someone at the other end.”
“Be careful, John,” Adam said. “Remember, these things think we’re Kracori.”
The four of them moved out into the passageway, which was indeed huge in its own right, easily fifteen meters wide. “There’s someone,” Chief Rutledge called out. There was a tall, slender creature about fifty meters away waving at them.
The SEALs formed up with their flash rifles ready. Adam knew it would be hard to appear non-threatening while cradling the weapons in ready-position. But they were aboard the ship now, so whatever happens from now on should be-
Suddenly a dozen or more flash bolts lashed out at them from various points at the other end of the passageway. Both Lt. Tobias and Adam were hit, but the bolts were at level-two and through the thick fabric of the spacesuits, all they managed to do was knock them off their feet.
All the Humans opened up with their own weapons, their bolts much more accurate than those of the freighter crew. The passageway was lined with dozens of crates and the SEALs scrambled for cover behind some of the closer ones. At the other end of the passageway, about two dozen armed aliens were also weaving their way through the crates toward them. And that’s when Adam first spotted the Juirean.
“Do you see that?” he called out to the others.
“Yeah, I see four or five more. What are they doing here?” Tobias asked through his comm.
“They’re probably hitching a ride, too. No telling how many are here. John, see if you can make it to that stack of crates on the left. That should give you the high ground,” Adam said.
“On it!” The other SEALs laid down cover fire while Tindal literally jumped the ten meters or so to the stack of crates in question. The gravity — or lack of — made them all feel like they could fly.
Several of the aliens had fallen to the fire of the Humans, including a couple of the Juireans. Adam and Tobias moved a little closer on the right as Tindal covered for them. His aim was true and three more aliens died.
The Juireans and ship’s crew began to fall back, and the SEALs took the opportunity to rush the end of the passageway. There was a narrow exit there where about a dozen aliens were all trying to squeeze through. Adam and Tobias opened up, sending indiscriminate bolts of blue energy into the mass of aliens. It was a slaughter. Within a minute a large pile of dead aliens had formed at the doorway.
Tobias climbed onto the bloody mass and looked into the connecting corridor. He saw three aliens running as fast as they could in the opposite direction. There didn’t seem to be any more around.
Adam searched through the stack of dead and pulled out six dead Juireans. The rest of the dead were of two other races he did not recognize, but they had died just as easily as the Juireans.
Adam was covered with blood, as were the other SEALs. They stood among the bodies, panting heavily from the exhilaration of battle. Just then his comm buzzed.
“Cain here,” he said between breaths. “We’ve suppressed most of the resistance. Approximately fifteen aliens down. It looks like the others aren’t itching for a fight. The ship should be ours.”
“Eh, that’s great news, Adam,” Riyad said, even though the tone of his voice did not match his words.
“What’s up, Riyad, you sound odd?”
“It’s because we just got a message in from the fleet.”
Adam’s heart skipped a beat. Normally any contact with the fleet would be good news. But lately….
“Go ahead. What did it say?”
“This is a little awkward, but it seems as though they have made contact with Earth. The attack failed, Adam. It failed.
Adam looked around at the other SEALs, all their expressions displaying a look of shock, yet slowing moving toward glee.
“Oh, and Adam, the fleet has turned back toward Juir, and they’ve dispatched a forward strike force at maximum well. They should be picking us up in about two weeks-”
If Riyad had said more, Adam couldn’t hear it over the cheers of the SEALs. They clasped each other and slapped backs. They would soon be picked up by their fleet and be back among their own kind!
Finally, once the celebration had died down some — and the SEALs remembered where they were — Tindal and Tobias took up defensive positions at the doorway, weary of any counterattack.
Adam looked down at the mass of bloody bodies lying at his feet, looked up at Chief Rutledge and simply said,
Chapter 44
Three of the larger Kracori starships positioned themselves at equal distance from the giant space rock, lined up at about nine hundred meters apart. The rock itself was only about half a kilometer in width, and nearly the same in depth, however, even with gravity drive, the three ships would have difficulty moving the massive boulder.
The problem with moving the rock came not with the power of the ships pulling it, but rather with the proximity of the ships to one another. Nine hundred meters was way too close to create effective singularities. They would have to be very shallow and constantly monitored for any crossover. Still, with three ships pulling, the rock would move.
Each ship sent down forty massive cables to the surface and secured them with explosives charges, sending the grapples deep into the solid nickel and iron asteroid. No one in the fleet had ever attempted such a feat, unlike the massive mining ships that were specially designed for this kind of work. But nevertheless they tried, and soon the tiny wells were engaged … and the rock began to move.
The tiny asteroid field was located about two million kilometers from Juir and if Kaddof had any chance of his plan succeeding in time he would have to have the asteroid in position in less than three weeks. The bulk of his forces was already embarking on their various starships and would be bolting out of the area in four days. Kaddof and a small contingent would remain in-system to see his final solution to the Juirean problem all the way to the end.
His remaining six ships would not leave any lasting gravity waves for the Humans to follow, so Kaddof felt secure in his actions. He had not even informed the Ludif Council of his plan.
As the momentum of the small asteroid grew, the transit time toward Juir began to shorten. His own ship stayed off at a distance and watched the tow units, and with each successive day, Kaddof grew more excited. Soon the planet Juir loomed ahead.
Kaddof had tried to have the scientists attached his fleet provide him with the best trajectory and timing that would send the asteroid directly down onto the Kacoran Plain, but they had been unable to do the proper calculations. And besides, even if they had, he doubted if he would have that much control over the rock the closer it got to Juir. The best the scientists could provide was an estimate. It would have to do.
At the proper moment, the three tow ships detonated explosive bolts that released the massive cables and the rock was free. Over the intervening two weeks, the asteroid had increasingly gained speed and momentum until it was now traveling at close to ten thousand kilometers per hour. This was far below the normal velocity for a traditional impact event, but it would have to do. It would not be a planet-killer, but it would cause considerable dishevel across the entire surface, lasting long enough for most of the surviving Juireans to die in the aftermath.
The asteroid entered the atmosphere and immediately began to heat up, its leading edge glowing molten red, with great plumes of fiery material trailing off and creating a long tail of black and white clouds behind it. The actual impact took place about one hundred kilometers out to sea and off the coast of Juir City. Kaddof would have to be satisfied with that.
The ocean at the point of impact was about two kilometers in depth so it was only a millisecond from the time the asteroid contacted the ocean’s surface before in plunged deep into the rocky surface of the planet itself. Instantly, billions of liters of seawater were flashed into steam as the giant rock continued into bury itself deep into the planet to a depth of over two kilometers. A great outpouring of molten ejecta flew out of the massive crater in
