The Legend of Earth

Chapter 37



Adam was in the kitchen of the Kracori spaceship checking the processor supplies when Tindal called him to the bridge. A message had been received from the fleet indicating that a longer, more detailed update to the situation on Earth was to be received in five minutes and that all crewmembers should be present.

If the preliminary message was meant to prepare them for bad news, it did just the opposite. As all the Humans met on the bridge, to the person they were white as sheets and nearly sick to their stomachs. It was the longest five minutes in all their lives.

Adam knew immediately that the worst had occurred the moment he saw Admiral Allen’s face. It was drawn and hollow, the bags under his eyes doubly-pronounced from the last video of him they’d received.

“I won’t sugarcoat this you guys,” Allen began. “We lost contact with the Earth about two hours ago. It was in mid-message, and since then, nothing.” He appeared to choke up, but then gathered himself and continued. “We don’t have any actual confirmation of the attack, but I have to tell you this is the first time since we left the planet that we’ve been out of communications for this long.” He attempted to smile. “It would be a real bitch if this was some glitch that just happened to come at the most inopportune time. You know these things happen; I’m surprised we haven’t had a breakdown in comm before this.”

The sickly-looking smile vanished as quickly as it came and Admiral Allen continued, his voice now deadly serious. “As you’ve probably already guessed, I’ve turned the fleet and we are heading home. I’m sorry about this, but I had no choice. Even without concrete confirmation of an attack, I couldn’t delay it any longer. The word has spread throughout the fleet, and if I hadn’t done something soon, I would have had a mutiny on my hands.” Again the wry smile.

“Adam, you and Andy – and all the rest of you – are very resourceful people, in fact more capable than any other sailors I’ve had the privilege of serving with. I’m sure you will find your way home. Hell, not even a galactic empire has been able to stop you yet!

“We’ll update you with any new intel that comes in. I’m sure that eventually they’ll be able to restore some sort of comm with us. In fact, I’m surprised that comm is down. If the frickin Kracori wanted the fleet to return to Earth, we would need to be aware that an attack has occurred. Without comm, it kinda defeats their purpose. But this may be just some collateral damage they hadn’t counted on. Either way, the fleet is hard to miss. They should know of our movement by now.”

Admiral Allen paused for a moment, once more composing himself. Then Adam saw his jaw firm and the veins in his neck tighten. “One last thing: HooYah!”

Instinctively, all four of the Navy SEALs repeated the Navy’s battle cry, startling everyone else on the bridge. But then attention returned to the video.

“Good luck, gentlemen – and lady – and God’s speed. Allen out.”



The room was silent for a good two to three minutes, with each of the Humans lost in their own contemplations. For the past three days the crew had more-or-less already come to grips with these feelings. Even though the planet had been warned, the odds of stopping an attack this far advanced were iffy from the beginning. Yet even with their expectations, it still didn’t stop the occasional tear from escaping from glassy eyes. It was Jym who finally broke the awkward silence.

“Do you want to record a return message?” he asked solemnly.

“Not right now, Jym,” Adam’s trembling voice answered. He had hoped he wouldn’t have to speak for a while, knowing that his emotions would be revealed in his timbre. “In a few minutes – I think we all need to have a moment.” But then a strong emotion rose up in his chest and he leaned in closer to the small, bear-like alien. “But you can start looking for a place where I can find a Class-5 starship. We’re going to need something with a little more horsepower than this tub if we expect to get back home.”

“Horse-power?”

The other Humans had perked up at Adam’s comment; he could see the fire burning in all their blood-shot eyes. “Yeah, something with some muscle. I don’t plan on being stranded out here any longer than is necessary.”