When Earth Reigned Supreme (The Human Chronicles Saga Book 12) (29 page)

Epilogue

Fleet Admiral Tobias shook his head for about the hundredth time in the past fifteen minutes.

“Where would you even begin?”

“Formil,” Riyad answered. “Mac said Adam was immune to the Sol-Kor pulse beam even without a neutralizer belt. That means he’s had another telepathy device installed.”

“How will that help you locate Panur?”

“Not sure that it will. But it does mean Adam’s had contact with Arieel, and she may have some way of contacting her daughter, maybe through a psychic connection or something like that. I don’t know.”

“The Formilians rely on science for all their magic, Riyad, not anything supernatural.”

“Maybe so, but I have to start somewhere.”

“Well, you’ll have all the help I can provide, even though that may not last much longer. Osbourne is still plenty pissed at me.”

“You’re a hero all over the galaxy, Andy…almost as much as me and Adam.”

“Yeah, but he’s being a baby about it. On the surface he’s all accolades and congratulations. Behind closed doors he’s still seething. I wouldn’t put it past him to try something really underhanded to get back at me.”

“Something a politician might try?”

“Exactly.”

“Then you should really watch your back, Admiral.”

“As we speak. But back to you—who are you taking with you?”

“No one at first, but Lieutenant Johnson has set up shop at Travis, putting together a new strike team in case I get lucky.”

Tobias stood up, followed by Riyad. The two men shook hands.

“Good luck, Riyad…and hurry. From what Mac said, this new queen could grow bored of Adam at any time and toss him down into that giant mountain of trash you told me about.”

Riyad shivered. “I still have nightmares about that one.” His expression turned serious. “And, Admiral, the Sol-Kor aren’t going away. You’ve cut off their access to the Milky Way, but they have a new queen every bit as smart as Panur. She’ll figure some way to get back in.”

“Well, if you do find Panur, see if he can help us with her too. If anyone can figure out a way to kill an immortal mutant alien, it’s another immortal mutant alien.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“I know you will. Now go find Panur…and rescue Adam Cain.”

The End

And now a preview of

A Clash of Aliens

The Human Chronicles #13

coming mid-April 2016

Adam Cain was pissed.

J’nae, the Queen of the Sol-Kor, hadn’t come by to see him in nearly two weeks, and when she finally did, she arrived with two, five-foot long broadswords in her hands.

“I wish to test your prowess with these weapons.”

Adam knew for a fact that the Sol-Kor didn’t use broadswords, so he was at a loss as to where she’d even found them. But he wasn’t going to complain. At least she still found him relevant enough to make the effort. If she grew bored of him, or found that his usefulness had been exhausted, he’d wind up as an appetizer at the next royal banquet. At that point, the most he could hope for was that she’d experience an explosive bout of Montezuma’s Revenge as a result.

Of course, after this sparring session, he may still end up on the buffet table, as finger-food in convenient bite-size pieces.

He took the offered shiny metal sword by the plain leather hilt. In the light gravity of Kor, the weapon was surprisingly light. “I wasn’t aware the Sol-Kor used such weapons,” he said as he took a couple of practice swings to get the feel of the instrument. Training with broadswords was not part of the regular SEAL regime.

“They are not, yet I was allowed to practice with them during my own captivity. They help to develop coordination and spatial awareness, and from the archives we have available, there are countless references to these swords used as weapons of war throughout Human history.”

“Not for the past thousand years, J’nae. You may be very disappointed in my skills.”

“Or so you say.”

Adam cringed at the accusation in the Queen’s statement. After first being taken captive, J’nae visited Adam often, either spending hours in conversation—she did most of the talking—or sparring with him on occasion to test the limits of Human endurance and combat skills. Initially, he’d laid back, just to keep her guessing, and ended up paying a terrible price for doing so.

Sensing his strategy, J’nae wailed on him relentlessly to the point where he had to defend himself for real. She’d already experienced a Human fighter—when Ensign Mac MacTavish had attempted to beat her senseless back at the portal building in the Farm, so she had a pretty good idea what a Human could do.  And as she did with Mac’s earlier attack, she shrugged off Adam’s, as well.

Those earlier bouts had been pure fist-a-cuffs; now she was bringing in exotic weapons to test him further.

He noticed that the sword J’nae retained for herself contained no protective gear, being just as sharp and deadly as his. The only difference came not from the weapons, but from the combatants. Adam could be killed, while J’nae couldn’t.

As the pair separated in the wide space of his living quarters, Adam wondered how far she would let this go? Was she intending on ending his life here and now, or did she still believe him to be entertaining and useful? He was soon to find out.

J’nae struck first, whipping her sword into a short circle and coming at him from his left side. The movement was swift, yet he managed to counter the strike with a clash of ringing metal before backing away.

Next the Queen’s sword came in low, again sweeping in toward his body, this time in an upward motion. He continued from his previous parry with an arc of his own, and again the blades met. The Queen was easily within range of his body, and each blow came with such speed and intensity, that if not blocked, he could have been sliced in two.

 J’nae didn’t appear to be playing around.

Out of desperation, Adam now took the initiative. He was just as fast and strong as the alien, at least what she was displaying at this point, so he came at her with moves to her left and then to her right, forcing her to retreat. She countered with a stabbing strike at his mid-section, from which he jumped back and sucked in his gut to avoid being speared. Still, the sharp blade managed to slide across his left side, slicing through clothing and a six-inch length of skin. He grimaced in pain, yet didn’t bother to look down at the rapidly growing blood stain on his garment. The Queen was already moving in for the kill.

She came in high this time, and it was all Adam could do to lift his sword in time to meet hers in a classic ‘t’ formation. The force of the blow sent him to his knees.

Yet as the Queen let the momentum of her strike carry the blade further to her left, Adam was presented with a clear view of her right side mid-section. He thrust his own blade forward, before feeling the clash of metal on metal again, along the ringing tone of J’nae’s sword sliding along the top edge of his and right up to the guard of the hilt. The two warriors were now only inches apart, with the Queen’s intense and animated face glaring down at him, a wicked grin on her face.

Then Adam looked toward the end of his blade, and found it buried half way into the belly of the Queen. She was also looking at the point where the metal disappeared into her body, just before lifting her sword and ramming the butt end of the hilt into Adam’s exposed forehead.

He fell on his back, stunned, losing the grip on his sword. He lay there, completely at the mercy of the Sol-Kor Queen.

J’nae took a step back, but rather than deliver the killing blow, she stood up straight and smiled. Then with her free hand, she gripped his embedded blade and slowly pulled it from her body. No blood appeared, and as soon as the pointed tip was visible again, the wound was already healed. She tossed the blade aside, hearing it clang against the stone floor of his quarters.

A tense moment followed, as Adam wondered what she would do next.

But then the Queen flipped her own sword with a twist of her wrist and planted the point onto the stone floor, resting her right hand on the end of the grip.

“That was…stimulating, Adam Cain. I thank you for that,” she complimented. But then her eyes narrowed. “Yet as I suspected, you retain much more skill with such a weapon than you originally let on. You Humans are indeed devious creatures.”

Adam shrugged. If he was considered skillful with a broadsword, then that wasn’t saying a lot for the competition she’d been facing. Yet deep inside, Adam let his macho ego have its due; if he’d been up against a normal opponent, he would have come out victorious. Not bad for a rookie broadsworder.

J’nae looked to the wide swath of red on his shirt and pants. “I will have someone attend to you.” She turned abruptly away and strode toward the door. Yet just as she reached it, she paused. Turning, she returned to where he lay, and reached down to recover his sword from just under the edge of the elevated pad he used as a bed. She smiled at him for a moment, before turning and leaving without another word.

********

After the medical attendant left, Adam lay on his bed, shirtless, with a large, white bandage on his wound. He stared up at the high ceiling, analyzing what just took place, to see if any conclusions could be drawn.

It had been a month and a half since he’d been placed in his rather palatial prison next to the Queens Chambers, within the ugly, black pyramid the Sol-Kor referred to as M-1, the seat of government for the Colony. He was fed regularly, allowed exercise time and even granted limited computer access so he could keep his mind stimulated.