When Earth Reigned Supreme (The Human Chronicles Saga Book 12) by T.R. Harris Read Free Book Online

flash attacks, could switch to infrared and heat signatures with a voice command, and even contained limited range radar/motion detector capability up to twenty meters in the open, or easily within a single room. They also constantly provided heads-up displays of video feeds from various sources, along with relative gravity readings, temperature, and atmospheric conditions. They were compact enough to be worn constantly, even with the gaudy Sol-Kor masks over their heads—though none of the team was wearing one at the moment.
     Adam took out a small, articulated video camera from his utility vest, and as another team member cracked open the door, he extended the camera outside.
    Every member of the team saw the same image in their visor, and it made their hearts sink.
    A row of buildings across a wide street, and a hazy brown, cloud-dotted sky high above. This meant they were not in some large portal station within the vast Queen’s complex. They could be anywhere in the Sol-Kor universe.
    Adam handed the camera to Anderson and then slumped back against the wall, contemplating their next move. At least the image showed the street to be quiet, no apparent alarms sent out, prompted by the noise of the brief battle within the building—at least not yet. That was good news. The bad news was that without being in the Queen’s Chambers, the mission suddenly shifted from an assassination to an extraction—their own extraction from an impossibly hostile environment.
    “Drake,” said Adam through the mic on his visor. “Find a way to the roof and launch a drone. We need to get some idea where we are.  Ace, Mac, go with him and set up a high nest. It’s a pretty good bet someone is going to get the word about this portal going down, so we should be expecting company. Kaczynski and Garcia, check the equipment to see if you can get any information about our location and other portals in the area. The rest of you take up positions near the exits and keep the cameras operating. Maintain a clear killing field for anyone entering, although our main objective at this time is to find targets to interrogate.”
    The team moved out, just as Riyad slipped in next to Adam and sat down.
    “Well here’s another fine mess you’ve got me into.”
    “What can I say, Ollie…it’s what I do best.”
    “Hang in there, my friend. At least we have our health.”
    “For a while longer—”
    “Captain, Drake here…I found an opening to the roof. Getting ready to launch the drone. Patching video through to our visors.”
    “Very good. Let’s see where we are.”
    The advanced mini-drone, equipped with a high resolution zoom video camera, shot up into the air, beaming back an aerial view of their immediate surroundings. The cluster of uniformly spaced and identical buildings continued for ten blocks in all directions before giving way to a more open landscape to magnetic east. Drake panned the drone around until it faced west…and here the image changed to something much more interesting.
    The vast expanse of the largest spaceport any of them had ever seen. The wide-open landing field stretched nearly to the horizon, before a series of towers—small and insignificant from this distant—rose up along the far boundary. Ranging placed the buildings at over eight miles away. The massive spaceport was a beehive of activity, a cloud of vessels landing and taking off in a chaotic frenzy.
    Adam could see huge harvesters, hundreds of them, along with thousands of beamships. There were several huge beam platforms—giant square boxes equipped with gravity drives—which carried multiple batteries of the Sol-Kor blue pulse beam emitters, designed to place the populations of entire worlds into mindless stupors, suitable for eventual harvest. Everywhere, streams of service vehicles moved among the giant starships, looking like lines of ants invading a discarded sugar cube.
    Further investigation found an unbelievably large expanse of massive