The Legend of Earth

The next morning, Jonnif awoke with a serious hangover and a bloated belly. The celebration festivities had continued almost until new light, with his commanders and support staff wandering throughout the still-smoking ruins pulling huge hunks of meat from the hundreds of bodies lying about. The intoxicants had flowed as well, far more than Jonnif had personally ever remembered ingesting before. But this was one of those unique moments in history which would never come again. Jonnif had been bound and determined not to let it pass without giving it his all.

But now he had to pay the price.

He could barely focus on the datapad when Mininof brought it to him. “Assist me,” Jonnif said. “What does it read?”

Mininof had participated in the prior evening’s festivities as well, but obviously to a lesser degree. “It is some of the last reports filed by the spies within the tower just as we began our attack. There is some interesting information.”

“Go on, don’t leave me in suspense.”

“Hydon is in the bunker below!”

Jonnif was nearly shocked sober — almost. This was very interesting news. Prior to the attack, the Klin — and now the Kracori — had had no fewer than thirty-five active spies operating within the building. They continually fed information to the Kracori, no matter how trivial. As is often the fate of spies, none had been warned of the impending attack, so all perished in the building.

“Yes, he and a group of what appeared to be Humans entered the bunker elevator just moments before your first strike.”

“Humans? Here?”

“That is what was reported.”

“Did the spies know who they are or what was their significance?”

“It was not mentioned in this report, yet a previous file might mention them. I will research it.”

“Good. In the meantime, get me linked into the bunker’s communication network. I wish to speak to the almighty Juirean Elder, now cowering in fear within his metal tomb, right below my very feet.”

“Technicians have already located the trunk lines. It should not be long before you have access. I am anxious to hear your conversation with Hydon. It will be legend.”

Chapter 13

Legend to a Kracori was very similar to a reputation, only more so. It was what gave a Kracori his identity, his legacy, his very reason for existing. Each Kracori had their own individual legend, and then their race had a legend of its own. The Kracori took immense pride in the legend of their race, and they also assigned legends to other races, even though none were aware of it. These legends created a pecking order of beings throughout the galaxy, with the Kracori sitting upon the very top.

Dominance for the Kracori came with the discrediting of another’s legend, be it an individual’s or that of an entire race. Until the legend was destroyed, the person or race was still considered a threat.

On Eilsion, Kracori seldom resorted to full-blown wars or murder against their own kind; most Kracori struggles in the past had been against nature or beast. Amongst themselves, it was the placement of legend that determined a person’s position within the society.

For the eight hundred or so years that the Kracori had been aware of the Juireans — since revealed by the Klin — their consciousness had been dominated by the Legend of the Juireans. It infected their politics and haunted their dreams, even though no Kracori had ever met a Juirean face-to-face.

The Klin had introduced the galaxy to the Kracori, if only peripherally. Yet conversely, the Klin had been careful not to reveal the Kracori to the rest of the galaxy, electing to save them for their grand finale. That time had finally come, but as it turned out, it was the Klin who had not been invited to the party.

In doing so, the Kracori had greatly diminished the Legend of the Klin, a legend that for many generations ranked second only to that of their own. Now with the utter demolition of the Juirean Legend, the only legend the Kracori had to contend with now was the Legend of Earth.

As Jonnif prepared himself for the day’s activities — which undoubtedly would have him speaking directly with the Council Elder Hydon Ra Elys — he was curious to learn what Humans were doing on Juir. He had not been aware that any were even near the planet, let alone on its surface and associating with the most-powerful Juirean of them all.

Jonnif was still confident in his plan to divert the Human fleet from Juir. In fact, the latest report he had received put the estimated time for the attack upon the planet Earth at just under seven days, which was actually behind schedule. From what he understood, there had been a delay in finding enough nuclear weapons for the attack. There had been a prior use of nuclear devices in the Far Arm about two years earlier, but those weapons had been obtained by cannibalizing some of the old Klin ships for their self-destruct explosives. Since the galaxy now knew of the Klin’s existence, none of the new ships built recently contained self-destruct devices, so the weapons had to be brought in all the way from Eilsion.

The weapons had finally arrived and were loaded aboard the ships of the strike force almost two months before. Since then the small fleet of ten ships had been making its way from Glasien-4 to the planet Earth. Another seven days’ journey … and the attack would commence.

The Human fleet was still about three months away from Juir, so once their homeworld was attacked, there would still be plenty of time for a message to be received, recalling the fleet to Earth.

I am so sorry, Lord Hydon, Jonnif thought, but the Humans will not be coming to your rescue.

However, Jonnif still had to be careful. Knowing the Juireans as he did, if he revealed to them that no hope for rescue remained, all those hiding within the bunker below would simply commit suicide rather than submit to the Kracori. And that would not serve Jonnif’s needs, not at all.

Chapter 14

After the first five days in the bunker, the explosions on the surface had ended, signaling to Adam the beginning of the second phase of the Kracori invasion — consolidation.

By this time, Adam had realized that cohabitating with McCarthy and his men was not going to work, and so a few days before he had claimed a secondary, smaller barracks for their own. Kaylor and Jym came too, and soon staked out a small corner of the new barracks as their own, pulling over a couple of cots and surrounding them with sheets hung from the ceiling for privacy. Except for the occasional contact in the mess hall, the two groups of Humans had not had any other contact over the past two days.

On the fifth day of their confinement in the bunker, a Guard commander had come to Adam’s barracks and summoned him and his top lieutenants to a meeting with Hydon. This would be the first time Adam would have been in the bunker’s command center, and he was anxious to learn the capacities and defenses the Juireans had available. At the end on a long corridor, they found a vast room full of banks of computers, monitors and about two dozen Juireans and handful of other creatures all chattering at once. The level of conversation dropped substantially when the Humans entered the room.

Hydon was hunched over a console, speaking with a technician, his omnipresent Counselor Yol-fin at his side. The technician stopped speaking when Adam approached.

Hydon looked perturbed. “Continue; they’re with us now.”

“Yes, my Lord,” said the tech. He pointed at the monitor. “You see here where the invaders have blocked off all three of the exits on the mountain side of the Plain. And here, on the city side, they have done the same. It’s apparent they had advanced knowledge of these locations.”