by Jay Cannon
“Okay gentlemen. I need more information if we are going to attempt a successful attack against these aliens. Find out what you can about their camp in Key West. Check with everyone who has attempted to take out their mining vessels and see what successes they have been having. I want updates from any foreign military you can contact. If underground vehicles have been left intact let’s find some and start scouring the country for intel. You have your orders, now go execute them. We need answers and we need them now! Let’s move gentlemen.”
“Yes, Mr. President,” they all responded.
Chapter 35
The Hunting of Chaell
Malcolm watched as Phoebe and Chaell glided into the warm waters of the gulf. The salty water was distasteful to Chaell as it stung his eyes. Still he enjoyed the quiet of the water. He floated on the top and enjoyed the heat of the sun. Phoebe enjoyed the salty taste of the water as it reminded her of the waters around Arubia where she grew up. While Chaell remained on the surface, Phoebe dived to the seafloor to investigate the sea life and rock formations.
In a playful mood Phoebe swam at Chaell and dragged him under. They spent time wrestling and chasing each other under water. Chaell forgot about the stinging salt and Phoebe forgot about the troubles on her home planet. She led him to the sea floor where Chaell pinned her to a rock outcropping. He nibbled on her neck and when she didn’t resist he grabbed her hips and pulled her close. She let out a burst of bubbles from her open mouth and pushed him away swimming for the surface.
There were two guards watching over them and their belongings. Malcolm felt he could easily take them out. He brought with him a metal bag to block the signals from a UCD device and a jammer to prevent any signals from being sent from a UCD that were not in his bag. Malcolm cloaked himself, turned on his jammer, placed his own UCD in his bag and then collected Phoebe and Chaell’s UCDs placing them in the bag. He grabbed their weapons and then ran at his prey. He held a short sword, which he took from a local museum, low behind him. As he approached the first guard he swung his sword forward decapitating the guard. Pausing and jumping toward the second guard who was startled by his colleague’s demise, Malcolm sliced diagonally through his body leaving him in a bloody bifurcated heap. He placed their UCDs in his bag and dragged the carcasses behind the nearby cabana and into a dumpster.
Malcolm returned to the beach and sat next to a tree waiting for Phoebe and Chaell to exit the water.
***
“Phoebe, where are the guards?” Asked Chaell.
“They’re dead like you two are going to be real soon,” said Malcolm coming into view.
Phoebe grabbed her clothes looking for her UCD and weapon.
“They’re gone phoebe. You won’t be calling for reinforcements or blasting me. I did leave your staff so you won’t be completely defenseless,” stated Malcolm.
“Why didn’t you just shoot us?”
“I’m not a coward. I’m going to kill you the old fashioned way. I’m going to give you a good beat down and end it by chopping off your head,” stated Malcolm fading away.
“Chaell, let’s take cover in the trees. Duck!” Screamed Phoebe blocking a blow from Malcolm’s sword. She squeezed the center of her staff to extend it to full size.
Malcolm carried a medieval battle sword so that the metal fragments from this sword could not be traced back to him or cause suspicion that the attack came from a member of the Andrea. Malcolm was cloaked, but Phoebe was still able to sense him. She fought him off as Chaell took refuge in the trees.
As Phoebe and Malcolm battled each other they locked weapons. Malcolm leaned into Phoebe uncloaking. “You are going to pay for that humiliation of me in front of my people. I’m going to defeat you, decapitate you and then kill that captain of yours.”
“Big plans for such a little man,” Phoebe said looking down sideways at Malcolm. “Now that you’ve lived a miserable life, I’m going to see to it that you die a horrible death.”
They pushed away from each other and continued fighting each other. Malcolm leaped into the air and came down hard on Phoebe swinging his sword with great ferocity. Phoebe fended off the attack and countered with an attack of her own. Malcolm blocked her attacks and kicked her to the ground. As he went to take advantage of her fall a small person appeared in front of him wearing a tight pink outfit.
“What is this,” screamed Malcolm angrily, annoyed that the person was blocking him from his attack on Phoebe. He swung his sword at the figure, but the person disappeared before he could land a blow.
“Die Malcolm!” Shouted Phoebe as she landed a blow to the side of his head knocking him to the ground.
Malcolm was stunned, but still conscious. That wasn’t good enough for Phoebe though. She was going to take advantage of his condition to finish him off. She lunged at him with the idea of crushing his head. Though he was stunned, Malcolm was lucid enough to block her blow with his sword. Phoebe leaned down on him exerting increased pressure on his sword.
“Malcolm, I should’ve killed you the first time that we fought. I’m going to fix that mistake right now.”
Phoebe leapt back from Malcolm and swung her staff at Malcolm with increased Ferocity. Malcolm blocked her blows and tried to get to his feet to launch an attack, but Phoebe gave him no breathing room. Malcolm found an opening and swung his sword at her thigh, but Phoebe was too quick for him and knocked his sword from his hand. Phoebe lifted her staff above her head and hesitated. Malcolm didn’t understand what happened, but took the opportunity to grab his sword and stab her in the abdomen. Phoebe looked at him in disbelief as she was impaled on Malcolm’s sword. Malcolm kicked Phoebe off his sword and to the ground.
“Now I take my prize by separating your head from your body,” said Malcolm raising his sword over his head.
***
“Look!” Screamed Morgan. “It’s the assassin!”
Li Xiao jumped in front of Morgan and Pico blocking them from Uan with her sword. “I thought we had a deal Uan.”
“Relax, I am not here for your friends. I am here to see you.”
“You know him Xiao?” Asked Morgan in an accusatory tone.
“Yes, we met at the ship’s ball and I challenged him to a battle in the arena to save you two.”
“A battle you will lose and then I will be back to finish what I started to kill these annoying pests.”
“And we’ll be waiting to put you in your place like we always do,” replied Morgan with Pico giving a silent thumbs up.
Denise stepped in front of Uan cutting him off. “Are you the one that killed my brother?” Asked Denise angry and afraid at the same time.
“I certainly may be. I have killed a few people since I have been here,” replied Uan without emotion.
“He was the unarmed patient in the hospital that was no threat to you that you seemed to feel comfortable killing for no good reason.”
“Oh him. It was unintentional. He just got in the way.”
“Got in the way?” Stated Denise raising her voice and leaning into Uan. “Well I want an apology.”
“Now you are getting in my way. I will not give you an apology, but I will give you a spear to the chest if you do not move. I will not apologize for that either.”
“Denise we can’t win this,” said Li Xiao pulling Denise away from Uan. “Getting killed is not going to bring your brother back or help us out of this situation.”
“Okay, but this isn’t over. Somehow I will find a way to get back at you.”
“We shall see. For now I have important business to discuss with Xiao. Can we go the side and talk? Asked Uan motioning for Xiao to step to the side of the room.
Xiao left Denise’s side and walked towards the kitchen with Uan and Calvin.
“Who was that strange looking guy?” Asked Morgan’s mother.
“He’s the assassin that came from the alien ship to kill Pico,” replied Morgan.
“What on Earth for?”
“They were afraid that Pic
o would warn Earth or use his powers to stop the invasion.”
“So why didn’t he warn Earth or stop the invasion?”
“He didn’t know if they were really coming and had no evidence to prove their existence. Pico’s powers are very rudimentary. While he may be able to lift people off the ground and heal people, he can’t move or destroy a spaceship.”
“He is great at healing people,” Denise chimed in. “Which is probably not very helpful in stopping an alien invasion.”
***
“Xiao, Cobalt tells me you might know where Captain Shisal is,” started Uan.
“Sure, but why wouldn’t you just contact him on his UCD?” Replied Xiao.
“We have been unable to. In addition, it appears he has come up missing and now the XO has taken over the ship. Cobalt believes that the captain was captured or killed by people helping the XO.”
“I knew that the XO had taken over the ship, but I didn’t know he was responsible for the captain’s demise. I did place a waypoint on him. I guess it still works even if the person is dead.”
“Let us hope that we do not find him dead. I feel the XO might not stop at killing the captain.”
Xiao pulled out her transport device to see if she could find the captain. “Here he is,” stated Xiao showing her device to Uan. “It looks like he is standing behind some trees watching something.”
“Let me see it,” said Uan grabbing the device from her hands. “We need to see what he is looking at, as he stretched the device to about 30 centimeters across.
“Oh my goodness. I totally didn’t know you could do that,” exclaimed Xiao.
Uan just looked at her and shrugged.
“Look,” said Uan pointing to the screen. “Malcolm is fighting with Phoebe. Back here are two dead guards he obviously killed before taking on Phoebe. The XO had to of ordered this attack. Phoebe is not wearing clothes, so she must have been swimming and Malcolm attacked her when she came out of the water. He must have taken that opportunity to steal her UCD. I need to get down there and help her. Take me there and then bring the captain here.”
Uan shrunk her transport device down to normal size and handed it to Xiao.
“Calvin, let them know what we are planning. Help out where you can. The XO could have more people out to kill the captain,” said Uan as Xiao grabbed his hand and they disappeared.
“Listen up,” said Calvin to the group in Morgan’s house. “The captain of the alien ship above this planet and his bodyguard are being attacked by some people sent by the XO of the ship. Uan and Xiao have left to save them. She should be back soon with the captain.”
“You mean the alien captain of the ship that is attacking Earth is coming here?” Morgan asked excitedly.
“Yes, but he’s not that bad a guy. I mean, he is big and scary looking, but he normally doesn’t kill people without provocation.”
“Oh that makes me feel real comfortable,” stated Norma. “So what kinds of things provoke this guy?”
“Well, he’s provoked by things like not following orders, failing at training or not finishing your work.”
“You mean almost anything then,” stated Denise with a look of concern on her face. “Is this really the kind of person we want in this house?”
“I guess I understand your trepidation. At this point, I’m not sure how we would be able to throw him out.”
“Great, we’ve got an alien Attila the Hun coming to stay with us and we have no way to protect ourselves against him. I wonder who is going to get the master bedroom once he arrives?” Said Norma sarcastically.
***
Xiao arrived at the beach with Uan where Phoebe was in the midst of battle with Malcolm. Xiao gasped as she watched Phoebe lean backwards to dodge the blade of Malcolm’s sword as it came in close proximity to her face.
“Captain, I’m here with Xiao who just joined our crew,” stated Uan. “She is going to use her Beam Machine to take you to safety.”
“Uan, I don’t want to leave Phoebe while she is in the midst of battle,” replied Chaell.
“Captain, it’s more important that we keep you safe. I’ll stay and help Phoebe. As soon as we take care of Malcolm we will work with you on how we can put you back in charge of the Andrea. Go with Xiao!”
“Look, she’s been stabbed. Can you just tell me what the hell is going on here?!”
“Xiao will explain once she takes you to safety. I need to go,” said Uan leaping into battle while Xiao grabbed Chaell arms and vanished with him.
***
“Is that what it’s come to brother?” Said Uan walking up on Malcolm as he is about to decapitate Phoebe. “Where is the honor in this?”
“Hello brother,” replied Malcolm. “I’m trying to get my honor back after she took it during our last fight.”
“What does that have to do with killing the captain?”
“He is no longer the captain, but a traitor. I’m just here to pass justice on him. Don’t you think that’s the honorable thing to do?”
“You know what I think Malcolm. There is one too many Ossies on this planet,” replied Uan swinging his sword at Malcolm.
***
Moments after Xiao left, she returned with Chaell at her side.
“Oh my goodness,” exclaimed Norma looking up at the imposing figure of the extraterrestrial in front of her. The scent of ginger from his skin filled her nostrils. Everyone in the room was wide-eyed, open-mouthed and panicked except for Calvin who had already met Chaell.
“Stowtan char,” said Calvin greeting Chaell to help break the tension in the room.
“Stowtan bitar Calvin,” responded Chaell, which did not do much to ease the tension in the room. As a matter of fact, Denise fainted.
Wow, he remembered my name, thought Calvin.
“I mean you no harm,” said Chaell in Euclidian, holding up a hand to try and calm the room. “I am Chaell,” he said extending his hand to Norma.
“Did he just ask me to chill?” Norma asked reluctantly shaking his hand.
“He said I mean you no harm, my name is Chill,” stated Xiao.
“Norma,” said Norma nodding her head.
“I’m Morgan,” said Morgan holding out his hand. “This is Pico” Pico waved at Chaell.
“You are the one that got away. You will have to tell me that story one day,” Chaell said to Pico.
“I would be happy to as long as you don’t kill me,” Pico replied telepathically.
Chaell laughed out loud, which helped everyone relax.
“What’s so funny?” said Denise coming to.
“Hi I’m Chaell” said Chaell holding out his hand.
“Denise,” said Denise taking his hand and containing her fear.
“Xiao, we should monitor the battle to see how Phoebe is doing,” requested Chaell.
“Sah char,” Xiao responded expanding her Transport device and laying it on the coffee table.
The people in the room gathered around her device mesmerized by what they saw. Uan and Malcolm were in heavy battle while Phoebe lay on the ground in pain. They weren’t sure how the outcome of the fight would impact them. The person responsible for attacking Earth was now seeking refuge with them, while the person who wanted to kill Morgan and Pico was fighting to protect another alien who had been stabbed. It was so much to take in. They felt like they got dragged into a weird science fiction movie.
“Morgan”, whispered Denise, “do you think Pico could incapacitate that alien?”
“Why would we want to do that?” Asked Morgan.
“Maybe if we turned him in they would reward us or let some of our people go.”
“Pico says they wouldn’t care. It is more likely that Uan would come back and kill all of us. If this guy gets his ship back he might help us.”
“If you say so. I’ll have to trust you Pico.”
“What are you two whispering about?” Asked Norma.
“We were trying to figure out who we should be helping here,” replie
d Denise. “It appears this guy is our best hope.”
“I’m sure if he wanted to kill us we would be dead already. Let’s just hope he doesn’t decide to take us with him if he ever gets his ship back.”
***
The two Ossies began a battle to the death as Chaell looked on from Morgan’s living room.
“Betty and Dominique, I need you to come and help me down here on Earth,” requested Calvin. “I’ll explain when you get here. I’m sending you my coordinates now.”
“We don’t quite know what’s going on, but we are one hundred percent behind you,” replied Dominique.
“Ditto,” replied Betty. “See you soon.”
Moments later Dominique and Betty showed up next to Calvin.
“Calvin, what’s going on?” Asked Dominique.
“The captain was framed as a traitor and the XO took over the ship.”
“Yea, we heard,” stated Betty.
“Thanks for coming,” said Chaell walking up.
“Oh my goodness,” said Betty startled by Chaell’s presence. “Stowtan char.”
“Stowtan char,” added Dominique.
“Stowtan bitar,” replied Chaell. “I appreciate your support.”
Chaell turned his attention back to the screen to watch Uan and Malcolm fight it out. Morgan and the others were mesmerized watching the aliens fight.
“Xiao, if you could bring Phoebe here Pico and I might be able to save her,” stated Denise. “She still seems to be alive.”
“It’s too dangerous right now,” replied Xiao. “We have to hope that they move away from Phoebe so I can get to her without being harmed myself.”
“Look, Malcolm’s down,” shouted Morgan. “Maybe Uan will defeat him.”
“What just happened?!” Asked Calvin excitedly watching Uan fall to the ground for no apparent reason.
Chaell grabbed Xiao’s device and zoomed out on the scene to reveal an Alpha hiding behind a rock formation with a rifle.
“I’ll go get him,” stated Xiao.