The Expanding Universe

by Craig Martelle

  “Temek, have you picked up any communications coming from them yet? Have they notified their command?”

  “No, sir. They have not yet sent any communications…OH, it looks like their communications array took a direct hit so they won’t be able to send any messages to anyone, including us. So I don’t know how their soldiers on the planet are blocking my attempts. They must have a scrambler on them. We will have to send a squad to get them and disable whatever technology they are using to block my attempts.” The Communications Officer kept his attention on his display while he updated the Commander and continued to try to get a transporter lock on the enemy who was now stranded on Earth.

  “Zelork, I want you to prepare a team to go down to the planet. But you are to stay here and make sure that you destroy that ship. We can’t afford for the humans to find out about us or the QT’s. They are not yet ready to know.” The Commander looked out of the view screen at the blue marble floating in space below them.

  “Sir, they have sent a torpedo,” Voken announced. “It…”

  The Commander interrupted him and announced on the ship’s intercom. “Incoming torpedo, brace for impact.”

  “Zelork, I need you to disable their torpedo bays.” The Commander didn’t sit back down in time. He almost fell down from the impact, but was able to stop himself in time. The ship’s shields prevented any real damage, but they were jostled about. He quickly sat in his chair and strapped in.

  Captain Temek, the Science Officer reported, “The enemy torpedo hit us, but it was on the starboard side of the ship and missed any critical systems. Our shields protected us from the majority of damage. They are down to 70%.”

  “Sir, I have a direct hit to their port torpedo bays, they will have to turn around if they want to try and send any more at us.” Zelork fisted his hand in the air in triumph.

  The Commander had his eye on the view screen as he noticed the steep descent the enemy ship made after the last round of torpedoes hit their mark. “Zelork, what happened. Are they trying to land their ship?”

  “I hit their propulsion systems and they have lost control of their ship. It is on a crash land trajectory. Give me a moment and I will tell you where it will land.” Zelork wiped the sweat from his brow as he did his calculations and discovered where the ship would crash.

  Zelork looked up to the Commander with wide eyes and hesitated before telling him, “They are on a direct course for Roswell, New Mexico. The only thing I can figure out is that they set the coordinates for that town before they lost propulsion.”

  “Will their ship break up in re-entry?” the Commander asked.

  The Science Officer responded, “No, sir. They are still at an angle that will allow them to make re-entry. They are going in pretty fast, so I don’t know if they will survive the crash.”

  “Zelork, Temek, you are both with me. We are going down there as soon as they crash. Zelork, get your security team to the transporters right now. I want us to beam to the crash site before they even stop moving. Bring twenty warriors. Voken, you have the bridge. Reacquire the transporter lock on the enemy soldiers on the ground and let me know when you have them.” The three of them walked to the armory to load up with weapons and protective gear.

  As they walked to the transporter room the Commander said, “Zelork, when this is over, I want a full report on those new torpedoes and why they didn’t break up the ship when they hit. Your aim was true, they should have destroyed the enemy ship. I want you and Voken to study all of our sensor data and figure out what their shields did. They must have upgraded them if they could sustain all of our torpedoes and not break up.”

  “Of course, sir. I am rather stumped as to why they were able to make it to the planet. And on a course that kept them from breaking up during re-entry as well. I wonder how long they knew we were here?”

  “I think we are going to find some rather disturbing information from their towers on the planet. That technology must not fall into the hands of the humans. They might end up with the ability to defend against us if they obtain it. We don’t know what it is yet, but it certainly gave the QT’s an advantage.” The Commander led the group around the corner to the transporter rooms where the twenty warriors were geared up and waiting.

  They could only transport ten at a time so the transporter engineer sent down ten of the warriors first, then the Commander and Zelork were accompanied by eight warriors in the second transport. It took three transports to get everyone down on the planet.

  “Zelork, take ten warriors and check the other side of the ship, I will take ten and check this side. Stay in constant communication and kill anything you see on sight.” The commander took his unit and they cautiously made their way to the side of the ship.

  “This ship is so badly damaged, I am surprised it didn’t break-up in re-entry. I want a sample of the alloy used to create their hull.” The Commander pointed to a small piece of the mutilated alloy the QT’s used for their hull on the ground.

  The nearest warrior responded, “Yes, sir.” Then he picked up a palm sized piece of the hull and stuck it in his pack. They continued on their way to the side of the ship but had to walk around a few larger pieces of the debris as well as a few bodies that had been thrown out of the hole in the side of the ship as it slowed down and came to a stop.

  The Commander looked at the all of the wreckage and the tracks that the ship left in its wake. “We will need a clean-up team here right away to gather all of this. I can’t have the humans finding proof of alien life.” He shook his head as he continued to walk toward the ship. The Commander wondered how they were going to cover this all up.

  As they entered the ship, they saw many dead bodies laying around. The QT’s were an insectoid race that looked like a cross between a grasshopper and an octopus, with a bit of a cockroach thrown in just to get your gag reflex going. While they were bipedal with grasshopper type of legs, they also had the ability to use their octopus-like appendages to help them move faster.

  “Nayven to Voken” the Commander comm’d his ship.

  “Voken here sir. Are there any left alive?”

  “No, so far all we have seen are dead bodies. We can’t leave them here. I need you work with the transporter crew to get all of the dead out of here. Then I need you to come up with a way to get this ship off the planet. It is too badly damaged to fly again. What can we do to get it off the planet?”

  “The only option would be to bring our ship down there and pick up the pieces. We can’t transport anything that large.” Voken scratched his chin as he thought about any other possibilities.

  “Excuse me, sir. I have an incoming from the Admiral.”

  “What does his message say Voken?” the Commander asked.

  “He is on via video chat, it is not a text message, sir.”

  “Patch me through, I have my tablet with me.” The Commander pulled his tablet out of his pack.

  “Nayven, what happened? I heard the ship crashed but is still in one piece? Why didn’t you destroy it before it could land?” The Admiral yelled at the Commander.

  “Sir, we used the new shield busters, but they did not do the damage we were led to believe they could do. The ship sustained serious damage, but not before they could plot a course to land on the planet. They did find a desert location, however it is not far from a human military base.”

  The Admiral interrupted, “I want that QT ship and all of the debris taken off that planet before the humans find it! The last thing we need is for them to know the truth. Most of the war council believe that the humans would not be able to handle learning the truth. Even mates and slaves have a hard time when they first learn the truth.”

  Nayven felt the disapproval of his commanding officer and thought about ways to fix this. “The ship has sustained major damage and will never fly again, but we can’t get it out of here without bringing our ship down here. Should we wait for the cover of night and come down and get it then?”

  “If you can ke
ep the humans away, then that is the best solution.”

  Nayven heard sirens in the distance as they approached the crash site. “Sir, it is too late. The humans are on their way here now. Do we grab them and take them home with us?”

  “I want you to try the new brainwashing techniques that Temek has been working on. If you lose a few humans in the process, we can accept that.”

  Chapter Five

  The Commander took a deep breath and exhaled. “Zelork, I need you to get these bodies out of here right now. Temek, you heard the Admiral. It’s time we try the new mind wipe procedures. Can you use it on a large group all at once?”

  “No, sir. It was designed to be used on one human at a time. The device is on the ship still.”

  “Then have Voken send it to you. The rest of us will stun the humans while you obtain the device.” The Commander walked to his warriors and instructed them all to set their weapons to stun.

  “Everyone is to hide behind the ship and wait for the soldiers to get out of their vehicles. Then we will start stunning them all. Don’t kill them if you don’t have to. I would rather use the memory device and implant a story for them.” The Commander walked back to the side of the ship that would provide the most cover while waiting for the military trucks to arrive.

  “What will our story be, sir?” Zelork asked as he stepped behind the Commander.

  Nayven thought it might be fun to turn this into a circus of sorts. That also might give them the ability to take the ship out from under their noses.

  The human military vehicles arrived with one truck that had a large red cross on it. Nayven estimated there to be about twenty soldiers and five medical personnel, two of which were women.

  One of the women grabbed his attention quickly. He felt a pull from her, like his body was moving of its own accord. Never had he felt anything like this before. She was beautiful.

  He walked out into the open without even thinking about what he was doing. His arms worked on auto-pilot as he stunned any man who got in the way of his woman.

  Around him was utter chaos. His warriors were stunning the human soldiers, but a couple of them were able to shoot their weapons before being taken down. “Vierian, get those men before they kill one of us!” Zelork pointed to a uniformed man who was using his truck as a shield while he took shots at the aliens.

  Zelork wondered what his Commander was doing. He was focused on something by that white truck with a red cross. Why hasn’t he shot the woman yet? She stood there with wide eyes and shook her head as he approached. The Commander took out everyone else, but not the woman…Oh, he wants her! Zelork watched as the Commander walked up to the woman and grabbed her.

  “Woman, don’t be alarmed. I won’t hurt you.” Nayven wrapped his arms around the woman. He thought she felt so warm and soft in his arms. She was shivering and blabbering something he could not understand. “You are my mate, I would never hurt you.”

  Nayven pulled back from the hug and looked down into the woman’s eyes which were round with fear. He could feel it coming off of her in waves. His veins pulsed purple and he took his hand and lightly ran it down her arm in a soothing manner.

  The woman started to calm down, her shaking stopped and she was finally able to say a coherent sentence. “Who, or what are you?”

  “My name is Nayven, I have come to save you from the aliens who were trying to take over your planet.” He thought it would be better if he came off as a hero, rather than an invading alien.

  Her head turned toward all of the bodies on the ground. “But, you killed them all. How is that saving us? Are you going to kill me too?”

  “No, they are not dead, only stunned. Don’t worry, you are safe now. I will protect you.” Nayven tried to hug her again, but she pushed against his chest.

  “I don’t understand. Is that your ship?” She pointed to the crashed QT’s ship.

  “No, it is the Q’Tueliens’ ship. They came to your planet to, well we don’t know what they wanted, yet.” He took her hands in his and kissed one of her palms.

  She pulled her hand away from him quickly. “Sir, please don’t.” She looked around at what was happening. She noticed that the aliens were moving around from soldier to soldier and putting a device on the foreheads of the men. “What are your men doing? Wait, what is going on? Are… you…aliens?” She stepped back from Nayven and backed up to her ambulance.

  “Shh, everything will be fine. I promise you won’t be harmed. I am going to take care of you for the rest of your life.” He brought his hand up that held his stun gun and stunned her before she had a chance to get away from him.

  He realized that she would remember he shot her when she woke up. “Temek, I need you to remove this woman’s memories of me shooting her. Then I want her taken to my quarters on the ship and made comfortable. She is to be my mate.” At that pronouncement, every warrior stopped what they were doing and looked at their Commander.

  “Yes, sir!” Temek stood at attention and saluted him with a fist to his heart and a slight bow. He realized that he was entrusted with his Commander’s mate. That was an honor not bestowed upon many warriors. It was their custom to take care of their own mates, and not allow other warriors to handle them. Temek also knew that if he messed up, the Commander would have his head, literally.

  The Commander watched Temek as he carefully put the device on the woman’s forehead and activated it. He had to hold her, and that made him nervous. It was rather nerve racking to have the future queen of his ship in his arms. The Commander’s mate wasn’t an actual queen, but she may as well have been with how everyone treats the women in that role. He felt the sweat rolling down his face as he removed the memory of his Commander shooting his future mate from her head. Temek hoped that he kept his hands steady enough to ensure that he didn’t harm her in any way.

  “Voken, this is Temek, I need transport for two. Straight to the Commander’s quarters. Keep this quiet.” Temek stood to the side with the woman in his arms while he waited to be transported. Once he was safely in the Commander’s quarters, he put the woman on the bed and locked her inside the bedroom. He knew she would be out for at least another hour, maybe two. After he wiped the sweat from his forehead, he sat on the edge of the sofa in the Commander’s living room.

  “Voken to Temek,” Voken comm’d Temek using their internal communication devices, which was another new piece of technology that Temek had invented on one of these long journeys to Earth.

  “Temek here, what can I do for you Voken?”

  “Is the Commander going to be alright? What happened?” Temek could hear the worry in Voken’s voice as he asked the question.

  “I did not bring the Commander here, but his mate. We found his mate with the humans who responded to the QT’s crash. She appears to be some sort of medical provider. Which might be of real help on these missions. There is always a human or two who needs medical attention.”

  “A human or two?” Voken snorted, “Try at least twenty to thirty! Sometimes the males cause such problems. But yes, she might be really helpful. Wait, why are you with her in his quarters?”

  “Because, the Commander is still trying to clean up the mess below. We are going to have to wait for the cover of night and then go down there and remove the ship. I just hope they don’t send more soldiers to the area.”

  “You and me both. It’s such a waste when we have to kill them. I would rather just take more slaves home with us than kill any humans.” Voken considered the situation. None of them enjoyed abducting humans to bring back as slaves. If he ever found his mate, he had already decided he would ask for a transfer back home, or maybe to one of the planets with settlements. He thought about Zeleron 10. That was a nice planet. It was a very small settlement, but it had the potential to become a great place to raise a family.

  The Commander was thinking about his mate. His veins wouldn’t stop pulsing purple and he couldn’t believe that he met her here of all places. He needed to get his head back on bu
siness, and out of his quarters.

  “Zelork, do we have all of the soldiers set? Did you get all of their minds wiped?” The Commander walked to Zelork as he set the last human soldier on the ground.

  “That was the last of them, sir. Voken has removed all of the dead QT’s as well. I would like to leave my warriors here to guard the place, just in case the QT’s we lost make it here.”

  “Good idea. I want at least three of them alive, the rest I don’t care about. But if more humans show up, let me know. I am going back to my mate now. She should be waking up soon. Which reminds me, be sure to keep the humans unconscious until after we remove the ship. I have set up a nice distraction for them when they wake up.” The Commander walked away as he chuckled. He was thinking about the weather balloon he set up to be the big crash the human military found in the desert.

  Everything went as planned that night and they were able to come down and take the enemy ship without being discovered. It was decided that they would stay in orbit for another day to observe the humans and their response to what happened in Roswell.

  “Temek to Commander Nayven.” Temek was still in the Commander’s quarters keeping guard over Nayven’s mate.

  “This is Nayven.” The Commander was on the bridge and preparing to head to his quarters for the evening. He was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to spend time getting to know his mate.

  “Sir, she woke up sooner than expected and has started to tear your bedroom apart. I don’t want to hurt her, but she refuses to calm down.” Temek was pacing in the Commander’s living room and flexing his hands repeatedly since he had no clue how to handle a woman on a rampage.

  “On my way.” The Commander ran to his quarters and was concerned for his new mate’s safety. He thought about all of the breakables in his room. He wasn’t worried about the stuff he had, he was worried she would hurt herself if she wasn’t careful.

  He reached his quarters and Temek practically ran out. “Sorry, sir. But I have no clue how to handle a mate. Especially a human one.”