Humble Beginnings

by KA Hopkins

  The order to further investigate my family did not go through regular command channels; it was issued verbally by Old Lizard Face himself. Guide only found out that a scout ship was dispatched by sheer coincidence, when she searched high priority alien scout ship Moon departures. She thought it suspicious that one scout ship made a beeline for my hometown without a filed mission plan.

  “Boss, I know you are busy.” Guide said.

  She broke into Marc’s and my heated discussion on who was the best NFL quarterback of the last twenty-five years. I argued that it was measured through touchdowns and passing yardage. Marc countered that those stats get the quarterback into the hall of fame, but the true measure is how many super bowl wins they had. He picked Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw and Tom Brady with four Super Bowl wins each. I agreed that their stats were nothing to be ashamed of, but I was not going to give up the argument just yet.

  “What’s up Guide?” I said.

  “I have just picked up a report of a scout ship heading directly for your hometown, without a formal flight plan on file.”

  I looked at Marc, “What are the odds?”

  He said “Not good. How soon until the scout ship makes landfall?”

  “Less than five minutes,” Guide answered.

  “Dispatch the Quick Response Force (QRF), tell them to get the lead out, give Natasha a heads up.” I said.

  “If the scout ship is indeed heading towards your house, the QRF won’t make it in time.” Marc said.

  “I know, my family is on their own.”

  With Guide monitoring the scout ship flight path after a couple of minutes, it was obvious that my family was indeed the target. I wasn’t even in the same city, so there was not much I could do. I felt helpless - at best speed we would arrive five minutes too late. My family’s only hope was Natasha.

  The scout ship descended and hit my entire neighborhood with a neutralizing beam, forcing everyone into a deep REM sleep. Upon landing, the crew deployed the defensive force shield, so even if the QRF showed up, they could not get close enough to render assistance. As soon as the landing pads touched ground, the main ramp dropped and a six member Gray snatch team moved quickly to the front of my house in V-formation.

  While our warning had reached Natasha in time, it was not required. Once the neutralizing beam hit, Natasha knew instinctively that an alien scout ship was in the area. The kids were asleep in the basement, with Pam unconscious on the family room sofa. Natasha grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and dragged her to the safety of the basement, saying sorry with each bump as they went down the basement stairs.

  The Grays stacked up outside the front door, blew the door and rushed en masse into the house. Upon entry they found all the lights out and no biological life signs on their scanners other than the cat, rabbit, snake and a few fish. Natasha had covered everyone in the basement with special thermal blankets to hide their life signs. The snatch team passed through the hallway and made their way to the base of the stairs leading to the second floor. As they were about to turn the corner, Natasha remote triggered the claymore hidden behind the drywall at the foot of the stairs. Seven hundred ball bearings ripped through the air, propelled by pound and a half of C4 in a sixty degree fan-shaped pattern. Four of the Gray team members, including the Gray carrying the portable neutralizing projector, were cut in half. The remaining two were shot by Natasha from the top of the stairs; but only after she let them make an emergency call for help to the waiting security team.

  The security team, having heard the explosion of the claymore, Natasha’s beam weapon and the call for help, rushed to the front door. Expecting trouble, they stacked up outside the door and tossed the alien equivalent of a flash bang inside the house. The resulting explosion paralyzed all biological beings caught in the blast radius. Natasha was unaffected, but it got the fish in the family room, drowning them. Once inside the house, half the security team scanned left and half scanned right, searching for the source of the beam weapon. No one looked directly up to where Boris was waking up, now that the neutralizing beam was destroyed. Once they were in the hallway clear of the door, Natasha remote triggered the second claymore hidden in the drywall by the front door. It cut down three of the security team, but missed the rest - in the enclosed space of the hallway there was not enough room for the claymore ball bearings to scatter sufficiently.

  The remaining Grays, stunned by the explosion and the sight of their fellow Grays cut in half, panicked and fired their energy beam weapons in a spray-and-pray fashion. There was enough volume of fire to force Natasha to drop to the floor. In the confusion, one Gray ran towards Natasha, one rushed to the basement and one remained in the hallway, shooting at every shadow. Natasha could not move with the intense weapon fire being directed at her from both Grays on the main floor. With energy beams narrowly missing her, Natasha recognized the wail of a cat.

  Boris, now wide awake, remembered the smell of the Grays from the previous time they had been in the house. This time he knew that Grays were not cat friendly. He leaped over the second story railing and fell thirteen feet onto the head of the Gray in the hallway. Boris may be a useless furball, dumber than my fish, but he has the soul and heart of a tiger. Boris, aka “Fat Bastard,” was well nicknamed at twenty-four pounds. That much weight dropped from a height of thirteen feet, has a fair bit of momentum, especially to a Gray weighing only one hundred pounds. Boris knocked the Gray flat on his back and proceeded to claw his eyes out, not to mention doing a pretty decent job of tearing the Gray’s face apart. The Gray tried to shoot Boris, but having been blinded by the initial attack, Boris had the advantage.

  The distraction caused by Boris was just enough for Natasha to get a snap shot off at the Gray standing at the base of the stairs, hitting him center of mass, causing him to drop dead. Natasha ran over to where the other Gray was being mauled by Boris and put him out of his misery. Boris sat on the Gray’s chest softly batting the Gray’s face with a paw; he let out a low meow as if saying, “Not so tough now are you?”

  The Gray who managed to make it to the basement stairs rounded the corner at the bottom of the stairs, only to run smack into Pam, who was on her way upstairs. Behind her, down the hallway, the kids were hidden behind a barricade of furniture.

  In nature it is unwise to get between a Mother bear and her cubs. Bears have nothing on Pam’s wrath if she believes you are a threat to her children. Far from being terrified at having encountered extraterrestrials in her house, she yelled, “Get the fuck out and leave my kids alone!” She then jammed my 12 gauge sporting clay shotgun into the Gray’s face and let him have both barrels. At that range even number eight birdshot target loads are deadly - the twin blasts blew the Gray’s head off. Pam ejected the empty shells, loaded two fresh ones from her pocket and snapped the breach shut. Pam doesn’t much like guns, but she understood I had grown up with them. The few we kept in the house she did not shoot much, but she made sure she and the kids knew proper gun safety and how to unload them. Loading is the same procedure - only in reverse.

  Pam walked up the stairs and surveyed the damage to the house, noting the eleven Gray bodies in numerous pieces, scattered on the main floor.

  She said, “Looks like we are going to have to remodel again. Natasha, what’s that parked on the green?”

  “That would be your typical alien scout ship; not to press the point but I have temporarily jammed all communications, we need to move quickly before the ship’s crew realizes the snatch and security teams are dead and decides to destroy the house with their heavy weapons.”

  “What do you need me to do? “

  “I need you to grab a Gray body, hold him up in front of you and run towards the ship. The ID transponder should cause the ship’s crew to hesitate firing for a second or two, enough time for me to get onboard. I’m afraid there’s a very good chance you’re going to get killed.”

  Pam looked at Natasha, “Promise me you’ll always keep my kids safe - let’s do this before I chan
ge my mind.”

  Pam looked over the Grays cut in half by the claymore, “Transponders are above the waist right?”

  “Correct” said Natasha.

  “Good I don’t want to carry any more weight than I have to.” Pam grabbed the smallest Gray she could find by the back of his collar and announced: “On three…one, two, three - go, go, go!”

  Pam was out the front door, with the Gray held tightly to her chest like an oversized shopping bag; she ran flat out, unarmed, towards the open ramp door of the scout ship. Natasha bolted after Pam, passing her at a full sprint within ten yards. The scout ship was fifty yards away; a decent college sprinter can cover that distance in five seconds. Natasha made it in two.

  Expecting trouble per SOP, the scout ship’s weapon pods were powered up, with the weapons pointed at the ground for safety reasons - an unintentional discharge would kill the snatch and security teams if they were in the line of fire. The Gray manning the weapon sensors saw Pam and Natasha’s movements on the monitor. Although suspicious, the ID transponder from the Gray in Pam's arms caused him to delay firing. It was only for a second or two; then, once he realized the Gray were not moving on his own, he hit the fire button. The weapon barrels, raised, swiveled and tracked Pam, but did not fire as the weapon aiming computer was programmed not to fire on their own troops. The operator muttered something which in his language might have been the equivalent of “shit” and hit the fire control override, but nothing happened. Pam had reached the landing ramp and was within the “no fire” arc of the weapons. She made it to the ship in eight seconds, despite being nearly fifty. At the top of the ramp, Pam dropped the corpse and followed the sound of the beam weapon fire.

  Natasha, lacking a means of diversion, attacked each of the ship compartments in a novel way. She entered each compartment by running towards the compartment and sliding through the hatchway on her belly. The Grays, expecting someone taller, fired over her head, revealing their positions. She made quick work of the entire crew. With the threat neutralized, Pam approached Natasha after receiving the all clear.

  “Natasha, I need to check on the kids. What’s happening with the bodies?”

  “Once I convince the ship’s AI to turn off the self-destruct, I’ll drag them into the house and then we’ll burn it to the ground. After tonight the aliens know something is definitely up with your family; you can never come back here.”

  “What about my extended family, are they in danger?”

  “I dispatched QRF teams when the scout ship arrived. They’re going to pick them up and make them disappear. All of them will need new identities. I’m afraid you will not see any of them anytime soon.”

  “It will break Jake’s heart never to see his mother-in-law again.” Pam said in deadpan tone.

  Pam walked into the house and down to the basement. “Guys its clear, safety your weapons and come out.” Both kids came out from their hiding spots and slung their 20 gauge semi-automatic shotguns over their shoulders. The kids used them for shooting sporting clays, where the target can move in excess of 90 ft/s in a variety of patterns. If they had to hit an alien in the confines of the house it would not have been nearly as hard.

  Natasha yelled from upstairs, “You have five minutes, grab anything you need and then we have to go as soon as the QRF arrives.” Pam and kids emerged from the basement. The kids took one look around the main floor and were speechless by the amount of destruction. Pam in a subdued tone replied, “We’re ready to go now, it’s just a lifetime of stuff.” On her way out the door she grabbed Boris, still perched on the chest of the Gray, and threw him into a shopping bag. “You’re coming with us Furball; this is the second time you have saved the family.”

  Pam and the kids helped Natasha spread the 200 pound supply of thermite I had the local QRF team leave in the garage for just such an occasion. It’s exactly the right stuff for burning down your house and getting rid of incriminating evidence. It took just a few minutes to spread the thermite around with shovels, covering everything on the main floor, including the eighteen alien bodies. Once lit, thermite, a mixture of four to one iron oxide and powdered aluminum by weight, burns at 4500°F, leaving nothing for fire investigators but foundation and ash. On the way out of the house, Natasha checked with the kids, “Charity, David…you’re ok with all this?”

  David responded, “Yup. It was us or them, and we have seen much worse on TV.” Kids these days!

  The QRF finally arrived, ready for a fight, only to find Pam and Natasha sitting on the scout ship ramp, patiently waiting. Natasha informed the QRF team lead, “Situation is under control, I’ll give you a detailed briefing once we’re airborne. Prepare for takeoff in two minutes; there’s one last thing that I need to do with Pam.”

  Pam and Natasha walked back into the house. In her mouth Natasha carried a white phosphorus grenade which she gave to Pam. “It’s your house, you have the honor.” Pam, without a sideways glance, pulled the pin and tossed the grenade into the pile of thermite. “Time to go,” she said.

  They walked out to the scout ship and up the landing ramp leaving only the drivers of the QRF vehicles behind. Pam did not even look back as our home of twenty plus years and a lifetime of memories went up in flames. A quick data exchange between the ship’s AI and Natasha convinced the AI to join the cause; not that it had any choice, since the old crew was dead and Pam, the kids, and the assault elements of the QRF were by default the new crew. The AI powered up the flight systems, the ship rose silently into the air and headed for the nearest ocean.

  None of the QRF members questioned that a talking dog was giving orders.

  Chapter 28 - Family reunion

  Twice now alien snatch teams had tried to kidnap my family. Both attempts failed, but not before the aliens managed to completely destroy everything Pam and I had worked so hard for over the past twenty years. I did not have so much as a photograph of my old life; even the clothes on my back were borrowed. We were forced to start over in every sense of the word; but we did have each other, not to mention a couple of alien scout ships, although the original owners really wanted them back which complicated things a bit. Aliens turned my life upside down; I intend to return the favor.

  Given the fate of the world seemed to have dropped onto my shoulders, it tore me apart knowing I could not focus on the well-being of my family. Feelings of helplessness demoralized and crushed my spirit. I needed to focus on the job at hand and it smothered something inside of me, not being with my family. Yet, I knew that if I kept them close I would struggle with making the life-and-death decisions I needed to. My decisions whether I liked it or not, would impact millions, directly or indirectly, many of them children.

  With the love and compassion of my family constantly around me, I could not hope to match the will and resolve of my enemy. If mankind was to have a future, I needed to be stronger than my enemy in every way. Find his weaknesses and exploit them with extreme prejudice. Taking the battle to the enemy entailed making hard decisions that would put our people at risk.

  Keeping my family close would not allow me to be the ruthless warrior I needed to be. I couldn’t put them in harm’s way - they were not combat trained soldiers. On the other hand, they were not completely helpless either; they had reacted well during the alien snatch team attack on the house. I knew they wanted to help in any way they could. My future relationship with my family was not a decision that I could make on my own. It was time to call a family meeting.

  Thanks to the quick thinking of Natasha and Pam we now had two scout ships. Natasha, helped by the onboard AI, removed all of the normal tracking devices plus a couple of unexpected new ones. The new tracking devices were worrisome. They were completely passive, only activating upon an outside signal, making them nearly impossible to discover. The AI found them by chance after checking maintenance logs for any recent equipment modifications or unexplained power draws. Our enemy was getting increasingly clever by the day. By adding new tracking devices, it showed they sus
pected that the forces resisting the alien pacification were from Earth - ULIR forces would not need to steal alien scout ships.

  As was our tradition of making the ship’s AI feel part of a family, Pam decided on a name for the AI - Einstein, after one of the greatest thinkers of modern times.

  “Mother, have we confirmed with Natasha that Einstein is completely free of tracking devices?” I asked.

  “Natasha and Einstein went over the ship with a fine-tooth comb. In case they missed something we made them operate independently for the past several weeks, staying away from our major bases. Einstein has flown to several of the smaller bases and no increased government or alien presence was detected at those locations. I think the risk is minimal if you want to meet face to face, especially if you pick an isolated location.”

  “Make it happen. How about some place warm, like a deserted tropical island? En route, pick up a QRF replacement team to relieve the one onboard Einstein. I’m sure they’ve had enough of babysitting.” I love my kids, but they can be a handful, best taken in small doses.

  Mother contacted Einstein and set up the rendezvous location. We picked up a five man QRF team from the nearest base and headed off to the rendezvous point. The chosen island was a beautiful place for a vacation, if you like solitude - white sand beaches and water so full of colorful fish it looked like an aquarium. I could not ask for a nicer place to reunite with my family. Einstein landed beside us. My family disembarked and all came onboard Mother. Mother quickly took off and directed Einstein to follow her into the deep ocean to hide. So much for enjoying the beauty of the island, we spent a grand total of five minutes on the beach.

  Family reunions can be awkward at the best of times. I may have been comfortable with my new look, but the kids and Pam had yet to see me in person. I hid out in the galley while Marc welcomed everyone onboard. Since the ships are identical, Boris went to his favorite spot, slightly confused by the absence of his bed, but nevertheless fell asleep promptly, ignoring everything around him. Natasha took up a position by the door after scanning the galley for threats.