The Legend of Earth

Chapter 13



Legend to a Kracori was very similar to a reputation, only more so. It was what gave a Kracori his identity, his legacy, his very reason for existing. Each Kracori had their own individual legend, and then their race had a legend of its own. The Kracori took immense pride in the legend of their race, and they also assigned legends to other races, even though none were aware of it. These legends created a pecking order of beings throughout the galaxy, with the Kracori sitting upon the very top.

Dominance for the Kracori came with the discrediting of another’s legend, be it an individual’s or that of an entire race. Until the legend was destroyed, the person or race was still considered a threat.

On Eilsion, Kracori seldom resorted to full-blown wars or murder against their own kind; most Kracori struggles in the past had been against nature or beast. Amongst themselves, it was the placement of legend that determined a person’s position within the society.

For the eight hundred or so years that the Kracori had been aware of the Juireans – since revealed by the Klin – their consciousness had been dominated by the Legend of the Juireans. It infected their politics and haunted their dreams, even though no Kracori had ever met a Juirean face-to-face.

The Klin had introduced the galaxy to the Kracori, if only peripherally. Yet conversely, the Klin had been careful not to reveal the Kracori to the rest of the galaxy, electing to save them for their grand finale. That time had finally come, but as it turned out, it was the Klin who had not been invited to the party.

In doing so, the Kracori had greatly diminished the Legend of the Klin, a legend that for many generations ranked second only to that of their own. Now with the utter demolition of the Juirean Legend, the only legend the Kracori had to contend with now was the Legend of Earth.

As Jonnif prepared himself for the day’s activities – which undoubtedly would have him speaking directly with the Council Elder Hydon Ra Elys – he was curious to learn what Humans were doing on Juir. He had not been aware that any were even near the planet, let alone on its surface and associating with the most-powerful Juirean of them all.

Jonnif was still confident in his plan to divert the Human fleet from Juir. In fact, the latest report he had received put the estimated time for the attack upon the planet Earth at just under seven days, which was actually behind schedule. From what he understood, there had been a delay in finding enough nuclear weapons for the attack. There had been a prior use of nuclear devices in the Far Arm about two years earlier, but those weapons had been obtained by cannibalizing some of the old Klin ships for their self-destruct explosives. Since the galaxy now knew of the Klin’s existence, none of the new ships built recently contained self-destruct devices, so the weapons had to be brought in all the way from Eilsion.

The weapons had finally arrived and were loaded aboard the ships of the strike force almost two months before. Since then the small fleet of ten ships had been making its way from Glasien-4 to the planet Earth. Another seven days’ journey … and the attack would commence.

The Human fleet was still about three months away from Juir, so once their homeworld was attacked, there would still be plenty of time for a message to be received, recalling the fleet to Earth.

I am so sorry, Lord Hydon, Jonnif thought, but the Humans will not be coming to your rescue.

However, Jonnif still had to be careful. Knowing the Juireans as he did, if he revealed to them that no hope for rescue remained, all those hiding within the bunker below would simply commit suicide rather than submit to the Kracori. And that would not serve Jonnif’s needs, not at all.