he attempted to rise up in the bed; two aides rushed in to assist him, propping a pillow behind his back. “What do you mean: assumed control?”
“There has been a revolt throughout the Kracori population, Pleabaen. They have either killed or imprisoned all the Klin who have been working with them and have taken over all our land-based facilities as well as all spaceships on which they were embarked. The situation is grave. I know the rest of the Forum will be grateful that you have regained consciousness. A conference was to be convened soon if you had not. We are in dire need of leadership, Pleabaen.”
“Where is the fleet now – this Kracori fleet?”
“They have embarked on a course for Juir.”
“Juir! Do they intend to accomplish the cleansing themselves?”
“That appears to be the case,” Jinnil said. “The Juirean forces between Falor-Kapel and their homeworld are greatly diminished. There is a possibility that if the Kracori fleet can arrive before the Juireans have a chance to regroup, they could lay waste to the planet with little resistance.”
“And what of the Humans?”
“They have just now met up with the second fleet from Earth and are still in the vicinity of the Falor-Kapel system. Linuso, their fleet is now over thirteen-hundred ships strong. There is no force between them and Juir that can counter such a fleet, if they embark for Juir as well.”
“They will move on Juir,” the Pleabaen stated firmly, “if they know the planet is vulnerable. Have they made any indication that they are aware of this fact?”
“All our surrogates aboard the fleet have gone silent. We do not know the intentions of the Humans.”
Linuso attempted to climb from the bed, but spasms of pain in his back and legs forced him to fall back on the cushion. After fighting through the agony, he closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, calming his mind and body. “I must convene the Forum; it will have to be here, seeing as I am unable to leave. All options must be weighed and new plans devised. We cannot allow either the Kracori – or the Humans – to reach Juir before we do. The Klin have worked too long to let some outliers steal our glory. We cannot let it happen … not again.”
Chapter 2
Adam Cain thought this is how people on death row must feel.
An hour earlier, an announcement had blared from the PA system of the Juirean Enforcer-class starship informing all the prisoners that they had entered the Juirean stellar system and were now to begin preparations. Adam was at a loss as to what preparations he needed to make. After all, how does one prepare for one’s own execution?
With nothing better to do for the past two months, Adam found his imagination to be his own worst enemy. During that time he had managed to conjure up all kinds of outrageous and improbable scenarios for how his stay on Juir might transpire. In one such scenario he and his fellow Humans would convince the Juireans to set them free. In another they would escape in a hail of flash bolts. Or lastly – with trumpets blowing – the Human fleet would sweep in at the last minute to save them all from certain death. Yet no matter how convincing he made the fantasies out to be, there was only one thing he knew for certain: he had no idea how the next twenty-four hours would play out.
The fact that Adam and the Humans were still prisoners of the Juirean Overlord Anawar Fe Batlin was a testament not only to the alien’s effectiveness, but also to his paranoia. It had been two months since they had surrendered to the ten-ship convoy commanded by the elderly Overlord, coming only five days after escaping from the Klin stronghold on Marishal. The Humans had surrendered to the Juireans believing that it made more sense to take their chances as prisoners, as opposed to being blasted out of space in a hail of energy bolts. And besides, they had history on their side; no prison or jail cell had been able to contain the Humans for very long. As in the past, the Humans treated their imprisonment as just a temporary setback. To them, it wasn’t a question of if they could escape, but rather when.
But then the Overlord had pulled a fast one….
They had only been aboard the Juirean Class-3 starship for two days when Adam was summoned into Overlord Anawar Fe