by Saxon Andrew
Juan rolled his eyes, “I did. I know how much you detest attention but the hard-headed women told me to go…”
Ed smiled and interrupted him, “I get the picture.”
“They were determined to do it and if I couldn’t stop them, I could refuse to open the hatches to allow them to take their children into the valley but, I’ve gotta tell you, I think I would have had a mutiny if I pushed it; those mothers were determined! I figured that losing all of them was worse that your saying no.”
“How did you come up with this idea, Sir?”
Juan smiled, “David killed Goliath with a small stone.”
Ed smiled, “And if this worked, you would have a weapon the Aliens have not had to build defenses against and you could use it to persuade me to accept.”
Juan nodded, “Something like that. Will you do it?”
“Really, I wouldn’t be doing much if I did accept.”
“Why is that?”
“The most difficult part of training would be getting the pilots acclimated to high-G turns. You can program their ships to fly a preprogrammed route that would accomplish that rather quickly. Once they complete the program, they’d be ready to start high-G maneuvers.”
“What about being able to attack the white ships if they come back?”
Ed nodded at the white piece of metal, “If this Rail-Gun operates half as good as what I’ve seen here, it won’t be all that difficult to move into a firing position.”
“I hear what you’re saying but I don’t understand how I would communicate with my pilots in a way they’d understand. I need someone that sees what you’re talking about. I need you, Boyer.”
Ed looked at the ground and then raised his head; he was done with hanging his head. “I’ll need all the members of my unit that were involved in the confrontation. They saw those white ships in action and understand the danger they represent.”
“You’ve got them.”
“I’ll also need someone to program their computers to follow the high-G training.”
“Done!”
“I’ll also want some freedom to do it my way.”
Juan stared at Ed and then smiled, “That would require another promotion.” Ed’s eyes instantly narrowed and Juan said quickly, “Come on, Ed! I don’t want this to be a deal breaker, but you know how the military operates; the first time you order someone with a higher rank than yours to do something they don’t like, what do you think will happen?” Ed stared at him, “I ASKED YOU A QUESTION, LIEUTENANT! Juan said sharply.
Ed sighed, “They’d tell me to go pound sand.”
“Yes, they would and during training that might not be such a huge problem. I’d just slap them down and you’d just continue on your merry way. But if it happens in combat, I won’t be there to do it.” Ed didn’t want to agree but saw no way out of it. Juan saw him struggling and said, “Look, we’ll do it this way. I’ll promote the members of you unit to the rank of Senior-Captains and you will be promoted to Commodore.”
“I didn’t think we use the rank of Commodore in the Navy anymore.”
“We don’t. You’ll be the only one. You can request a demotion once you determine our pilots are ready and we’ll discuss it then. How does that sound?”
Lt. Grant needs to be senior to the others. She’s completed the G-training.”
“I’ll promote her first and she’ll have seniority over the others.”
Ed shook his head, “You’re just full of answers.”
Juan nodded, “I’m a General, Ed. I served in the Army and I need someone who understands how the Navy operates. You can take a huge load off me by doing this.”
Ed nodded and said, “Ok, I’m your man. When are you going to do this?”
“Your unit has some time off and I want to see how your Striker measures up after we’ve modified it. Once we make that determination, we’ll move forward with this.”
“Fair enough, Sir.”
“What changed your mind?”
“Well, the children had a big part of it but I realized that if I didn’t do it, my mother would be at risk. I guess the two together made the difference. There was also the Rail-Gun and the gravity units…”
“What about Jillian?”
Ed stopped speaking and after a moment of silence he said, “I don’t want to see her die.”
“I think she feels the same about you. I’ll let you know when your Striker is ready to be checked out. You have time off until that happens.”
Ed smiled, “Thank you, Sir.”
“Oh no, thank you, Ed.”
• • •
A week later, Juan saw Suzette appear on his desk monitor, “Juan, there’s a slight delay in getting Boyer’s Striker ready.”
“What’s the problem?’
“The damn thing is too fast!”
“What?”
“The controls have to be redesigned to calibrate the inputs to the ship’s increased capabilities. I spoke with Boyer about it and he was happy about the increased speed. He mentioned in passing that if the Striker could be slowed quickly, it would be impossible to hit.”
Juan smiled, “So you took that as a challenge.”
“You know me too well. I’ve directed the engineers to put a couple of small magnetic drive units in the bow. We’re going to check them out when they’re operational.”
“Don’t get someone killed doing this, Suzette.”
“Don’t worry about that; we’re doing it with remote controls. We’ll let Boyer make the determination on how things are working later.”
“Keep up the good work.” Juan pressed a button and Derik appeared, “Notify Boyer’s unit that they have an additional week off.”
“Yes, Sir.” Juan sat back and wondered how long before the Aliens sent another ship to investigate the disappearance of the freighter.
Chapter Seven
The Lead Alien sat in the holding pen close to the metal fence and watched various species of fish swim in and out. He was left alone by the others, who blamed him for the predicament they were in. He couldn’t argue with them, they were right. He thought back to when the shuttles landed next to the…what did the inhabitants call it…lagoon, that’s right, a lagoon. They had deliberately built the facility he and the other crewmembers were being held in. No one wanted to exit the shuttles but one of the aliens fired some kind of shoulder weapon in front of them causing a massive blast and a ten-foot deep crater in front of the shuttles. They emptied quickly after that demonstration. They were rounded up and brought around to the side of the shuttles, where they found two of the inhabitants standing in front of warriors holding weapons trained on them. He learned a little about them and knew that the one in command was a female. It wasn’t hard to tell she represented life or death to the crew.
Kellie Carter stared at the two-hundred-fifty Aliens gathered in front of her and really wanted to kill them all; especially the ones that caused the asteroids to hit Earth. She stared at them and said over a hand-translator, “The one in charge of you step forward.” No one moved and she looked at the huge marine standing next to her and nodded. He raised his Rail-Rifle and fired over the Alien’s heads into the barren volcano behind them. The boom shook them and the side of the volcano exploded when the magnetic ball hit it. The Aliens pushed one of them out of the crowd and he stumbled forward in his spacesuit.
Kellie looked at him and said into the hand-unit, “Are you the one that came here and dropped the asteroids on my world?” The Alien was silent and she heard from an Alien among the crew, “Yes, he led us here.”
The Lead Alien closed his eyes, raised his shoulders, and lowered his head between them. He knew his life was over. After a long moment passed, he opened his eyes and saw the Alien female staring at him. “My leader said we would not kill you immediately if you followed our instructions. I will follow my orders but if you don’t answer my questions, I won’t be disobeying them to kill you. Do you understand?”
“Yes!”
> “Why did you come here?”
“To take possession of this world.”
“For what purpose?”
“To sell tracts of it for members of my species to colonize.”
“This world was already inhabited!”
“Our laws allow us to take possession of any planet that doesn’t have an advanced civilization. Your planet did not have an advanced civilization on it.”
“So, you just went about removing the inhabitants to steal it from them!?”
“Actually, our laws don’t consider it stealing. The law encourages the removal of primitive civilizations.”
Kellie’s eyes widened slightly and she asked, “Why is that?”
“Because the space controlled by the Senior Guild is so over populated that bringing more civilizations into it is viewed as catastrophic. There is little enough room now for those that live in it.”
Kellie stared at the Alien and the big male standing next to her leaned over and spoke into her hand-unit, “Just how many civilizations live in your space?”
The Alien hesitated and saw the Female start to raise her weapon. He quickly answered, “More than six-million!”
The two-inhabitant’s eyes flew wide open and they began speaking to each other in their language. He waited and they finally turned back to him, “Here’s what’s going to happen,” The female said into a portable device she was holding in her hand. “You are going to enter the water is this lagoon and take off your…suits. We’ve heated the water and it should meet your needs. You will leave your suits on the shoreline and go out into the lagoon. If you don’t choose to follow my instructions, just move away from the others and I’ll deal with you momentarily.”
A voice said from among the Aliens, “What do you mean, exactly, by dealing with us.” Kellie raised her Rail-Rifle and the aliens turned and headed at their best speed toward the water. The huge male said, “There’s one thing before you start taking off your suits. The Aliens stopped and he said, “This lagoon has defenses built around it. If you come out of the water, you will be killed. If you try to tamper with the systems, and that includes the fence that surrounds the lagoon, you will die. The defenses are set to operate automatically and you won’t like the result; does everyone understand?”
The Lead Alien said, “We understand.”
Kellie moved the translator from Rosco’s mouth and said, “And one last thing, the pilot of your vessel will step forward.” No one moved and Kellie raised her weapon. A short alien was pushed out of the group. Kellie looked at him, “Are you the pilot.”
“What are you going to do with me if I am?” the alien asked with a shaky voice.
“We’re just going to delay you joining the others for a short time.”
“Yes, I’m the pilot.”
“You’ll remain with us and the rest of you need to start moving.”
• • •
The Lead Alien sighed at the memory and saw a red-colored fish swim through the fence; he had it gripped in his flipper in an instant. He began eating it and knew it tasted better than any meal he ever had on his home world. Most of the good tasting fish were extinct. He had told the inhabitants that other vessels would be coming soon but that wasn’t true. He had left direct instructions to his business that no one would reveal the location of this planet. To pry that information out of them was going to take some time…a lot of time. Oh well, at least the food was good. His mate swam up and he shared his meal with her. “You’re eating a lot lately.”
She looked at him and said softly, “Our eggs are developing. I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t sure.”
The Lead Alien lowered his eyes, “I’m so sorry I brought you here with me.”
“You know I wouldn’t have allowed you to go without me.”
They wrapped their flippers around each other and held on tight.
• • •
‘OH CRAP!!”
Rachel looked at Ayet and said, “What are you talking about. All you’ve done lately is listen in on the Aliens. Don’t you have better things to do?”
“One of them is pregnant.” Rachel stared at Ayet and he said, “I’ve recorded their conversation and the leader’s mate is expecting.”
Rachel rolled her eyes and pressed a button on her console, “Mom, I think you better come to the control room.”
“What’s up?”
“Just come and I’ll explain.”
“On my way.”
• • •
An hour later, an emergency meeting of the Leadership Team was called and they listened to the recording. It was followed by silence and no one spoke. Finally, Jimmy said, “Now this is a big bucket of wax.” He looked at Summer and knew what she was thinking but cooler minds would have to prevail. He looked at Rachel and said, “Is there any way to terminate this pregnancy?”
Summer’s eyes narrowed and she said, “THAT WILL NOT BE DONE!!”
“Summer, we can’t allow this to happen!”
“Jimmy, you cannot allow it not to happen!”
Jimmy sighed and looked around the table for support. Rachel wasn’t much help, “The only way it can be done is to kill the female.”
Summer’s eyes flew wide open and Jimmy said, “We’re not going to do that unless we decide to kill them all.” Summer jerked her head around toward him and he sighed, “Summer, these beings killed billions of humans!”
“But their babies didn’t do it! I will not allow you to do this!”
Jimmy rubbed his face with both hands and said, “I wonder if this is what an aneurism feels like.” Jimmy looked at his wife, “Summer, how many expecting mothers were killed by them?”
“That doesn’t make it right for us to follow their example and you know it!”
“Does anyone know how many eggs this female will lay?”
Ayet smiled, “She said she expects to have twenty or more.”
Jimmy looked at his son and said, “Just how do you know that?”
Rachel waved her hand, “All he does is listen to them over the computer recording their conversations.”
Jimmy looked at his son and Ayet said, “They’re really not all that bad, Dad. They’ve done nothing wrong according to their laws. They’re not the sharpest tools in the box but they aren’t inherently evil. I think they’ve determined that we’re smarter than they are.”
“Oh?”
“They don’t understand how we think so fast. It takes a few moments for them to catch up. They’re starting to fear that we might break out into the universe and all of their civilizations would be at risk.”
Jimmy’s head went back, “Are you saying they believe we are smarter than any of them.”
“All but a species they call big-heads. They are the ones that insure their laws are followed.”
John said, “Do you mean like lawyers?”
Ayet nodded to his younger brother, “Yeah, that’s as close as anything I can think of.”
Jimmy stared at them and said, “Ayet, you keep listening to them. If you hear something else important, let us know.”
“Sure thing.”
Derik said, “We’ve still not decided how to resolve this issue.”
Jimmy said, “We’ll take a vote and the majority will decide what’s to be done. All in favor of ending this problem, raise your hands. He counted the votes and said, “All opposed.” He counted again and it was a tie, four to four. Juan said, “You will have to break the tie, Director.”
Jimmy closed his eyes and knew he was going to lose his wife if he chose to side with those that wanted it ended. Nothing was worth that. “I vote to leave things as they are. We’ll revisit this issue if the situation demands it. This meeting is adjourned.”
Everyone walked out and Summer stayed behind. Jimmy looked at her and Summer said, “I know you didn’t want to vote against it. But consider this, what if we were captives and I was expecting, what would you vote in that circumstance?”
“That’s not the same thing.”<
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“Yes, it is; how would you vote?”
Jimmy stared at Summer and said, “Just like I voted today.”
Summer nodded and went to his chair and sat in his lap, “Never stop putting yourself in other’s shoes, Jimmy. When we start doing that, we’ll lose ourselves.” Jimmy held her tight and nodded. “You’re so caught up in protecting the people that survived that you sometimes lose sight of the things that make us good. Don’t do that.”
Jimmy sighed, “I’ll try, Summer. That’s all I can promise.”
“That’s good enough for me.”
• • •
Six-weeks later, the Female laid her eggs. Eight-weeks after that, they hatched. It was at that point that Ayet put on scuba-gear and entered the lagoon. The Aliens in the lagoon swam away from him and kept their distance. They knew if this being was harmed in any way, they would die. Ayet swam across the Lagoon and found the two Aliens huddled up against the wall with the female behind the male in a small depression in the wall. The male had several wounds and the female was also showing cuts on her flippers. Ayet saw their very small offspring swimming around them. He swam up in front of them and pressed a button on his mask. He said with an amplified voice, “I understand that you and your children are being threatened.”
The Lead Male looked at the inhabitant and said, “I am blamed for what’s happened and there is resentment.”
Ayet stared at them and said, “May I meet your children?”
The Lead Alien was terrified and he looked at his mate, who said, “Why do you want to meet them?”
“I’m considered a child in my species, well, a teenager to be exact. I’ve been listening to you and I’m fascinated by your family. I intend them no harm.”
The two Aliens looked at each other and the male raised his shoulders. The female came out of the depressions and eighteen small aliens followed her out. They were incredible and Ayet smiled. Then he said, “I thought you were going to have twenty?”
The male moved his head from side-to-side, “You have been listening to us. Two have been killed by the others.”
Ayet’s expression changed immediately. He increased the volume of his mask’s speaker and said where every alien in the Lagoon could hear, “Tell me who did it.”