Last Species Standing: The Human Chronicles Saga #20 Read online

  Last Species Standing

  The Human Chronicles Saga #20

  TR Harris

  An Adam Cain Adventure

  Contents

  Copyright 2017 by T.R. Harris

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  Novels by T.R. Harris

  Cast of Characters

  The Human Chronicles Saga

  Adam Cain is an alien with an attitude.

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Epilogue

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  Novels by T.R. Harris

  Copyright 2017 by T.R. Harris

  All rights reserved, without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanically, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. **

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  Novels by T.R. Harris

  The Human Chronicles Saga

  The Fringe Worlds

  Alien Assassin

  The War of Pawns

  The Tactics of Revenge

  The Legend of Earth

  Cain’s Crusaders

  The Apex Predator

  A Galaxy to Conquer

  The Masters of War

  Prelude to War

  The Unreachable Stars

  When Earth Reigned Supreme

  A Clash of Aliens

  Battlelines

  The Copernicus Deception

  Scorched Earth

  Alien Games

  The Cain Legacy

  The Andromeda Mission

  Last Species Standing

  Jason King - Agent to the Stars Series

  The Enclaves of Sylox

  Treasure of the Galactic Lights

  Drone Wars Series

  Day of the Drone

  In Collaboration with author George Wier

  The Liberation Series

  Captains Malicious

  Cast of Characters

  Adam Cain:

  Our hero. When the aliens abducted a Navy SEAL, they had no idea they’d bitten off more than they could chew. Now freed from his captives, Adam has spent the past twenty years making the aliens pay for upsetting his comfortable life back on Earth, earning him the moniker of ‘The Alien with an Attitude.’ With Humans evolving on a heavy-gravity world, Adam discovers he’s faster, stronger and more coordinated than most of the aliens he encounters, making him—and his fellow Humans—the creatures to fear throughout the galaxy. And now, through a series of challenges and missions, Adam and his band of loyal warriors defend both the Earth and the galaxy against a multitude of threats, both alien and home-grown. Join Adam and his intrepid band of heroes for their latest escapades.

  Riyad Tarazi:

  Another abductee by the evil aliens known as the Klin, Riyad was once a high-ranking freedom fighter/terrorist back on Earth. Once free to roam an area of the Milky Way known as the Fringe, Riyad deftly uses his skills to climb the ranks of the Fringe Pirates, before becoming their feared and ruthless leader. Then he meets Adam Cain—first as enemies, then as friends—and his whole life changes. Throughout the years, the two friends have saved each other’s butts more times than they want to admit. Now they’re the most-deadly Human duo in the Milky Way Galaxy.

  Sherri Valentine:

  Once a young and carefree veterinary student in Phoenix, Arizona, Sherri took a fateful jog one evening and ended up like the others—as an alien abductee. Yet once she escapes, she goes on to make a very good living as an alien assassin, working for various cartels and criminal organizations in the Fringe. After hooking up with Adam and Riyad, she’s gone on to become one of the ‘Big Three’ Human heroes, known and feared throughout the galaxy. She’s beautiful, pragmatic—and deadly.

  Kaylor & Jym:

  These two aliens were dealt a strange hand of fate when they rescued Adam Cain from certain death aboard a booby-trapped Klin starship. Over the years, the pair of galactic scoundrels have accompanied Adam and the Humans on many an adventure, and in the process become Adam’s closest alien friends.

  Copernicus Smith:

  Passing himself off as a pragmatic starship repairman—specializing in servicing the Milky Way’s criminal element—Copernicus hides a secret which makes him one of the deadliest Human operatives in the galaxy. Affiliated now with Adam Cain, he’s become a vital part of the team, helping to round out its lethal effectiveness.

  Arieel Bol:

  Recognized as ‘The Most Beautiful Female in the Galaxy,” Arieel is the quasi-religious leader of the planet Formil. She’s also the mother of Lila, an immortal, mutant genius, who was the result of an inter-species union between her and Adam Cain—something the specialists said could never happen. Now as on-again, off-again lovers, Arieel and Adam are the only two beings in the galaxy carrying Artificial Telepathy Devices (ATD’s) implanted under their skin. These brain-interface modules enable the control of electronic devices, such as lights, doors, computers—and energy weapons—as well as telepathic communications between the two. Arieel’s arrogant, spoiled—and drop-dead gorgeous.

  The Human Chronicles Saga

  Check out the other mini-series within

  The Human Chronicles Saga:

  The Fringe Worlds & Beyond

  The Fringe Worlds

  Alien Assassin

  The War of Pawns

  Tactics of Revenge

  The Legend of Earth

  The Human Enemy

  Cain’s Crusaders

  The Apex Predator

  A Galaxy to Conquer

  The Masters of War

  The Sol-Kor War

  Prelude to War

  The Unreachable Stars

  When Earth Reigned Supreme

  A Clash of Aliens

  Battlelines

  Revenge & Redemption

  The Copernicus Deception

  Scorched Earth

  The Alien Games Trilogy

  Alien Games

  The Cain Legacy

  The Andromeda Mission

  Last Species Standing />
  Last Species Standing

  Enjoy one—or all—of the books in

  The Human Chronicles Saga

  Available exclusively on Amazon.com

  and Kindle Unlimited.

  Adam Cain is an alien with an attitude.

  His story continues…

  Prologue

  Ninety ships were sent to the transit point.

  It wasn’t a large contingent, simply because the Nuoreans couldn’t risk more ships than that. For over thirty days, no re-enforcements had come through any of the landing points, forcing Master-Player Qintis Bondo (435) to begin formulating alternative game plans.

  He was in contact with the survey fleet at the transit point, having laid a string of communication buoys along the way. Knowing that the forces of the Kac would locate most of the relays, he had duplicates laid along the path. The strategy worked. Once the natives found and destroyed a relay, they moved on to others along the line. All the while, the signal was simply switched to the backup relays and communications remained intact.

  It was for this reason Qintis knew no transits had occurred. Now his forces waited another three days—the time it took the midpoint generator to recharge—on the off chance there had been some confusion as to the transit times.

  Yet there was no confusion. This was the tenth missed transit; Qintis didn’t need any more proof that LP-6—Launch Point-6—was non-functioning.

  Qintis also had the intercepted news broadcasts from within the Kac to factor into his conclusion, which celebrated the return of the player Adam Cain and his team from the Suponac Galaxy. They were being hailed as conquering heroes, presumably for destroying or damaging LP-6. He had to agree with that assumption, although the reason he sent his forces to the predetermined transit points was to learn if the damage was slight enough to be repaired in a timely manner. Qintis was ready to concede it was not.

  This raised the second concern in his planning: What was to become of the remaining eight hundred thousand Nuorean players in the Kac? They were aboard the two thousand warships Qintis had under his command, hiding within this alien galaxy, awaiting re-enforcements. Yet if no re-enforcements were forthcoming…what then?

  It was then that Qintis received the most-dire news of all.

  Under the insistence of the Third Cadre players within his command, scouts were sent into the vast debris field of rock and ice that had accompanied Cain and his players back from the Suponac. It was there that conclusive evidence was attained that the debris was the remains of Nuor—the birthplace of his race. That’s when Qintis’ plans took a sudden turn.

  He no longer had to devise game plans for challenges and victory against opposing Kac forces. He now had to plan for the survival of his fellow Nuoreans.

  After the initial shock faded, Qintis realized the loss of Nuor was nothing more than an inconvenience. It had been centuries since the planet served as the true home of race. Now it was more symbolic, and only the home of the Grand and Qualifying Masters, along with the Third Cadre. However, at any given time, a fair number of these officials were off-planet; they would have survived to form a new government.

  In addition, even the vast amount of data that ran the empire was preserved, backed-up through several redundant systems and stored on various planets throughout the Suponac.

  Qintis had to thank Adam Cain’s lack of knowledge of how the empire functioned for the minor impact this event would have in the long run. If he had targeted one of the colony planets—where billions of Nuoreans lived who were more critical to the daily operations of the society—then the damage would have been more widespread and lasting.

  As it was, the destruction of Nuor was more a psychological event rather than any great set back.

  Also, unless Cain had managed to destroy all the launch points out to LP-6, there still remained a direct link to the midpoint between galaxies. After an appropriate time for grief and re-organization, his people would begin construction of a new gravity generator to link the two galaxies. It may be a hundred years or more before such a link was reestablished, yet Qintis knew they would not leave his players stranded in a faraway galaxy.

  All he had to do was make sure his people survived long enough for contact to be made.

  Qintis had already taken the first step.

  Suspecting the worse, he moved his fleet to the very edge of the Kac, to a region he knew to be claimed by neither the Expansion nor the Human Orion-Cygnus Union. He located six planets in the area that met his requirements for gravity, atmosphere and level of technological advancement. Each of these worlds had advanced indigenous populations which had been integrated into the galactic community, if not into an empire. They had star travel and trade with other planets. This was important because the Nuoreans would need these races to provide them with sustenance, as well as industrial support.

  The Nuoreans began with strategic firebombing from orbit of select population centers, resulting is a quick subjugation of the natives. Although the compliance of the natives was a necessity, this was also a test of the resolve of the empires of the Kac. The results were encouraging.

  Although the conquered planets protested to the leaders of the Kac, the response quickly came back: Since none of the worlds were members of their respective empires, there would be no answer to the Nuorean’s aggression. Qintis helped this decision-making along by communicating to these same leaders, indicating that with their homeworld destroyed, all the Nuoreans wanted to do was to live in peace within their new galaxy. He further stressed that the Nuoreans had not come to the Kac to conquer, enslave or strip away precious resources from the natives of the Kac. Instead, they had come simply for the sport. And now that that purpose had been supplanted by the need to survive, the Nuoreans were no longer a threat to the galaxy.

  As Qintis suspected, the leaders of the Kac were desperate for peace, and would sacrifice the six worlds to meet that goal. So the Nuoreans spread their forces among the conquered worlds, forcing the inhabitants to provide for their every need—including immunity challenges, yet on a much smaller scale and more pragmatic in nature. Nuorean life took on added significance, so the contests became more controlled. They were held more to retain skills and fitness rather than for societal advancement.

  Qintis was amused at the gullibility of the Kac leaders. They surely had the power to crush his forces and rid their galaxy of the Nuoreans once and for all. Yet they allowed his people to exist—even to enslave the populations of six worlds—just so they could claim peace in their time.

  And all the while, Qintis and his Nuoreans were simply biding time until the game resumed.

  Yet even as Qintis was sheltering his people from the wrath of the Kac, there were forces within his command attempting to upset his plans.

  “We cannot let this go unpunished,” exclaimed Third Cadre Master Janvis Decakus (784). His grey face had turned several shades darker as he spoke before the assembly, anger evident in his words and countenance.

  “Master Janvis, revenge is not the way of the Nuoreans,” Lead-Player Yonin (984) responded. Qintis had selected Yonin to be the voice of the leadership, tasked with presenting his side of the issue. “We were simply overplayed by Adam Cain.”

  “Overplayed!” Janvis exploded. “We are talking about Nuor. Its destruction was not part of a game.”

  “Indeed it was,” countered Yonin. “Every action and reaction from the Kac has been the result of our initiating the game. And is not the Cadre’s presence within the Kac the direct result of you devising a similar fate for the Human homeworld of Earth, using LP-6 as the weapon?”

  “You make it sound as if the destruction of Nuor was my fault.”

  “Blame has nothing to do with it. This is how the Nuoreans exist. And within each game is an inherent risk. We live with this risk…or we die from it.”

  First-Lead Radsii (231) rose to make a statement. All Nuoreans were allowed to speak at these assemblies. “I understand your feelings, Master Janvis, yet the dam
age to the race has been minimal. If we embark on a campaign of revenge within the Kac we may suffer real loss to our surviving players.”

  “The game-master need not be involved,” Janvis said. “I will personally lead a force to track down and dispatch Cain and his mass murderers.”

  “Do you honestly believe the Kac will not see your actions as representative of all Nuoreans?” Yonin asked. “As all have said here today, we too grieve for the loss of Nuor. Yet now we must think of survival first and foremost. The actions you propose would be too dangerous. Perhaps when re-enforcements arrive—”

  “By then it will be too late,” Janvis growled. “The lifespan of Humans is even less than ours. Cain will be dead before re-enforcements arrive.”

  Yonin looked around at the thirty-eight other faces in the meeting room aboard the battle-carrier 7. Some eyes met his; most averted them. “I believe both sides have made their presentations,” he announced. “Although the decision ultimately lies with Master Qintis, he has asked for this rare assembly to survey the feeling of his senior command. We shall now indicate a willingness to follow the game plan of Cadre Master Janvis or not. Proceed according to rank.”