The Legend of Earth

battle. But even after a year-and-a-half in space, very few of the Humans in the fleet had had any direct contact with members of the Expansion. This intel would be vital in helping the Humans interact with the aliens.

And interaction was inevitable. Just as Admiral Allen had surmised through his Medieval Strategy, the Expansion readily accepted the Humans as the new leaders of the Expansion. They were now the King of the Castle and all the subjects were now clamoring for attention. This was something very few of the Humans — either here or back on Earth — had even considered. Their goal had been simply to defeat the Juireans as revenge for the attack on the Earth. Now they found themselves actually in charge of a galactic empire, and Admiral Allen, for one, was very ill-prepared for the experience.

To help him better cope, the Admiral had essentially deputized Kaylor and Jym to be his personal assistants, and they had been a tremendous benefit to him. Even though there were still a few 2G’s around, their real-life experience with the functioning of the Expansion was very limited. They had been placed with the native-borns to serve a very narrow purpose, and that purpose definitely was not to help the Humans rule the galaxy.

Adam had just stowed what little gear he had accumulated over the past six months in a small drawer when the intercom in his cabin beeped.

“Captain Cain, your presence is requested immediately in Comm. Urgent.”

He walked to the small unit on the wall and pressed the button. “I’m on my way.”

It still took him over six minutes to make his way through the maze of curving corridors and plastic-covered walkways between the saucers to reach the radio shack. As he entered, he noticed Admiral Allen’s creased forehead and knew immediately that something was up. He looked to the big screen behind the Admiral and saw the large, angular face of a white-haired Juirean looking out at him. The face was familiar and it only took him a second to recognize him.

“Lord Wydor, isn’t it?” Adam asked as he walked up next to Admiral Allen.

“That is correct, Mr. Cain. I am pleased to see that you have survived the ordeal you encountered while on my world. You are one of the very few beings who can claim as much.”

Allen looked at Adam, still frowning. “Lord Wydor has asked to speak with you personally, Captain. Needless to say, we were a little surprised to receive his call — or link — you call it out here.”

Adam looked back at the alien. “From the lack of delay in your message, can I assume you are close by, Lord Wydor?”

“Yes, but my message is scrambled, so you will not be able to locate its source. Even though we have been evicted from our system, we still have certain resources in the area at our disposal.”

“So why have you returned?”

The alien expressed a look of deep sorrow. “I have come to personally witness the damage done to my world by the savage Kracori. I must say, I am staggered by the cruel and vindictive nature of their actions. I’m sure even the Humans would not have resorted to such barbaric and childish behavior.”

Both Adam and Allen exchanged looks of surprise at the Juirean’s blatant condescension but Adam knew that was just how the aliens spoke; they usually said exactly what was on their minds.

“Probably not,” Adam agreed, half-convincingly. Mankind had been known to do some barbaric and childish things themselves, and more often than not, against their own kind. What they would have ultimately done to Juir would now remain a mystery.

“So why have you requested to speak with me? I am not a diplomat or in charge of our military.”

“It is because during our previously brief encounter, you displayed a good sense of perspective for the events that had already taken place — as well as accurate insight into those still remaining. You also gained the favor of my very close friend and mentor Elder Hydon Ra Elys. In addition, prior to the Kracori asteroid attack upon Juir, I had been in contact with the personnel within the survival bunker under Malor Tower. I am aware that Lord Hydon was taken and that your particular group of Humans was not involved in that action. However, I do know that the other group of Humans was responsible. Do you have any news of Lord Hydon?”

Adam shook his head. “All I know is that he was placed aboard a Kracori ship and sent to their homeworld. I don’t know if they’ve kept him as a prisoner or if they’ve killed him. Sorry.”

“No apologies necessary, Mr. Cain. I suspect that by now he has been dispatched in a most undesirable manner, especially considering what the Kracori did to Juir just as a means of inflicting more pain and suffering on any surviving Juireans.”

“I’m sure your concern for Hydon is genuine, Lord Wydor, but I ask again, why have you called me?”

Wydor stretched a small smile across his thin lips. It seemed strained and out of place. “I wish to give you a briefing as to the intentions of the Juireans in the wake of recent events.”

Both Adam and Allen tensed. They knew that were still several billion Juireans spread throughout the galaxy and that they had vast resources to draw upon. Adam was positive they could field a fleet large enough to rival the Human’s. The question had been on the minds of all the top brass: What would the Juireans do next?

“The honesty I will provide you with is sincere, Mr. Cain. I believe now that you and your people never sought war with the Expansion, and you do not wish to prolong it any longer than is necessary. That is why I have sought you out personally. I believe you will relay this information to your superiors in as passionate a form as you did when describing your insights to me and Hydon.”

The new Elder of the Juirean race paused and looked away for a moment, as if collecting his thoughts. When he looked back at Adam, his eyes carried an even sadder shade of blue.

“I will not try to delude you, Mr. Cain; the attack on the Cluster has had a devastating effect on the Juireans as a race, more so than you can even imagine, and in an area you may not be familiar with. For nearly three thousand years, almost all of our females have been located either on Salin or Crilis here in the Cluster. Our females are extremely important to us and serve the most vital function in our society, that of procreation and the raising of our young. There had been over a billion Juirean females on these two worlds. Now, after the Kracori attack, we estimate that we have fewer than one million left.

“This information may not seem very important to you Humans. You — like the vast majority of the other races in the Expansion — mate within your communities and in bonding units. We Juireans did so as well until the demands for more administrators for the Expansion became so great. We could no longer leave the production and training of these administrators to chance, and instead transitioned to a more predictable and streamlined process.”

“Lord Wydor, I am aware of how the Juireans reproduce. This is not news to us.”

“I realize that, but I wish to explain what an impact the loss of so many females has had on my race. Not only were so many females killed on our two reproduction worlds, but nearly all of our young were as well, including the current pre-release brood. Currently, we estimate that there are over three billion Juireans left in the galaxy, however, approximately nine-nine percent of them are male. As time passes, there simply will not be enough new Juireans to replace those who expire.”

Wydor took a deep breath and the sadness in his eyes grew even more pronounced. “So, Mr. Cain, the only priority of the Juirean people at this time — as well for generations to come — will be to rebuild our species, and to achieve this, we have even resorted back to the old methods of impregnation, namely that of actual physical contact.”

Both Allen and Adam looked at each other and shared wry smiles. So the aliens are back to doing the nasty?

Wydor was continuing: “Although this practice will produce new offspring — and through genetic manipulation, nearly all newborns will be female — it will still take many years to rebuild just the female gender of our race. In the meantime, many millions of Juirean males will simply die off, not to be replaced. Parity in genders will not come for several generations. “

Wydor looked intensely at Adam with eyes that had now grown moist. “The Juirean people do not wish any further conflict with the Humans and we also are not interested in resuming any leadership position within the Expansion — if in the event the Humans decide to keep it in its present form. We have placed ourselves on a small group of planets in another region of the galaxy. I’m sure that with some effort, you will be able find this location, since it is hard to hide a population such as ours from prying eyes.

“At this time I just wish to express our sincere desire to be left alone. We are not a threat to anyone. Now the greatest fear for the Juirean people is that of extinction. If we are not allowed to follow our reproductive goals, then the Juirean race will die off in great numbers, destined to become only a small, single-planet colony lost to