the new Malor Capital Building located eight kilometers from the military command station. Even though it was a replica of the one built on the site three thousand years before, the Juireans came to feel slightly self-conscious regarding the design of their primary structure.  It mirrored in many ways the pyramids of the Sol-Kor, and the last thing the Juireans wanted was to be compared in any way to the Sol-Kor.

Already there were grumblings within the Expansion regarding the status of the empire’s founding race. With the Humans serving as a buffer, many of the member worlds no longer feared the Juireans, and it seemed that at every turn the Humans were engaged in some new adventure that resulted in the betterment of the galaxy. The Sol-Kor threat was a perfect example.

The Humans had taken the lead in the struggle against the flesh-eaters, while the Juireans played a secondary role. And now the war was over and the Humans were getting most of the credit—and in particular, the pariah known as Adam Cain. With the recent return of his team from the Sol-Kor universe, it seemed that the media on Earth was saturating the galaxy with fantastic tales of his exploits, and how he—and a handful of other Humans—had single-handedly defeated the entire Sol-Kor Colony, all one-trillion of them. Of course, the stories downplayed the importance of another race called the Hal’ic who had played a part in the effort, or how only through the manipulations of the mutant Panur was Cain able to do what he had done.

Even so, countless worlds throughout the Expansion and Union were once again speaking his name, and as a consequence, Cain’s race of origin: Human.

The result was world after world within the Expansion asking what it would take to switch their affiliation to the Human-led Orion-Cygnus Union. A splintering of the Expansion was underway, and one based not solely on geographic location, either. Worlds halfway across the galaxy from the Far Arm were wondering how an alliance with the Union could benefit them.

Beginning seventeen years before, and lasting for seven beyond that, the Humans had ruled the Expansion, before abdicating control once again to the Juireans. They took such action to carve out a smaller, more manageable empire in the Far Arm. These days, however, the Humans appeared to be setting their sights far beyond their arm of the galaxy, as restless and ambitious leaders sought strength in numbers.  They were welcoming the overtures from Expansion worlds, and if Elder Synnoc did not do something to quell this growing tide, then he could go down in history as the Elder who presided over the final collapse of the Expansion.

This was the reason Synnoc was spending so much time at the Center. He was working on a master plan to bring the Humans to their knees, and to show the rest of the galaxy that the smooth-skinned creatures from Earth were not as powerful as perceived.

The first step in Synnoc’s plan would take place in the Kidis Frontier.

The Orion-Cygnus Union encompassed nearly the entire Far Arm of the galaxy. If viewed from the center of the galaxy, Kidis was the minor arm to the left of the Far Arm, separated by a thin void area a thousand light-years wide. The border between the two arms was nine thousand light-years long, and just like the Far Arm, until twenty years ago, Kidis had been mostly unexplored territory. Since that time, it had fallen through the cracks of civilization, being neither part of the Union nor the Expansion. As a result, most of the dregs of both empires settled there. It was largely lawless, ungoverned and dangerous. No fewer than seventy independent planetary affiliations existed, each with their own set of rules and militias to enforce them. Conflicts between these groups were common, with political loyalties switching back and forth almost on a daily basis.

Being so close to the Union, many of the worlds along the border had begun to seek the protection of the Humans. Petitions for membership were commonplace, and recently, the Humans had begun to entertain the prospect of expanding their reach into the region. This movement toward the Union had become a torrent in recent weeks, since the return of Adam Cain and his team. At this pace, the entire Frontier could be absorbed by the Union in short order, followed then by the entire Expansion.

And that was where the Visidor Affiliation came in.

Synnoc had convinced the eighteen-world federation to appeal to Juir for inclusion in the Expansion, citing increased violence and illegal activities within the region. They claimed that only through the governance of the Expansion could the population of the Frontier be safe. Having already moved a force into the region to assist the Humans in their pursuit of the mutant Panur, Synnoc had a strong presence in the region. He gladly pronounced an accommodation with the Visidorans, which began a snowball of similar requests, either for membership in the Expansion or the Union.

It was at this point that Synnoc decided to go for broke. He did not want peace with the Humans; he wanted war. Knowing that the Expansion vastly outnumbered the Union in warships and personnel, this advantage countered the relative proximity of the Frontier to the Humans in the Far Arm. In addition, Synnoc also had the two major weapons makers in the galaxy—MK Weapons Systems and Xan-Fi—located within the Expansion. Even so, he was under no false illusion that a war with the Humans would be easy. But this time—unlike the last war—he would know what he was facing.

The Juireans might not win all Synnoc hoped to win; undoubtedly the Union would still exist in some form at the end. However, by showing the Expansion that the Juireans feared no one, they would instill the necessary fear in their member worlds to maintain their rule—and their respect.

There was a secondary factor that had prompted Synnoc’s annexation of the Frontier: the trans-dimensional starship the Humans had brought back with them from Sol-Kor space. If that ship was allowed to make it to Earth, then the Humans would have a technological advantage over the Expansion. At last reporting, the ship was located on a planet called Worak-nin, under the care of Adam Cain and the Human military commander Andy Tobias. The recently-announced annexation of Kidis would prevent free travel across the Frontier. It was now Expansion space—at least in the eyes of the Juireans—and as such, subject to its rules and regulations. No Human ship would be allowed passage without clearance, including the TD vessel.

Of course, this would be the spark Synnoc needed to ignite his war.  He was ready, much more than were the Humans. They had depleted much of their forces fighting the Sol-Kor—a price they paid for enhancing their reputation. Now they would find themselves overwhelmed by a new enemy.

In reality, it was an old enemy, one that had only recently been resurrected.