Alenna had a call from the prime wife of her mother’s house that requested the presence of Alenna, Jenna, Minty, their children and myself.
Jenna then saying, “The last two times that happened was to announce the marriage of two of our sisters, last time Tanya and before that Samara. I’m guessing this time it’s going to be… Halley?”
Minty had a guess, “What about Pepper or…” Minty looks at me and says, “Emily?’’
I say in a slightly worried way, “No not Emily she can’t stand Alkarren males they are too rude and lazy for her, she would not marry one, would she?”
Alenna smiled at me and said, “Emily, I know why you don’t want it to be her getting married, you find her very attractive don’t you Jake? Anyway it could be Tyrone.’’
I gulped and said, “Tyrone! I hope not, I would not wish him on any girl. He is one of the worst insensitive Alkarren males that I know. The unfortunate girl who has the displeasure of marrying him would have my deepest sympathy indeed. As for Emily yes she is attractive, as most Alkarren females. It’s that she is so sweet and is always willing to help anyone. I just don’t want to see her changed by marring an Alkarren male.”
“How about a human male then?’’ replied Minty with a giggle.
“Don’t say that,’’ I said, “Though, I may if it was to save her from a fate worse than death.’’
On arrival we were shown into the large reception hall also seated in there were many other members of their family. We waited. We were then informed that an announcement was to be made. After a short while the only brother of Alenna, Jenna and Minty, you guessed it, Tyrone entered and was accompanied by his new prime wife. The poor girl did look a little lost and out of her depth at first, and both are young, just sixteen years old. He introduced her to everyone; her name was Kala. As she had no deputy wives to assist her at this time, the mother of Tyrone along with the other mothers will continue to assist chaperoning him. A celebration party was to be held and everyone went into the large entertainment room where food and drink was laid out. Now most but not all Alkarren males although specifically more the younger ones are somewhat very rude. They have this bad habit in the way they barge in front of everyone to help themselves to the food without waiting for their elders or the very young to be served first. You could see by the way others reacted that they were not happy with this. In his hurry to get at the food he barged past Minty and Emily who just happened to be in his way, almost knocking the pair over in the process. He is so rude! I had observed this behaviour before from him, though up to now, no one had attempted to do anything about it. The trouble was no one would dare stop him. I on the other hand was willing to have a go this time as he didn’t even apologise to the girls. I grabbed him by the arm pulling him back. He gave me a very dirty look and tried to return to the food. That was until I whispered in his ear. The look on his face said it all; he looked petrified. What I had said to him was if he did not apologise to Minty and Emily for almost knocking them flying and then wait until all the females had been served first, I would take him outside and… well you can guess. Alkarrens are not used to violence of any sort and he capitulated. He first apologised to both Minty and Emily before sitting down next to me and waiting. Although I would not have used any violence against him as I am not the violent type and violence is never the answer where family is concerned. The threat did have the desired effect and after apologising he did reluctantly wait by siting down next to me until all the females had been served.
I casually said to him as if nothing had happened, ‘‘Come on Tyrone it’s our turn to eat, let’s tuck in.
“With a quiver in his voice he replied, ‘‘Would you have hit me if I had not sat down and waited?’’
I just replied, ‘‘Hit you? I don’t know what you’re talking about. If you want to be respected you have to earn it first. You see acting like gentleman goes a long way and waiting until all the females had been served first will help earn that respect. Oh and don’t forget to go and ask your wife if there is anything she needs.’’
After getting a plate of food he went over to his wife. She smiled at him, shaking her head when he spoke to her. Tyrone then sat next to her. He looked at me, I nodded and I received a nod back. In future he may think twice before pushing in front of everybody, which also reminded me that I needed to have a little talk with him about not being so lazy. I also thought the mothers were surprised at the way he waited with me. If only they knew, which they won’t as he would not admit to being scared. Though I had great pity for Kala, I was glad it wasn’t Emily getting married. As for Emily she did smile at me a lot and I always smiled back at her. I really did like her, but would never try and be alone with her without Alenna’s say so.
Over the next month we steadily completed our cargo runs. It was at this time Lumi announced she was expecting. Although she had been a wife for number of years this was to be her first child. We finally came to our run to Lusiana. On arrival Pooky went off to take her pilot’s test. This involved being tested for her ability to take off, fly to orbit, before re-entry, landing and various manoeuvres in between. She would also have to pass an exam on rules and regulations. While she was away we went to check out those planetary defence frigates; I was quite eager to get inside one. Now the Lusianians would not mind a large crowd coming to view a space ship but unfortunately there would not be the room inside for everyone. As this was a business deal we decided that only seven of us would be viewing the frigate, the same five as last time plus the addition of Rachael and Yarkeli, the latter mainly for translation. Now these were military ships with heavy plating which could withstand extreme heat and blast. I tapped on the hull. Unlike our ship it felt and sounded very solid. We were taken inside. It did have crew’s quarters but this was small just four bunks as one member of the crew would be expected to be on duty at all times. A galley that you could just squeeze the five crew members into, though again one member would be expected to be on the bridge while the others ate their meal. As for food this was by a dispensing machine only. The only other room apart from the bridge was a toilet with shower, the rest of the ship was made up with all the parts required for it to operate. The operations room or bridge was the largest room with seats for the five crew members. The captain’s seat was raised above the others so she could observe her crew and see what was happening outside. There would be one member flying the ship, one member monitoring the ship seeing that everything was running within speck. Finally the last two members of the captain’s crew would be there to operate the small beam weapons, controlling the two turrets. This left the main beam weapon the one hundred millimetre; this would be controlled personally by the Captain.
During our tour of the ship I made a comment saying, ‘‘Pooky would have loved being here to see all of this; she is going to be so disappointed she had missed it.’’
Yarkeli replied, ‘‘What do you mean, she would be disappointed?’’
I reply, ‘‘Surely you know what she wants to do?’’
Yarkeli then said, ‘‘No, she has never said anything about her future.’’
‘‘Oh’’ I said, ‘‘Has she not mentioned that she would like to be a captain of a defence frigate or a captain of a battle cruiser?’’
Yarkeli screamed in horror, ‘‘No!!!’’
I then replied, ‘‘This is awkward, but I think you need to have a private conversation with her as I think she has plans and perhaps I should have not mentioned this to you.’’
I was now thinking perhaps she told me her ambitions in confidence and that I should have kept quiet. On the other hand she did not say not to tell anyone. Alenna went off with the Lusianian guide to hold detailed negotiations about the ships. She hoped to get an agreement for a three month first refusal hold. This would allow us time to apply to the Alliance council
for permission to buy these frigates for Earth. Alenna actually managed to get a four month hold. The rest of us returned to the ship. I wanted to speak with Pooky as soon as she returned to give her an advance warning that her mother would be wanting to have a talk with her, so I went to the bridge and kept a watch out for her to return. I could have waited outside if it was not so hot to do so. This planet orbits close to the inner side of the habitable zone of its star and temperatures can reach eighty centigrade plus in parts. The area where we were was in the mid-fifties, only near the poles is there any real vegetation and surface water. Yarkeli had taken the opportunity while we waited for the return of Pooky to go and visit her relatives. This gave me the hope that Pooky might return before she did. It was almost two hours later that I observed Pooky returning with this huge grinning smile on her face; Lusianians have a large mouth and when they smile its overwhelming. I could tell that she had in no doubt passed her pilot’s test. Having now left the bridge to welcome her back. As soon as she saw me she waved her pilot’s certificate at me.
“Well done Pooky,’’ I cried.
‘‘Thanks Uncle, where’s my mother? She asked.
‘‘ She has gone to visit your relatives, sorry but I must inform you that I mentioned to her during our viewing of the defence frigates that you wanted to be a captain of one of them or a battle cruiser. Please don’t be angry at me?’’ I said hopefully.
Pooky replied, ‘‘I hoped you would have said something before now to my mother, I was trying to pluck up the courage to tell her myself. I now have to face the music and get it over with, I know she will not be happy with me wanting to join the Alliance defence league.’’
I just said, ‘‘It’s up to you now, but in the meantime I will leave it to you to inform the others that you have passed your pilot’s exam.’’
Everyone was excited and happy for Pooky that she had passed. My older daughters I believe were just a little jealous as they would have to wait a couple of years yet before they could take the test, though they would of course not admit to it. A short time later Yarkeli returned. She wasted no time in taking Pooky off for a private talk with her. Sometime later they both re-appeared and both had been crying. Yarkeli announced that Pooky would be applying to the officer training academy and would be soon leaving us. I knew that she would have no problem getting in; she was now a pilot and they always require pilots. She will get a an officer commission on entry, she will at first be assigned the rank of ensign on entry and after training she would keep that commission or if she could impress her superiors there was a good chance she could receive the rank of sub-lieutenant. From there it goes to lieutenant, lieutenant commander, commander, sub captain. With this rank Pooky could also get control of her own ship or be it a gun ship or frigate. She might defer taking that assignment and wait where she could easily end up with captain and be assigned to take command of a battle cruiser. That was all in the future; we would wait and see how it plays out
It was time to leave Lusiana. I just said to Pooky take us home to Alkarr and left her to it as I had full confidence in her to fly to orbit, and she of course had Jenna on the bridge with her. She played the part of being a pilot having requested that Ellie be there as well to assist her. So now we had three full pilots on board, at least for now.
Chapter 2
Back to Earth Again
On our return to Alkarr Alenna announced that we were to have three days’ rest before our next transport run. Now I usually always took Perri along with our daughters Isabell and Honey to visit Perri’s mother and family on the moon, only this time I asked Pooky if she wished to take my place. She jumped at the chance. As this was her first time taking the shuttle without Lumi or me on board, I thought it best if one of my older daughters should accompany her, the problem was which one, Ellie, Jessica or Rachael, they all wanted to go. I was not going to let that happen as when they all get together they often get up to mischief. I just said, “Jessica you may go this time.” Of course there was some moaning from the other two.
Some news about that newly discovered race. The Alliance in all its wisdom had decided to make first contact. They did not spend a very long in deciding on this. It took a many months longer in coming to an agreement about contacting Earth after they found out about the danger faced from the Silka. It would be some weeks before we would hear again. We wouldn’t hear how this proceeded for some time as the round trip would take around three months and there would also be the time taken for contact itself. I was somewhat excited to know how they would react to the Alkarrens being assigned to make this first contact situation, but like everyone else I would have to wait and see. The three days soon passed and we loaded a cargo of boker nuts to take to the Flitten. The air is always filled with the sound of birds singing on their planet. At first this is fine but after a while it can become intolerable and you do need to shut yourself in the cargo ship to get away from the loud non-abating din.
Time soon passed and Alenna announced what I already knew in that we were going to Earth. I reckoned we would be there at Christmas time. Lara would be accompanying us on this trip. I would be taking a back seat in that I was not to interfere with anything as Lara was the official and she would run the show. Lumi, Perri and Luka were instructed to keep me out of the way and take turns at chaperoning me at all times. My sister Rachael was allowed this time to bring her friend Sabrina. After all, I was going to be chaperoned throughout the trip anyway so there was no problem. Anyway Sabrina would not want to get close to me or be alone with me, so I was quite safe. The Ambassador and her daughter Sonja arrived. Straight away my daughters took Sonja off with them. She had learned quite a lot of Alkarren by now but it was occasionally interrupted with some English. Apart from exchanging pleasantries with Erika on her arrival I was ushered out and generally kept away from her, only seeing her at meal times. I did feel a little unwanted but after all I had done my part so just took it as it was. Though I would be speaking to the Prime Minister on our arrival at Earth to let him know about the reserve hold we have on the planetary defence frigates.
When we arrived at Earth I put the ship in a high orbit before contacting the Prime Minister that we had arrived with the ambassador. We were then instructed to deliver her to an airport. No more landing where we wanted. Alenna, Lara, Jenna my sister Rachael and I along with the ambassador and her daughter took the shuttle to the surface. The airport had been contacted and we had been given priority to land. Government officials were waiting along with several limos to rush the ambassador away. At the same time we were informed that a limo was waiting as the Prime Minister wished to have a meeting with me. Alenna, Lara, Jenna and Rachael also came as they would not let me go alone. Soon we had arrived and were shown into a large room. We were left alone so we sat down and waited.
Alenna said, ‘‘I hope they hurry up, it’s not polite keeping us waiting like this.’’
I replied, ‘‘I am sure there is a good reason for the delay, perhaps we have arrived a little early and the Prime Minister is not yet ready to see us.
Rachael asked, ‘‘Do you think I will be able to go and visit our Aunt, Uncle and Mandy during our stay?’’
Again I replied, ‘‘I will ask if you can.’’
Just then the door opened and the Prime Minster and some of his cabinet entered.
‘‘Sorry I am late,” he said, “It’s good to see you all again, hope you all have had a pleasant trip.’’
‘‘It’s good to be back and see you again and yes the trip was fine thank you,’’ I replied.
‘‘Right down to business,’’ said the Prime Minister. ‘‘All is not going too well. We are having difficulties coming to agreements with a number of the smaller countries though all the larger ones are in the main in agreement.’’
I now replied, ‘‘Why does that n
ot surprise me? You need to try harder or vote to exclude them. Earth survival is at stake and you can’t afford to delay with some trifle disagreements.’’
All this time Alenna and Lara had not said a word. I am thinking they would probably prefer to leave it to me as it is a male to male conversation.
I continue, ‘‘Right we have reserved those planetary defence frigates for four months. It is vital that Earth signs the Alliance agreement. You need to conclude your membership without delay. We have to make representation to buy these for Earth and this may take some time. You do not want to risk not getting permission or our reserve running out of time to acquire them for you.’’
The Prime Minister replied, ‘‘I will be signing the agreement along with all the NATO countries, China and Russia have agreed to sign as well. As all the countries that have a veto have agreed to sign I am sure we can push this through. We are having a UN meeting after Christmas on the 28th December.’’
‘‘Is it ok for my sister to visit our aunt and uncle for a couple of Days?’’ I asked.
‘‘She is still a citizen of the UK. Of course she can,’’ replied the Prime Minister.
Chronicles of Jake 2: The Invasion Begins Page 2