T. Harris - The Legend of Earth

“I couldn’t agree more,” Adam said, looking over at the now immensely self-satisfied alien. Adam had tears in his eyes, as did Sherri.

“From what I’ve been told, Captain, this isn’t going to be cakewalk,” Lee offered. “There are a lot of nasty creatures out here that are going to require taming.”

Adam looked at him with an understanding eye. “Ain’t that the truth, commander.” Then he looked over at Riyad and winked. “But that’s just more score for us to rack up!”

The Humans continued with their reunion for a few more minutes before Kroekus eventually called them all to order.

“I have been having considerable problems with jurisdictional enforcement of our directives throughout the Expansion. As a result, I have proposed the creation of special inter-department within the Intelligence Section, one which you and your team will form, Adam. Your authority will cover all jurisdictions within the Expansion and you will only answer to me and to the head of the I.S. You will be agents of what will be called the Jurisdictional Enforcement of Directives Inter-department-”

“Hold up a minute!” Lee Schwartz interrupted, laughing. “So we’ll be agents for the J.E.D.I .” He laughed. “I’ll tell you right now, that’s not going to fly.”

“He’s right,” Adam said, barely containing his own laughter. “I’m sure there would be some major copyright infringement if we did.”

“I do not understand,” said Kroekus, genuinely confused.

“That’s all right, Mr. Administrator, ” Sherri said. “We’ll come up with something of our own, like how about: Adam’s Avengers ?”

“We could have issues with that one, too,” Adam said, trying to put a stop to the embarrassing banter among the Humans.

“Then how about Cain’s Crusaders? ” It was Lee’s turn to offer a suggestion, his smile wide.

Riyad laughed and flashed a toothy grin. “Even though Cain is a Christian biblical name, and the Crusaders are not necessarily heroes in my culture, I must say I do like the sound of it.”

“Come on, you can’t be serious?” Adam’s frustration was growing by the moment, but he knew there was no stopping it now.

“That is hardly an appropriate name for an enforcement unit of the Expansion Administrator,” Kroekus said seriously. “I will change the name of the inter-department, but I cannot officially condone such a flippant and unprofessional title for its agents.”

“It doesn’t have to be official, Kroekus,” Sherri said, a wide grin stretching across her face. “We Humans tend to give pet names to the things we like. Call us what you want, but for us, we’ll be forever known as Cain’s Crusaders!”