Kate ignored the pounding on her bedroom door and pulled the blankets down over her head, locking herself into her queen sized matress.


    “Katherine, you need to get up this instant. The car is already here and you know Uncle Tommy will raise hell if you don’t show up.”


    Kate sighed and surrendered. She hated working at her uncle’s video store. It was a relic from the past where middle aged men gathered to talk about the good old days when you had to physically touch a movie and read the description on the back. It was basically an antique store that sold nostalgia from a more simple time. He had old video game consoles, arcade machines, signs from fast food chains that were long gone, and even an old muscle car out front to grab your attention as you zipped past at 75mph.


    “FINE.” Kate, a 15 year old firecracker, yelled at her mom. She quickly dressed and brushed her hair in record time before walking out of the house with a glare that could melt the ice in her mom’s lemonade.


    She liked her uncle Tommy, and his store was nice, but that isn’t how a 15 year old girl should spend her summer break. Her parents said that while they were wealthy, she hadn’t earned anything for herself and she needed to learn to work for her money. It made sense, but she could do that next year couldn’t she?


    The car dropped her off in front of the store but none of the lights were on and the door was locked. It was 8:50am, twenty minutes after the store should have opened and Tommy was just getting out of his car.


    “You’re late.” He said with his dopey smile. The man was in his 40’s but still acted like a kid sometimes. He did run a business and had a wife and two young boys, but he seemed to never let go of the fun things in life, like her parents had.


    “So are you.” Kate fired back.


    “Yeah but I’m the employee of the month, they won’t fire me. You on the other hand, well you’re the new girl.” Tommy said, putting his keys in the lock, opening the door, and then making a mad dash for the alarm. Kate thought she smelled a skunk but it passed quickly.


    “Alright Katherine, you know the drill. If you beat me in chess, you don’t have to clean the restrooms, lets go.” Uncle Tommy said, plopping down on one side of the board and using his feet to push her stool just a little bit too far away from the table with a smirk.


    Tommy started off like he always did, a mad rush with his pawns, spending their lives in hopes that she would make a mistake and leave one of her valuable pieces open early on. She was ready for this and spent some of her own pawns to block. After a fairly quick battle she had used his aggression against him and set up a checkmate with many pieces still on the board. Tommy''s last five moves where the only moves left available and he could do nothing to stop the end of the game.


    "Very nice Kat. You''re learning." Tommy said.


    "And you''re going to learn what the inside of a toilet smells like." She smirked.


    <hr>


    “Jay, come up to my office, I need you.” Ash said into the intercom in his office. He looked suspiciously at Kate as the virtual board flipped around to show his perspective. He had lost far too many pieces in the opening bloodbath and was left with only his two rooks, a knight, and his king. Kate sat with her arms crossed, a smug look on her face. “I thought you said you weren’t very good.”


    “I didn’t say that, I just said I’ve played a few times. They were high stakes games.”


    “What’s up boss man?” Jayden said as he came into the room. He spotted the holographic game board and his eyes lit up. “Ohhh cool. I was playing battleship with her last night.”


    “Kate?” Ash said, rubbing his chin and frowning at the board.


    “No, Charlie. She took it easy on me.”The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    “That’s not true Mr. Cross, you’re very good.” The AI said with a fondness in her tone.


    Ash looked up at the speaker and then at Jayden, puzzled. He pointed a finger at the speaker and then waved it off to focus on the game. “Jay help. I don’t want to clean the restrooms.”


    “Well in my professional opinion, I’d say you’re screwed Captain. You can’t do anything without losing somebody. Once that happens, you don’t have enough to win. You may as well put on your rubber gloves and get to work.


    “Yeah you’re right. Good game Kate, I surrender. We’ll play Candyland next time.” Ash said with a smile.


    "Captain I have an urgent message for you.Your eyes only." Charlie said abruptly.


    Ash stuttered "O-okay Charlie, give us a moment." He nodded to his crew. "I''ll be out for dinner soon."


    After they had left, Ash sat down on is bed. "What is it Charlie?"


    "Captain, I''ve just been released from my civilian programming. There is..unsettling news and I''m not sure how to share this with you other than to play the video that was stored behind my restrictions. I must insist that none of this was available to me until this very moment. I was not hiding anything from you or the crew."


    "Yeah ok Charlie, I believe you, show me."


    A holographic image of Kate''s father and owner of the Vista Freight Company appeared in the middle of Ash''s table where the chess game had once been. It was just his face and some bookshelves behind him. Probably his home office where he conducted as much business as possible.


    "Ash, there are many things that you do not know about me. I have.. secrets. Secrets and knowledge that I''d hoped would die with me. I think they nearly caused my death several times just from the stress of it all. I''ll start from the beginning but I''ll keep it as brief as possible. Earth, it wasn''t destroyed in a nuclear war. It''s still there, still alive. People still live there, if you can call it living. You see, Earth was invaded by a species of aliens called the Sharlah. They uh..they eat people.


    They invaded and we didn''t stand a chance, we as in humans. The military fought back of course but they shot down everything that could fly in a matter of a week or so and their ground troops ran over the armies of Earth. It was much slower, a lot of them died too but they won. They rounded up everyone and essentially took inventory. Everyone got a chip in their skin and then went back to their lives mostly. When they were summoned, they had to go to a processing center and they were never seen again. It stayed that way for years until the Sharlah ended up in a civil war.


    Anyway, Dottir was a backup plan. A hiding place. Another alien race helped the humans of earth escape long before the invasion happened. The writing was on the wall, it was coming, but they got millions of people, animals, plants, and tech off world in colony ships before the Sharlah finally came.


    Obviously it worked, but they know we''re here and they''ve come for us again. I can''t explain to you how I know all of this but just know that I have very powerful friends and family. My great great grandfather came on those colony ships. My great aunt helped to wipe everything from the record and come up with the stories to teach the kids in school. You''ve been lied to but they didn''t want us to live in fear of the Sharlah,we''re in a whole different galaxy now.


    You''re not on a delivery job Ash and that''s not supplies in your cargo hold, it''s mostly empty crates. There''s an experimental drive in one of the crates, it''s a jump drive. It makes a wormhole, basically a fold in space that lets you jump to another location. It''s alien tech Ash, from the Milky Way. So is Charlie, as well as some of the other systems on the ship. They''ve been helping us advance rapidly since the beginning but they had to make it seem like it was us making the discoveries. Charlie will be able to help Jayden install the jump drive. Ash, get my daughter out of here. Find help. We''ll do the best we can here on Dottir, but we need help. You''re our only hope Ash."


    Mr.Young wiped tears from his eyes and looked away from the camera for a few moments before reaching toward it and shutting off the recording. Ash was alone again in his quarters, not even Charlie spoke. The pregnant silence stretched for five minutes before Ash finally stood and walked to the other side of the room.


    "Charlie can I still reach my daughter Laura?"


    "Yes Ash, I can send her a message if you like, though I would advise against using your time to tell her everything."


    "I know, I wont."


    Ash sat back down and rubbed the tears from his own eyes.


    "Laura honey, I - " He took a deep shuddering breath. "I''m sorry for all of the years that I wasn''t around. I wanted to be honey, I really did. I wanted to be there for all of those moments that most dads get. I sacrificed that for my job. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. I was providing for you and Lisa, uh, mom. I know now that you would have rather had your dad than money and I''m so sorry baby. I Love you and I miss you. When I get home this time.."


    The tears came now. There was no stopping it.


    "When I get home uh, I''ll come and see you at school. I''ll come see you and Connor. We''ll go to a nice dinner and talk about everything. I promise. I love you honey. I know he does too, he''ll take care of you while I''m gone. Goodbye honey."


    "Message sent captain. I coded in a special alert to get her attention. She won''t be able to miss it."


    "Thanks Charlie."