Pleiadian Rescuer

by Benedict Stone

  The sound of the horse hooves faded as the men made their way back into the house. A shot of whiskey was in order. They had set into motion the greatest conspiracy in human history. Only time would tell if they were successful.

  “May God have mercy on our souls.” It was the only toast the men could think to say.

  *****

  “Two more enemy combat shuttles on approach,” Elda shouted over the rumbling of explosions.

  The Draconians had somehow made a stealth approach and targeted the Pleiadian scout vessel in a devastating move. The ship had lost its Phased Reality Drive and was visible for the world to see. How had the Draco been able to detect them while they were phased? It shouldn’t have been possible, but that didn’t alter the fact that they were currently being hit with a barrage laser fire.

  “Return fire and continue evasive manoeuvres.” Traton Saf was still composed enough to sound confident. However, he knew that they would not be going home. The ship had sustained catastrophic damage that could only be repaired if they made it to a space dock and they couldn’t do that if they couldn’t get back to the Pleiades star cluster. They were venting atmosphere and fluids, which made the job of the enemy tracking systems that much easier.

  The landing team had been engaged at the same time as the ship, and they had already lost two of the five men. The firefight was still raging, but Saf could see from the displays that the unit on the ground had moments to live before the sneaky Draconian warriors finished them off. He had assigned one of the ships turrets to provide cover fire for the landing party but had to countermand the order to fight off the number of enemy combat shuttles.

  “Traton, the Draco battleship has broken its moorings and is on an intercept course. Estimated time to weapons range is three minutes.” The fear on the bridge was palpable.

  “Acknowledged, Elda,” Saf said. “Release the drone, the battle is lost. We must get the reports back to command.”

  “Drone away, Traton.”

  Smoke and sparks had started to fill the command deck, obscuring the view of the holo-screen, but Traton Saf would never leave his people behind. “Target any shuttles between us and the surface and fire at maximum. We are going in to pick up the landing team. Have them ready to evacuate as soon as we’re down,” he said.

  Having received the notification of extraction, the commander of the landing team gave his reply. “Acknowledged. We are ready to go as soon as you touch down,” Bretar shouted over the sound of weapons fire. The ground team was surrounded by enemy warriors, and the battle was more intense than anything they had trained for. Almost relentless incoming fire had annihilated his men. Only two were left fighting, including him. The covering fire from the ship had ceased about ten minutes ago, and the enemy had exacted a devastating toll. His team had performed admirably, killing at least twenty of the reptilians, but it wasn’t enough. They were still coming, still fighting, still trying to destroy the Pleiadians by any means necessary.

  The pain was instant, and as Bretar looked down to his right, he saw the claw had come through his back and exited the front of his chest. Blood poured away from him as his vision began to close in and darken. He knew he was dead; his body just hadn’t realised it yet. His last companion had taken a plasma round to the face a moment ago. It was over, and he knew it. His life signs would still be visible on the ship, and that meant that Traton Saf would continue his decent to extract him, and that would expose the craft to more enemy fire. He couldn’t allow that.

  “Traton, abort evac. We’re finished.” His voice was barely a whisper.

  “Acknowledged, Bretar. Thank you for your service. May your soul join the galactic light, my friend.” The recognition that Saf couldn’t save his men was devastating. This brought with it another realisation, get the ship away. “Rodan, get us out of here.”

  The ship lurched as the pilot engaged the engines to full and aimed for the stars. In routine flight the Antigravity Drive provided a field that engulfed the vessel, which meant that the G-forces exerted were negated because it was the drive that created a portal in front of the ship, effectively pulling it along in whichever direction they wanted to travel. However, the system had sustained damage during the battle, and now the ship was running on its back up, ION drive. The craft was moving at 12G and the force it exerted felt as though the weight of several swamp dogs were crushing Saf’s chest. He had to tense every muscle in his body to keep some semblance of consciousness.

  No sooner had they broken through the atmosphere than a massive explosion hit the trailing edge of the little scout ship, causing it to lurch.

  “We’ve lost the engines, Traton. We’re dead in space,” Elda said with an edge of finality.

  The holo-screen was still just about working, and Saf saw the human dispatch rider making his way across the countryside. He knew what the courier had in his possession and that it could change the face of the planet below.

  “Weapons, target that human on horseback; we can’t let him reach his destination.” Before he’d even finished the order, he felt the vibrations as the weapons fired towards the surface and he saw what appeared to be lightning strikes hit the besieged man and his horse.

  Traton Saf watched as the enemy battlecruiser opened fire on the drone that was trying to escape to free space. “NO!” he said quietly as he saw a bolt of plasma score a hit. The feed died shortly after. If that drone had been destroyed, all hope was lost.

  He wouldn’t get to find out, as a moment later everything turned black as his ship disintegrated into the void.

  1

  London

  England

  Present Day

  Today’s the day I take my life back, Archie Hammond thought as he finished emptying out his locker before making his way over to his mail draw and clearing that out too. His time serving the public was over. As much as he loved the job, he just couldn’t take another day of managerial shit. It was time to move on to pastures new before he punched his boss’ lights out. After one final check that he had everything that belonged to him and stuck anything that belonged to the service outside the door of the station office, he moved into the section of the building that housed the Human Resource office.

  “What’s this?” asked the HR Manager as Archie handed over the envelope and the cylindrical package.

  With a big smile, Archie replied coarsely, “Read it, and you’ll find out.” He’d had enough of the Ambulance Services bullshit, and he hated the woman that was stood in front of him. Dressed up like a superstar wife, in high heels, very short miniskirt topped off with a revealing blouse that pretty much put her tits on show. She had gotten to where she was by sleeping with anyone with enough importance to achieve her goals and anyone else for that matter. Not only was she one of the biggest hypocrites in the service, but she was nasty and vindictive, as well as a terrible liar.

  A look of shock and surprise came across her face as she read the resignation letter. In it, Archie had been blunt and to the point. He had pointed out the failings of the Service for all the stress they had caused him over the past seven years. The job itself was easy, and he could do it standing on his head with his hands tied behind his back, but for more than half a decade, the management had stitched him up at every turn. From being told that he had leave granted, only to be disciplined upon his return, because they had lied. To having his shifts changed continuously at short notice and being sent from pillar to post and forced to work all over the service rather than where he was actually based. He was continually being called into the boss to answer questions about bullshit allegations from other managers and the control centre - none of which was true.

  Generally, Archie’s life had been made so difficult that he could no longer put up with it. The pressure had been total and constant. And on top of that, there was the general stress of being run into the ground just with the standard workload of life on the world’s most prominent Ambulance Service. Every time he spoke to the stations Ambulance Operations
Manager, he was lied to, and that in itself was cause for stress. But for all of that, the worst thing for him was that constant policy changes. None of which were of any benefit to the staff nor the people they served… the public. The incompetence of the management for not being able to see that these changes were costing lives was unbearable, and he could no longer be a part of it.

  It had taken Archie some time to come to the decision to leave the job, but it was inevitable – the victimisation, bullying, and harassment had become overwhelming. He had been living on roughly three, maybe four hours of broken sleep per night for years. The constant worry of how they would get him next was causing him to wake up multiple times through the night, and it was making him ill. He started to feel like he was permanently angry, and if he wasn’t angry, he was anxious – it had all taken its toll.

  He had worked as a Paramedic for just under twenty years, and it was a job that he absolutely loved, not only that, but he was bloody good at it. But things change when the management has a person on their radar, that’s it, game over. In that situation, there is only ever going to be one outcome – resign or get sacked, the result was the same…you were gone. You might win a battle, but you’ll never win the war, and it's only ever the war that matters.

  For the first time in years, Archie was in control of his own fate – he would be the one to determine his future.

  “Well, at least you’ll get a reference from us,” was all she could say.

  With a laugh, Archie replied, “Do you really think I would put any future job in your hands after everything you lot have done to me? Don’t be fucking stupid. I’d never ask you people for anything. Now, I’ve cleared my locker and my mail draw, so there’s nothing else to say, so if you don’t mind, I will be on my way.”

  “What’s this parcel?” she asked as Archie turned to leave.

  “Oh Yeah, I nearly forgot,” he replied with a wry smile. “You can share that with the rest of the management team.”

  “What is it?” she asked again as she opened the packaging that contained the giant Dildo.

  “Now that I don’t work for you people anymore, you can all go fuck yourselves!” It was a childish thing to do, but it made him feel good, and that made it worthwhile.

  And with that, Archie had ended his twenty-year love-hate relationship as a Paramedic. Now he was free to do whatever he wanted, the only problem he had, was he didn’t know what he wanted to do… absolutely no idea!

  Having spent several weeks doing odd jobs for various people, he was offered a week of training work, explicitly teaching First Aid. It wasn’t a job that he was particularly interested in, but it was something that a lot of former ambulance personnel found themselves doing. It contained public speaking, and Archie hated that with a passion, but with nothing to lose, he gave it a go anyway. After all, he had a unique background in the subject, his knowledge and experience were of the highest order. And he couldn’t keep hoping for labouring work for the rest of his life.

  Archie was as nervous as he’d ever been as he opened up the 3 Day First Aid at Work training course, he felt as though he was entirely out of his comfort zone. He found that strange considering the amount of life and death emergency situations he’d previously found himself in. Standing at the front of the class, he felt self-conscious, and he was sweating as his nerves threatened to overwhelm him. Before him, were 12 people, men, and women of various ages. They had all been put on the course by their company to be in line with the governing body for the industry.

  After giving the group an introduction to the course and a brief history of himself, he found that the students seemed to be hanging on his every word as he went through the input. Speaking to several of the group during the morning break, he found out that their interest had been piqued because he was a trainer that had actually been there and done it, whereas previous instructors had learned their trade from a manual. The realisation that he was able to hold their attention so effectively gave him the confidence to relax and pass on the knowledge and skills needed for the people in front of him to achieve the standards required to pass the course.

  Three days later and with the course drawing to a close, Archie realised that he’d not only enjoyed teaching the subject, but he also felt some measure of satisfaction in helping others improve their abilities in life-saving skills. The achievement was in no way comparable to that of actually being on the front line and doing the job for real, but it was there, nonetheless. Closing the course down, he was pleased that all of his students had not only met the required standard but well and truly exceeded it.

  Over the next couple of days, Archie thought about going on and teaching First Aid for a living, and the more he considered it, the more it made sense. He seemed to have a natural ability in teaching. The only problem that concerned him was the regularity and the amount of work he would get from week to week. First Aid at Work courses are typically three days long, most of which were run during the working week, Monday to Friday. That meant that he would only be able to do one full course per week. Though, he might be able to make up the other two days by teaching First Aid Refresher courses as they consisted of one day's input. He might need to do a bit of juggling of days here and there, but he certainly felt that it was possible. Providing he could get at least one full three-day course a week, financially, he should be able to pull it off.

  His decision was made a few days later after he received a phone call from the owner of the company that had contracted him in to teach. The man had received feedback from the students that attended Archie’s course… it was good. No, it was excellent. The best feedback any of the company’s trainers had ever gotten. The praise was followed by the offer of more work. Although the company was not doing as well as they could, it meant that for a time, the number of jobs would be limited. To Archie, it didn’t matter; it was a foot in the door and a step in the right direction. He took it.

  After a few weeks, the lack of work coming in made it evident that the company was on its last legs, probably in its death throws. Archie made the decision to go freelance and put his name on the books of several other firms. He couldn’t believe his luck, as the reception he got from most was that they were trying to rip his arm off. They all wanted someone of his experience on their books. In some cases, he even wrote his own pay grade. Which was good… really good. So good in fact that after several months he decided that he could only work three days a week and still have extra money at the end of the month. It was an option that he just couldn’t refuse. He’d worked hard his entire life and sacrificed his work-life balance for only work. The realisation hit him one night when he was having a family night, with old pictures and videos of the kids playing on the Television. Watching the family birthdays and Christmas footage, he noticed that he was either not in them, or if he was, he was wearing his uniform, and that meant he had either been to work, or he was going to work. It dawned on him that life on the Ambulance Service had robbed him of the intimacy of his family. He’d missed out on so much, that he couldn’t even begin to recall what. With the amount of money he was now making, he decided that enough was enough; he’d work only when he had to and no more.

  This new freedom of working meant that Archie found himself with plenty of time on his hands and he soon rediscovered a past passion for fishing. Spending as much time on the bank of a river or a lake as he could, usually freezing his nuts off and catching nothing but a cold. Days, nights, weekends and even weeks at a time were lost fishing. He loved everything about the sport, and also the fish. Where possible, he tried to return any fish to the water in a better condition than when they came out. To this end, he carried a full fish care kit and treated every fish as though it was a pet from a home aquarium. As much as he loved being at the water, the sport could get extremely expensive. He could make the money, but that defeated the object of working a three day week. No, he’d prefer to have the time at home.

  It was during one of these periods away from angling that Arc
hie discovered the UFO phenomenon. It happened entirely by accident. Out of sheer boredom and with nothing to do, he had been flicking through the television channels and found a documentary on Unidentified Flying Objects. After watching the show, he found himself intrigued and began thinking more and more about it. He couldn’t figure out if the people featured on the programme had actually had some kind of unexplainable experience or if they were just nutters. Eventually, it turned in to an extensive research campaign that seemed to go on and on. He found that the more he looked into it, the more he felt there was something to it. He thoroughly researched the more significant stories such as the Roswell Incident, Rendlesham Forest, and the Phoenix Lights, to name but a few. He was well and truly hooked, and it got to the point that when he wasn’t fishing, he was researching UFOs. And if he wasn’t doing either of those things, he was looking into the sky for strange lights or flying saucers. His interest verged on obsession.

  It didn’t take long after beginning the Ufology research for Archie to notice that there seemed to be some sort of strange connection between UFO sightings and spirituality. So much so, that he felt it warranted further investigation. This project was ongoing, however, after about six weeks of research, Archie had become convinced that there was indeed some sort of link to a lot of sightings and decided that he would begin his own spiritual journey. He began meditating regularly and started to follow certain Buddhist philosophies – not the religion, he was in no way religious – but he did implement some elements of the ideals. He combined these with the Ju-Jitsu he had done since childhood. Soon after he began his walk down the spiritual path, he realised that they all seemed to pay into each other and he’d started seeing results, particularly during his martial arts training. He appeared to be able to see things before they happened; like he could anticipate what was coming. It seemed to be the same with life in general, and it was as though the new practices had sparked something within his own intuition.