“I see. We have a lot of freedom, but no one actively listens to our communications or reads our messages. Although, in theory, it is possible that someone could do it. We just don’t do that. The only people who are ever tracked are slaves who run away.” He looked down at his plate after saying that last sentence.
“Um, well. Why don’t we turn our conversation to something a bit lighter? What time are we leaving tonight? I still have more people to interview.” I put my sandwich down as I had lost my appetite.
“We will be on the 1900 flight back to the colony. I hope that helps you to schedule the rest of your afternoon?”
“Yes. Zelan that will work fine for my schedule. I hope I can spend the majority of my day tomorrow in the office working on setting it all up and getting used to the computers you use. I like the idea of them, but they are very different. So futuristic compared to what I am used to.”
“Don’t worry, I will spend the morning with you and help you get up to speed. I am confident that you will catch on quickly.” He took my hand and pulled it to his lips and kissed the back of it. When he pulsed purple, I relaxed and enjoyed the rest of our meal.
The next few days flew by. I picked up on the computer quickly, just like Zelan said I would. They were really cool too! You could choose between reading on the tablet, or bringing up the 3d display. Since I loved the idea of using a new interface, I always chose the 3d display, except for when I was around others. Then I used the tablet for privacy. It was light weight and compact.
There was a book bag that held the tablet and a few other supplies in it perfectly. I used that to carry it around whenever I wasn’t in the office. The Commander expected me to have it on me at all times. Zelan used that as an excuse to send me messages all day long, and sometimes during the night too.
Our relationship was moving along very smoothly. He even brought me a flower yesterday morning when he came into the office. It was a hibiscus, just like the one someone left me after my procedure the other day.
As much as I enjoy his attentions, I am still a bit leery. One day I am fine with being his mate. The next day all of the issues come to mind, and I am struggling with it again. That just means I’m not ready. Thankfully, everyone has stopped pressuring me to accept him since we moved here.
Chapter 16
About a week after I moved to the settlement, Haver discovered what looked like wreckage from a ship in one of his reconnaissance missions. I heard it through the grapevine. No one could keep a secret here. Well, except for me. I was able to keep secrets from getting out when the Commander told me something in the strictest of confidence. This news was spreading like wildfire all over the colony.
I comm’d Zelan the second I walked away from the person who told me. “Zelan, is it true? Did you guys find the insectoid crashed ship?”
“Wow, that didn’t take long. Who told you? Clarissa?”
“No, it was Janice. I went to pick up some new shoes, and she was telling someone else in the clothing warehouse. I just left there.”
“How did she hear it?”
“No clue. So it’s true?”
“Yes, Haver isn’t even back yet from the scouting mission. We are getting together tonight to plan an attack for first light tomorrow. I am hoping to use the sun as part of our attack.”
“So, that means no date tonight?” We had been out every night since we moved here. If I was honest with myself, I would agree to marry him. But, I am too stubborn to give in so soon.
“I am sorry, but I won’t be able to see you tonight. Can we reschedule for tomorrow night? After we are finished, I will have to debrief everyone, but then I will be free for dinner, at least. Can we make plans?”
He sounded so sad. I wished there was something I could do for him, but this was his job and he had to do it. “Are your veins pulsing blue right now?”
He chuckled. “How did you know?”
“Because, I am in tune with you and your emotions. I feel the same way. As much as I want to see you tonight, your job is very important, and this discovery is too big to put off. You have to attack right away. I will be here waiting for your safe return.”
That night Paris came to the colony, and she was going to spend the night. The Commander thought this mission was too important to stay away from. Even though he planned to let Zelan lead the planning and attack, he was going to be on the team.
“Paris, do you want pancakes for dinner? You look sad. Maybe they will cheer you up like they do for me.” She was slowly walking with me to her apartment.
They had set up a place here so that whenever either of them came over they had a place that was theirs. She hoped to see her husband, but knew that he would be out late, so she asked me to dinner.
“Sorry, I am not in the best of moods tonight. Venay has been working so hard that I have hardly seen him. Tonight was supposed to be a date night. Maybe tomorrow night we can stay here and have a special night on the town.” She shook her head and sighed.
“Wow, you have it bad don’t you?” I chuckled as I steered her away from the apartment and toward the pancake house.
“Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess so. It’s just that he promised me a week away in the mountains once we got settled into the new ship. He hasn’t had the time to take off, and I really want that alone time. Did you know they have a spa, of sorts, up in the mountains here?”
“Really? That sounds quite relaxing. Maybe after they destroy the ship you two can take off. It will make it much safer for you to go away. Right now, it isn’t safe on this planet to be anywhere, especially if it is just the two of you.”
“I know. I guess I am being a bit melodramatic. Pancakes for dinner sounds decadent. Let’s do it.” She seemed a bit more upbeat as we made our way to the restaurant.
Once we were settled at a corner booth, and had ordered, the first words out of Paris’ mouth were, “Oh my word! You were right about these. I know where I am going whenever I need a little taste of home.”
“I told you they were great!” We spent a couple of hours there chatting with everyone.
The news about the upcoming mission was all anyone could talk about. It was well past closing time when we left the place. They normally closed much earlier, but with so many who wanted to stay and discuss the impending attack tomorrow, the manager kept it open.
On this planet they had a 25 hour day, and they used military time, which meant it was past 2400 when we left for home.
The extra hour was interesting. We still slept about seven hours a night, but with an extra hour in the day, people seemed to be a bit more productive. School for the kids ended on a normal time. With the extra hour they were able to get homework done and play with their friends.
Workers split the time. A typical work day here has an extra thirty minutes. Since no one walked more than thirty minutes to work, they all had a well-rounded day. More time was spent with family and friends.
During the week I had been here, I discovered some more fun things to do. I made reservations for Zelan and me to play mini-golf next week. He didn’t know it yet, but he was going to get a typical Earth date one night soon.
There was a BBQ planned and a dance the following week that I hoped to be able to attend as well. It really was the best of both worlds here. My aim was to get Zelan to fall in love with the colony and decide to stay here with me.
The next day I woke up early. My subconscious knew what was going on, it wanted to be somewhere I could get up to date information. Since I was the Commander’s assistant, I was allowed entry into the command center for the mission.
“Good morning, Captain. I am surprised to see you here and not on the mission with the rest of the warriors.” Captain Mypo seemed like a very able captain so I was shocked she wasn’t chosen to go on this mission.
“It was deemed best for someone of my rank to stay here and protect the settlement in case of any issues. While I would have preferred to go on this mission, I understand how dangerous it is to leave my
colony unprotected.” She went back to monitoring the comm channel as the ship approached the site. “Take a seat, Natalie, and watch how effective our warriors are at destroying the enemy.”
A chill went down my spine as she spoke. Adrenaline coursed through my veins as I watched the screen on the wall. Some of the warriors wore helmet cams. I was going to watch them as they attacked the ship. No one told me they had this type of equipment. Although, I shouldn’t have been surprised, even Earth forces have these.
Haven sent back images to us of the crashed ship. It was smaller than our ship, had a saucer shape to it. If I didn’t know any better, I would swear that it was the same type of craft that crashed in Roswell, New Mexico back in the 1940’s.
“Son of a biscuit eater!” –I had programmed my translator to use some funnier Earth slang when a V’Zenian cussed in their language. “They have a ship that is half Zateelian and half Q’Tuelien in design! Why weren’t we told that they had broken our treaty and gave their technology to our enemy?” the Commander exclaimed.
Commander Croso stood up and paced back and forth after slamming his hand onto the console in front of him. “Why is there even a question as to “if” we will go to war with those cockroaches? It should be a done deal! The only question should be if we go to war with the QT’s.” He crossed his arms and tapped his left foot.
“Commander, I don’t know if the war council has seen images of the Zateelian’s ship. Maybe we need to send these to the President directly?” The Captain stood up and was doing something on her console. If I had to guess, I would say she was copying the images to send to their President.
“I saw the images from the battle in space. It wasn’t obvious that the Zateelians had so much of the QT’s armament. That laser cannon over there, next to the cluster of banyan trees, that is their latest piece of equipment. There is no way the Zateelians could have come up with that design on their own. It was given to them by the QT’s.” He pounded his hand on the wall next to the screen. It shivered a little bit as the wall moved with the force of his punch.
The Captain pointed out more technology that belonged to the QT’s. “Captain, how do you know so much about their technology?” I asked.
She cleared her throat. “We may or may not have intercepted an intel packet of theirs.” She kept her eyes on the screen and didn’t look my way at all. Interesting, so the QT’s were allies on paper only. Made sense.
The ship landed and all eyes went to the screens while all chatter stopped instantly. It was like someone turned the volume off on a TV. One minute there was noise all over the room, the next, it was completely devoid of sound.
The Commander pushed a button on the console in front of him, and we could hear the communication from the mission team.
I sat up straighter and focused on the screen and cleared my mind of all thoughts. This was not the time to think about work or anything else. Now was the time to focus on Zelan. He took point as they walked out of the ship. One of the cameras was right behind him. He pushed the comm on his neck. “Command, this is Alpha One Leader, do you copy?”
Commander Croso replied, “This is Command. You have a go.”
They left the safety of the ship and moved towards the debris. On different screens I could see the various vegetation mixed with parts of the crashed ship. The animals must not have sensed our guys because I could still hear birds chirping and a few roars from what must have been a large cat, maybe a lion?
Zelan motioned, and his team split up into two groups. I watched only the screen with Zelan after that. My heart was racing, and I hoped he would be alright.
He held up his hand in a fist, and everyone stopped. I could see his head moving in different directions, and then he went to the left. A camera followed him, so I assumed the rest of his squad did as well. After a few minutes I could see more debris from the ship, which included another one of those laser cannons that the Commander pointed out earlier.
The camera panned down for a good look at the cannon. Then it panned back up and followed Zelan. Within ten minutes they had a visual on the ship. He put up his fist again and the camera stopped. It panned to the left and the right slowly so we could get a good look at everything.
There were multiple mutant cockroaches outside the ship under a tarp. The tarps had been placed in various spots along the side of the ship. There must have been at least twelve bugs outside standing guard.
I heard another roar, and the guards turned toward their ship but then looked back out to the jungle.
I watched as Zelan pointed two fingers to the left and two to the right. Then he used three fingers to point forward. The camera was still behind Zelan, thankfully, as they slowly moved forward. My breath was caught in my throat as I watched in horror.
All at once, the mutant bugs looked right at the camera. They must have heard or sensed our warriors. I heard a screeching sound, and then the bugs ran toward my man. He pointed his phaser gun at the closest bug and fired. It was a direct hit to its face. The thing fell down but there was another directly behind it.
Zelan and the others, continued to fire at the bugs, they had guns as well and pointed them at our group. They fired at the camera, and it looked like a laser had been shot right at me.
The cameraman dove to the left in time to miss being hit. I heard him grunt, so he might have been grazed along the arm or shoulder. From the angle of the camera, his head looked to be fine. He got up quickly and panned around looking for the bug that shot him, but it was already down.
The cameraman continued to fire at the enemy as he made his way to Zelan’s side. They were both firing at the heads of the insectoids closest to them. The enemy continued to fire at them while they scurried closer, and closer. Both Zelan and the camera took cover behind the nearest tree and then took turns firing from the sides of the trunk. Laser fire was all over the screen. This fight looked like something out of a sci-fi movie instead of my life.
Zelan continued to fire at the insectoids as the cameraman climbed up the tree. He began to shoot into the mob of bugs once he got into position.
More enemies came flooding out of the ship. Zelan yelled via his comm, “NOW!”
I watched in horror as the screen grew bright, and the camera flew backwards. It flicked out, and all was black on the screen.
“NO! Get that image back. We have to know what is going on!” I yelled as cold sweat dripped from my head.
I grabbed my head and yelled, “NO, they can’t be gone!” I looked around furiously at the other screens, but they had all gone blank as well. “What happened? Was there an explosion?”
The Captain looked at me, and my body chilled from what I saw in her eyes. “Yes, it was a failsafe, in case they were to be overrun. Captain Zelan ordered the ship to be targeted and fired upon with a missile from our transport shuttle. There was no way any of our warriors were going to allow themselves to be used as hosts for their hatchlings. Every one of them agreed to this before going on the mission. This was why you were not allowed in that briefing. I am sorry, Natalie, but it appears…”
A static noise interrupted the Captain. “..his…lan…me?” I could only make out a few syllables, but it sounded like someone survived the attack.
“This is Commander Croso. Who is this? Identify yourself!”
“Commander, this is Captain Zelan. The ship is destroyed. Most of the enemy are dead, but I see a few slowly moving about. Are the camera still working? I don’t see my team.”
I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out. Tears were streaming down my cheeks as I stared at the screens, willing them to work again.
“Captain, none of the cameras are working. Can you make it back to the ship? Can all of your warriors make it back?” The Commander asked.
“I will see who can make it back without help. Don’t let the transport leave without us.”
“Should I send one of our pilots out to help you? “
“Negative, we will carry our wounded and d
ead back ourselves. Just have the ship ready to take off and ready another missile to send into the area again as we leave, just to make sure we got them all.
“Yes Captain, I will inform Haver right away.” The Commander comm’d for Haver, “Lieutenant Haver, do you read?”
“This is Haver. Did anyone survive?”
“Yes, they are making their way back to you now. Be prepared to take off right away and shoot another missile into the enemy camp as you do.”
“Yes, Sir. Haver out.”
All I could do at this point was wait for them to get to the ship and take off. Once we got confirmation that they were up I would feel a whole lot better. I cleared the tears off my face and looked at the other people in the room. Even a few of them had tears streaming down their face. To hear that some survived was a miracle.
It was a long thirty minutes until we received the message that they had made it back to the shuttle.
The shuttle had exterior cameras, which were turned on so we could watch the missile as it hit its target. Once the area on the camera blew up, not a single person in the room –alien or otherwise- were sitting. We all jumped up and shouted for joy! The tears were gone and everyone was smiling and yelling.
I backed up into the wall behind me and breathed a sigh of relief as I waited for Zelan to get back. The Captain came over to me, “Well, I guess now that you have seen how brave our new Captain is, will you be changing your mind about him?” She arched her eyebrows and walked away before I could comment.
What would I say to him? When I thought he was dead, I realized I wanted him. But I did not want to be on a battle cruiser in the middle of a war. The two battles I had witnessed were enough to tell me that I couldn’t handle it. I would most likely end up with a heart attack. My heart was still beating heavily in my chest. I put my hands to my heart and felt the muscle beating out its complaint.
Worlds Collide: Sci-fi Adventure/Romance (Alpha Alien Abduction Tale Book 2) Page 14