Chronicles of Jake 2: The Invasion Begins

by Peter Lewis Atkinson

  THE INVASION BEGINS ( The Chronicles of Jake Book--2 )

  Copyright © 2016 by Author. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be replicated, redistributed, or given away in any form without the prior written consent of the author/publisher or the terms relayed to you herein.

  Author: Peter Lewis Atkinson.

  e-mail: thehouseofalbion@btconnect.com

  United Kingdom.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter - 1 Return to Alkarr

  Chapter - 2 Back to Earth Again

  Chapter - 3 Alto Along with an Incident

  Chapter - 4 Good News. Bad News.

  Chapter - 5 Pirates Strke Again

  Chapter - 6 Galaxy Class Freighter

  Chapter - 7 An Unforeseen Circumstance

  Chapter - 8 Time is Fast Running Out

  Chapter - 9 The Invasion Begins

  Acknowledgement

  The Invasion Begins: The Chronicles of Jake--Book 2 is the continuing story from: My Return to Planet Earth: The Chronicles of Jake--Book 1

  THE INVASION BEGINS

  The Chronicles of Jake--Book 2

  By

  Peter Lewis Atkinson

  Chapter 1

  Return to Alkarr

  Here was I sitting in the co-pilot’s seat on the bridge of our cargo ship having been to Earth to make first contact and now we were returning to Alkarr. My name is Jake by the way. Also on board was my family, seven wives who are Alkarren and fourteen children along with two Lusianians, my sister Rachael, six rescued Alkarrens and finally the Ambassador for Earth and her daughter. It will take around a week to travel back to Alkarr. During that time I hoped to avoid getting too close to River as I felt she may make a play for me. So I was going to stick with at least one of my wives at all times. I had decided to do what would be considered unthinkable by any Alkarren male, then I am not Alkarren. The thing which I was about to do is that I was going to let Lumi into my man cave during this trip back. It was a difficult choice as men are not supposed do that ever, but I would feel safe if Lumi was me at all times, she wouldn’t mind as she liked to chaperon me. I was ready to leave the bridge so I requested Lumi’s assistance to escort me to the man cave. She expected to sit outside as normal but instead I took her hand and led her through the door into the man cave.

  She seemed shocked, ‘‘What am I doing in here?’’ said Lumi in a surprised way.

  I replied, ‘‘ I need to you to be with me all the time as I do not trust River; besides I am sure you would rather be in here with me and not sitting outside.’’

  Looking at me she whispered, ‘‘I always wanted to be alone with you without any chance of the others barging in.’’ She then kissed me before having a good look around.

  I then said, ‘‘Make yourself at home we can play board games or just read when we are in here.’’ She gave me seductive smile saying, ‘‘I am not wasting my time alone in your company just doing that.’’ I just grinned.

  During the week it took to return to Alkarr it was planned that the Ambassador was to learn some Zeln which is the language of choice for members of the Alliance council. Her Daughter was to learn Alkarren and my daughters have taken it upon themselves to help her, along with an education unit to assist them. After a few days I was in the galley with Lumi and I could hear Ellie, Jessica, young Rachael and Pooky talking to Sonja, speaking with some Alkarren in between the English and Sonja had already learnt some easy words and phrases.

  We had planned to contact the family of the rescued Alkarrens as soon as possible after coming out of star drive to let them know they have been found and returned. Though the first important thing which had to be done after landing is for Alenna to contact the authorities. Alenna would then need to deliver the ambassador to these authorities in the capital city. I managed to finish the trip safely without any incident from River. No sooner had we dropped out of star drive than we contacted the House of Tartan. Katrina spoke to her prime wife at once she started to cry. Alenna ushered my family out so the six could talk in private.

  A little time later Alenna returned saying, ‘‘They will be leaving almost immediately after we land and will soon be back with their family for a very tearful reunion. Minty and Jake, I will have to leave you to see to their departure as Lara, Jenna and I will have to leave straight away to take the ambassador and her daughter to the capital city as soon as we land.’’

  After landing Alenna made arrangements to transport the ambassador and her daughter along with all those diplomatic cases. At the same time Minty, Lumi and I had to escort the six rescued Alkarrens to the public transport zone. All the rest of my family had made their way to our residence. As we arrived the transport shuttle was just landing. Good I thought, River will soon be on her way.

  ‘‘Goodbye Jake, hope to see you again soon,’’ said River with that same seductive look that Lumi gives me.

  Keeping a straight face I just reply, ‘‘Bye River hope you have a good reunion with your family.’’

  The six then boarded the transport and we waved them off as it left. That’s a relief I thought as it disappeared from view.

  It’s not that I dislike the girl at all, in fact she is very sweet but seven wives is more than enough. It’s the one Alkarren way I just find hard to get used to. Minty, Lumi and I now returned to our residence.

  Soon after arriving we started to get some visitors, my in-laws, the mothers of Minty and Lumi at first who were dying to know about our trip to Earth. They also had some news for us. Now Alkarrens and Humans are very similar and as far as we know there are no other races or civilisations that bear any close resemblance to us, up to now that is. During a news broadcast the population of Alkarr had been informed that a survey of a region more than 250 light years beyond the direction of Earth had found yet another race that is a close resemblance to both Alkarrens and Humans. It turned out this planet was discovered over three years ago, although no direct contact had been made at this time. We were also informed that during this time two linguists had been studying this world and the language of its people. It was announced that the planet was called Tazanter by its inhabitants; they referred to themselves simply as the Tazsak. Observations from orbit of their TV broadcasts and internet showed this race to be exceptionally peaceful. They had no planetary defence; in fact they had not even reached the capability of getting anything into space. Also they did not seem to have anything that reassembles an army. Their power generation was almost totally by wind, wave, hydro, solar and thermal energy. As far as transport goes, motor vehicles similar to Earth that run on gas or electricity. As for flying they seemed to use airships as their main transport, though they did have a few airplanes. As stated they had TV, radio and a primitive internet all run on transistors and early integrated circuits. I would say their technology in this area was where Earth would have been in the mid 1980’s. Where they did seem to excel is in health, which they were far more advanced in than Earth. Their society was similar to Alkarrens as males are in the minority and were controlled to the point of being no more than figureheads in their family groups and were used for mating and very little else. Discussions were underway by the Alliance council as to whether they are ready to be contacted. The theory was that all three races came from the same beings. Perhaps our early ancestors were used by an
unknown advanced alien race as workers, pets or even slaves and left on these worlds either deliberately or not, to evolve in just a slightly different way from each other. Makes you wonder if there was any more colonies out there. This news was good. If this new world did join the Alliance then I think that given the choice, most families that run transport ships would rather go there due to their peaceful nature, even though it would take six weeks to travel there from Alkarr. This would hopefully leave Earth open for my family to take full advantage of. Less competition means bigger profits for us, although Alenna would not see it that way.

  Perri had started to pester me to take her to the moon to see her mother and family as we had been away for over three weeks and she was missing them. I informed her that we would go later in the day. It suddenly struck me that Pooky looked taller and different. Her species has this growth spurt between thirteen and fourteen where they grow more than a foot in one year; they are also classed as adults as soon as they hit fourteen. Adding to this her appetite during this phase was quite extraordinary, Pooky was always eating something or other. I said to her, ‘‘Hey Pooky the way you are growing you will soon be taller than your mother.’’

  She replied, ‘‘Uncle, I can now apply to take my pilots exam on Lusiana as I will certainly hit the minimum height within the month. Would you be able to take me there?’’

  Replying I said, ‘‘Sure, I will speak to Alenna about it when she returns.’’

  I knew where this was going and if she passes she would be soon leaving us. It was late afternoon and I was now ready to take Perri to the moon. I asked Pooky if she wished to fly us there. She jumped at the chance after getting permission from her mother. We were set to go. As usual Isabell and Honey, my daughters with Perri, also accompanied us. Perri’s family were eager to find out how we got on with contacting Earth as they had obtained a large number of serviceable scrap public transport shuttles that they could off load to Earth at a good profit. I informed them that we had brought back the ambassador for Earth and as soon as the go ahead to start trading with Earth is given, I am absolutely sure we would find many willing buyers for them. Sometime later we had returned to our residence on Alkarr.

  Alenna had also returned there so I mentioned to her, ‘‘Pooky would like to go to Lusiana sometime after next month to take a pilot’s exam if that is at all possible.’’

  She replied, ‘‘That’s not going to be problem as we have to go there with several cargo runs.’’ I also wanted to go there as I was eager for us to reserve those planetary defence frigates.

  Alenna made an announcement, ‘‘We are recommencing our cargo runs tomorrow and our first run will be to Grimda. Could I have three volunteers to assist with the loading please.’’

  I was the first to volunteer. ‘‘Count me in as usual Alenna,’’ I said. No one else came forward which is not at all surprising in the circumstance.

  Alenna then just replied, ‘‘You have four days during the journey to decide. If not, I will say who else will assist me.’’

  We only needed four of us to load the cargo. The rest of the family would be safely sealed in the family’s living quarters. Grimda was my least favourite world that we transport to and there was a very good reason why no one else was eager to volunteer; everyone hated going there. If I could do the loading all by myself I would. Now this is was moon of a larger planet. Grimda could only be described as insect world; you were constantly surrounded by flies, large moths the size of your hand and worst of all stinging insects not to mention the creepy crawlies. The inhabitants I had nicknamed the toads. The reason for this was their heads bear a good resemblance to toads with a large mouth and they did kind of croak, officially known as the Grocka. Alenna scolded me when I referred to them as the toads saying I am very rude and disrespectful. You had to wear a protective suit which is stab proof along with a helmet to protect you due to the stinging and biting insects. An air filter was mandatory as the air smelt of rotten eggs due to methane bubbling up from the swamps. Finally it was also extremely humid and the ground is very boggy often resulting in the predicament of finding yourself stuck in the mud after sinking half way up your boots. It was a most unpleasant world indeed. It was also very disconcerting when attempting to communicate with a Grocka when it suddenly shot out its very long thin tongue to grab a bug before munching it in front of you. We were going to Grimda to collect a consignment of an ore. This ore would be ground to dust before adding it to an adhesive. Then it was sprayed on to the inside external skin of a spaceship; it’s a very good insulator against cold. The outside wall of the spaceship could be close to absolute zero and with just a few millimetres of this mineral you could touch the internal side of the wall with a bare hand and it would feel warm. Loading the large sealed containers was a hot and unpleasant job. Once loaded the cargo bay was then sealed, only that there were now many insects flying and crawling about in the cargo bay so it had to be decontaminated. This we did in orbit by venting the cargo bay; the insects were flushed out into space. There was a creepy crawly that resembled a cockroach. If you accidently stepped on one then it seemed to pop back into shape before going on its way. But when you flushed them into the vacuum of space they exploded in a spectacular fashion along with the other insects, just not nice at all to witness. After leaving Grimda our first port of call would be Relnor to deliver those containers. I was looking forward to going there as I would like to be shown around one of those super new cargo freighters. Jenna and Lumi did grudgingly volunteer to assist. Alenna along with Jenna and Lumi often let out a screech or two due to the constant problem of a creepy crawly clinging to their protective suits. I found it quite amusing at the way they jumped up and down to try and shake the insect off, or the way they attempted to brush them off by just waving their gloved hands over them without actually making contact, hoping as if by magic they would fall off. I could not help letting out the odd chuckle or laugh now and again. I told them they were quite crazy expecting them to just fall off when they jumped up and down, as the insects had a habit of sticking to the suits like glue. The insect that they hated most was a spider. Its body was about two inches in diameter and legs of about three inches in length. This spider had a unique way of catching its prey. It did this by pouncing on it from above, using its silk-like thread as a kind of bungee rope. And didn’t the girls scream if one of these landed on them. I often assisted the wives by just pulling any insect off that had attached themselves to their suits as they were quite squeamish about touching them themselves. We were all quite relieved when we finally left the moon’s orbit.

  After arriving at Relnor and unloading the ore we were ready to go and view one of these new cargo ships. It seemed everyone was excited at the prospect of being shown around a new cargo freighter, but that’s not how it worked. The Relnorians showing us around would expect five of us maximum. They did get grumpy and little annoyed if you brought even one more than this to view the ship. Alenna, Jenna, Minty and myself would go; as a pilot Lumi was also to accompany us. This left a lot of disappointed family members who would have to wait until we owned one of these ships before getting inside, which alas is sometime off in the future yet. The first thing to strike me was that the outside hull was finished in a shiny silver and not a dark low reflective finish like our cargo ship. This ship reflected light like a beacon, not good if you wanted to be inconspicuous. It turned out that I did not need to worry about this though as these cargo freighters were now fitted with illusion field generators to help hide them. I was amazed at the hologram room. You could select different planets and it was just like being there. I checked to see if they had included Grimda and was relieved to find it had not been included. We almost certainly would be keeping the setting on Alkarr though I myself may select Mazar or Molk at times and if and when they add Earth I would of course select that setting, a nice tropical beach scene comes to mind. The cargo hold was huge, twic
e the size of ours. We could easily fit two planetary defence frigates in there and it also came with a new shuttle with all the modern upgrades. As for the living quarters; twelve cabins, a large galley, two entertainment rooms and a sports hall plus the usual storage facilities. The bridge surprisingly was not dissimilar to our ship only slightly larger to accommodate more seats. One thing I did notice and which was quite a shock… it had a console marked weapons!!!

  I asked the Relnorian guide, ‘‘What is this for?’’

  The guide replied, ‘‘Don’t worry about that, the infrastructure is there to support weapons but they have just not been fitted and would only be fitted if you were to go to a war zone to help protect yourself.’’

  Thinking to myself we might need that when the Silka reach Earth. The five of us excitedly told the others about the ship when we had returned. Everyone had questions they wanted to ask and we answered them to the best of our ability. A few days later we were back on Alkarr. I wanted to know where we were going next. Alenna was not always forthcoming in her announcements of our next cargo runs, only springing the details on us a couple of days before the actual trip. I chanced on her log being left open while she visited the toilet and had a sneaky look to see where we will be going over the next couple of months. Well it was great to see Grimda was not listed again but another world I was not too keen on going to, was. This world was known as Brackarr. This was one of a few heavy gravity worlds we transport to, fine if you remained in the cargo ship as the antigravity pods could compensate for it but as for going outside that was another thing. It was like carrying around over an extra third of your bodyweight and it was very tiring even walking about. For loading you had to wear a robot skeleton suit. This took out most of the effort required in lifting but was very clumsy to operate. Most of all the other cargo runs were just the usual stuff like going to Molk to collect fish and Mazar along with Relnor to deliver rice. Lusiana was listed after that. As stated earlier I was definitely looking forward to going there again. I then noticed that a trip to Earth in late December had been entered into the log. But before I could read the entry I heard Alenna opening the door of the toilet, so I moved away from the log as I did not want her to know that I had been nosey. Why are we going to Earth I thought, then it hit me, someone would need to return the Ambassador back to Earth, so she could report her progress. As for going to Lusiana. I wished to be shown around a space ship only this time it would be one of those planetary defence frigates which would hopefully take place while Pooky takes her pilot’s exam.