The Legend of Earth

capital of the Expansion and your resources are limited. In addition, any victory would be a Human victory, not a Klin victory.”

Adam looked over at Overlord Anawar. “When you first picked us up, we had just escaped from the Klin headquarters on a planet called Marishal. While we were there, we watched the attack between the Humans and Juireans that took place a couple of months ago. We found out then that all the Klin ever wanted from this war was for the two of us to reduce our forces to a point where their fleet — and their true partners in crime — could then step in and take over. Fortunately for us, we tricked them — and you — and came out much stronger than they had anticipated.”

“You say there is another fleet?

“That’s right. It’s three hundred ships strong and manned by the Klin and another of their patsy races, the Kracori.”

Adam watched as Relion entered data in one of the computers embedded into the top of the conference table. He looked up a moment later. “The Kracori are a race of beings from the planet Eilsion. It’s somewhere near the Juddle Nebula, my Lord, although there is no definite location noted for the planet.”

“I have not heard of these Kracori,” Hydon said. He then took a moment to look out at the panorama beyond the bronze glass of the conference room. Darkness was a little closer now, with the last rays of daylight creeping across the landscape.

“You say there is another fleet, a fleet of Klin and Kracori?” he asked, not looked from the window.

“That’s right,” said Adam. “And if I’m right, it’s not the Humans who are your most immediate problem, it’s them.”

“My Lord,” said Relion, “the Human fleet delayed their departure for Juir by two months after the attack as they awaited the arrival of their second fleet. What if this other fleet — if it exists — did not hesitate?”

“Then they are due here in less than two months.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Adam agreed. “So you can evacuate all you want, but you won’t have time to do squat before the Klin arrive. And you know the kind of grudge they have against you. They called it a Reckoning of their own. I’m sure you get the meaning.”

Hydon continued to stare out the window for what seemed like an eternity, as everyone in the room watched him. Adam was content to let the Juirean digest everything he’d just heard.

“Relion,” the Council Elder began, “deactivate the collars.” He then turned to face Adam. “They can be reactivated at any time. We will investigate your claims, to see if we can detect any mass of ships approaching the Cluster. Fleet Marshal, cease all evacuation efforts and prepare a defense. If what the Human says is true, we may be able to repel a force of three hundred ships with the forces available.”

Adam could see the other two Juireans grow visibly excited. Relion began to bark orders into seemingly empty air, knowing that others were watching and listening.

“Then Juir can be saved!” Overlord Anawar said to the room.

“If what the Human says is correct, it is a possibility” said the nameless Juirean at the table.

Hydon did not speak, but rather locked eyes with Adam. Adam grinned. “That’s right,” he said cryptically to the Elder. “Even if you do stop the Klin fleet, you have a much larger and meaner group of very mad Humans arriving right behind them. So you can use your ships to defend against the Klin, and then you have none available for the evacuation. When the Humans arrive, you will have lost nearly all your defenders fighting against the Klin and have nothing left for the Humans. Juir is lost, as is nearly everything else.”

Adam’s words put an immediate damper on the spirits within the room. Relion and the nameless Juirean had risen from their chairs, but now they dropped back into them, dejected.

After a few moments, Adam figured he’d let them suffer long enough. “Of course, I might be able to contact the Human fleet and get them to call off the attack.”

“How can you do that?” Relion asked.

“Well, thanks to you guys, I’m pretty well-known to those in charge of the fleet, and a lot of us already know the Klin have been responsible for everything that’s happened up till now. I might have a shot.”

“A shot?”

“A chance at making them stop.”

“You would do that?” It was Hydon asking the question.

Adam leaned in closer across the table, making sure not to cross the imaginary dividing line down its center, just in case the collar had not yet been deactivated. “Don’t get me wrong. We are not friends, buddies or allies. I still have the image of the charred and smoking remains of my wife and daughter etched in my mind from your attack on Earth. These so-called mating bonds may not mean much to you, but they do to us. I’ll do this to save as many Human lives as possible.”

“Including your own,” Hydon said, his tone matching that of Adam’s.

“That’s right, along with the others who came with us. But already too many lives have been lost in a war that should have never been fought.”

“On both sides.”

“Whatever.”

Hydon turned to the nameless Juirean. “Have these three — and the others — housed in the Oannean Tower — under guard. So far, we have absolutely no empirical evidence that anything this Human says is true.” He turned to Adam. “In the event that it is, then we will work together to assist you in making contact with your fleet.” Hydon paused as he fought to say the words that seemed so painful to utter. “And then you will be free to leave.”

“Works for me,” Adam said, grinning as widely as he could without exposing his teeth. The last thing he wanted to do was spoil the moment with an inadvertent challenge of the supreme leader of the galaxy.

Chapter 5

Fifteen hundred years ago, the Juirean Empire was still expanding at a prodigious rate. Even though the borders of the Expansion only increased with the addition of new members, there had always been a buffer zone extending another thousand or so light years beyond. This was the rugged frontier, reserved for the adventurers and explorers, those who often spread the word of the coming Juirean Expansion to worlds that knew nothing of such things.

This rapid expansion of the empire caused the Klin to be continually on the move, unable to put down roots for fear of being discovered by the Juireans. Yet the ultimate goal of the Klin at this time was to find a suitable hiding place well within the Expansion, a place where they could easily monitor the activities of their mortal enemy.

When they eventually stumbled upon the Elision stellar system, buried deep within the turmoil of the Juddle Nebula, the Klin knew they had found their perfect sanctuary.

A stellar nebulae is a violent and dangerous place. Ever-changing vagaries of gravity, matter, heat and deadly radiation made these regions of space a place to be avoided by most sane spacers, even the fearless explorers of the Expansion. Also, within these stellar birthing grounds, several generations of new-born stars could come and go within a billion years’ time, and the planets that formed around these young stars were often bombarded with so much left over stellar material during the brief time of their existence that life could seldom gain a foothold.

The star named Kyrils was an exception. It had burst into existence almost five billion years before near the outer edge of the nebulae, in a more stable region, and was able to clear out most of the rogue dust, rock and gas to form a fairly uniform planetary shield of thirteen worlds. Even though constant concussions from nearby stellar novae deformed the system in its early days, the system had survived, safe within a fairly dense cocoon of gas and dust, hidden well within the very confines of the Juddle Nebula.

Fifteen hundred years before, scouts from the surviving Klin had weaved their way through the maze of gravity eddies to discover the Kyrils system. Immediately, they saw it for what it was: the perfect place for their forward base deep within Juirean territory. There were even two worlds situated comfortably within the star’s