Free Human Chronicles Part 2 Book 3: A Galaxy to Conquer by T. R. Harris

the rest of his team on the Formilian ship. All he got back in return was silence. They were still out of range. He opened the door to the transport and climbed out. The others followed. They all took out their MK’s and checked the battery status.
    “When the first explosions begin head for the ship. Everyone will be running by then. Just act as panicked as the rest.”
    “That’ll be easy,” Sherri said. She knew what Adam was about to do and she saw no alternative as well.
    The trio began to force their way through the crowd toward the main gate. The three troop trucks were just arriving there as well, having threaded their way through the gathering demonstrators. Even over the din of the crowd, a series of high-pitched sounds could be heard coming from the backs of the troops trucks. The sounds grew ever higher in pitch and intensity until they could hardly be tolerated by those closest to the trucks.
    The first flash weapons exploded as Adam—through his ATD—separated the firing control from the rail system of the weapons and let the charge build up in a dynamo effect. The exploding flash rifles were like grenades going off in the middle of the Tel’oran troops, effectively killing nearly every soldier in the vehicles. Flames soared high, and shrapnel rained down on the stunned demonstrators.
    Panic—along with the desired chaos—spread among the thousands of beings near the gate. Having just seen the Tel’oran military forces reduced to body parts, everyone ran for safety, not knowing whether the area was under attack by Humans, or if insurgents were present. Most of the crowd consisted of crew for the vessels in port, and they began a headlong stampede toward their ships. There may have been a restriction against lifting off, but at the time there was no one around to enforce it.
    The three Humans barreled through the panicked masses, aided by their incredible speed in the light gravity and by the power of their bodies. Aliens flew out of their wake like the running of the bulls in Pamplona, and soon they were at their ship.
    “Get us out of here, Trimen!” Adam projected through his ATD as the three Humans entered the ship.
    “Where to?” came the immediate reply.
    “Anywhere. Just off the surface.”
    Adam sprinted for the pilothouse. Once there, he slid into the comm station as a deep rumble filled the ship. They were lifting off in a blaze of chemical exhaust. Adam chanced a quick look out the forward viewport, only to see a few unfortunate bodies being blasted away in the exhaust cloud. Then he saw multiple exhaust clouds, as other ships began to liftoff, themselves frying any aliens unlucky enough to be near the exhaust ports.
    Adam punched in the link code for the Pegasus .
    “Kaylor, are you there?”
    Only a second passed before the reply blasted through the speakers on the console. “Yes, and I assume you have heard the news?”
    “I have, and we’re just now lifting off. Get off the surface, too.”
    “But there is a moratorium against launching.”
    “Screw that. Do it anyway. The Pegasus can get away faster than anyone will expect. Just do it before they really start enforcing the moratorium.”
    “Will do,” Kaylor said. “We’ll coordinate once we’re away.”
    “Roger that.”
    Adam cut the link and opened another to McCarthy’s ship. “McCarthy! Come in.”
    The reply was also almost instantaneous. “Way ahead of you, Cain. I saw the first protests and heard the news flash. Figured we could rendezvous in space somewhere.”
    “Good. We’re just now clearing the clouds ... should be in clear space in a couple of minutes. We’ll link up in an hour. Head for the small moon; they have two but this one is just a rock. Everyone else will probably head for the big one, the one with the settlements.”
    Adam leaned back in the chair and took several deep breaths. With Tel’or—as well as the rest of the Nebula—soon to be allied with the Kracori, their journey to Elision