ã€ŠThe Harvesters - A Space Operaã€‹


 Connor - The Sharpshooter

    The rain was relentless. Every inch of Connor¡¯s clothing was saturated and weighed more than it should. His T-shirt and brown cargo pants were molded to his body and water dripped from his brown beanie as if it had turned into a rain cloud itself.

    The only possession that he owned which remained dry was the scope on his rifle, thanks to the plastic cover on both ends. That and he hoped that maybe the strip of red fabric from Laura¡¯s hoodie wasn¡¯t too damp. He kept it in a plastic baggie inside of his boot. It should have been sealed but after walking for miles, he wasn¡¯t sure anymore.

    When the Sharlah took her after the crash, it was all that he could find. She must have fought them because there were dozens of foot prints in the mud and snow around the car. Blood drops were everywhere, some red and some blue. Her hoodie was caught on a jagged piece of the front fender and torn free, leaving the scrap that Connor had found when he woke up. They must have mistaken him for dead, or maybe close to death. They were wrong.

    The walking, however, was done for the day and the hunting had begun. Connor slowly shifted his weight to the right, and removed his binoculars from the pouch on his belt. They were small yet powerful and had a built in rangefinder. He began his routine of memorizing the range for one or two landmarks in every direction from his hide location and deciding how he would escape should the need arise.

    This evening, he was sitting on the top floor of the Vista Elementary School. The town was a ghost of it¡¯s former self. The inhabitants were caught off guard in the first days of the invasion. Those who hadn¡¯t immediately fled were now locked behind energized fences, shipped off world, or dead.

    The police station sat off to Connor¡¯s left. There was a gaping hole in the side of it, exposing the interior of both the first and second floor, like a child¡¯s toy with the wall cut away for easy access. There were no bodies as usual, The Sharlah seemed to waste nothing in that regard, just overturned furniture and shredded books and paperwork strewn across the floor.

    One hundred and fifty yards, easy.

    There was a gas station in the distance behind it that looked like a used car lot now, except the vehicles weren¡¯t parked in a neat line with little papers listing their features and a price scrawled across the windshield. These cars were left in a panic.

    Windows were shattered from nearby explosions and flying debris, a few of them were even overturned, spilling their contents onto the ground around them. Fenders and panels were dented and broken, leaving razor sharp edges sticking out like knife blades.

    Don¡¯t think about it. You can¡¯t afford this right now. Two o¡¯ four. That¡¯s not too bad. Aim for it¡¯s head and it¡¯s going down one way or another.

    To the right was mostly residential. Fenced in yards, playhouses, swimming pools, tool sheds. They still looked lived in, the invasion happened fast and the only real resistance came from the military. These people had no chance. The Sharlah swept through, going door to door looking for each resident. They had their names, ages, health status, everything. Those who stayed and took their chances with greeting the new alien visitors were all taken to the camps.

    Connor found his marker on that side. A house that had a decorative windmill in the front yard and a chain link fence around it. Night was approaching and he could see the light from the flashlight that he had found inside starting to illuminate the windows. He didn¡¯t know how long the batteries would last, but for now it was working.

    One hundred and seven. Dead on. Where will you run to after?

    A shadow swept through the light drawing his binoculars back to it. A thin black cat jumped up into the window sill and rubbed it¡¯s body down the screen. Connor smiled, something he hadn¡¯t done for weeks. It felt both right and wrong at the same time.

    His eyes lowered from the lenses and he pulled the red cloth from his right boot, gripping it in his dirty hands. It didn¡¯t smell like her perfume anymore, but it was still comforting. He wasn¡¯t sure how long he had sat like that before his body demanded that he wake up. How had he fallen asleep? He was slipping.

    Gas 204, police 150, house 107. Gas 204, police 150, house 107. Down the steps to the first floor and out the back. Sprint for the houses and then the woods. The creek is there even if you can¡¯t see it right now. You know what to do.

    The cat was still there, sleeping now. Probably waiting for it¡¯s owners to come home and feed it. Connor had seen the litter box and food dish, but not the cat. She must have been hiding somewhere. Surely traumatized from all that had happened. Connor took a sip of water from his reusable bottle. The rubber rings around the lid squeaking far too loudly for his liking as he twisted the cap on and off.

    The school desk which he had dragged over to the window acted as a perfect rest for his rifle and the curtains in the window hid everything but the tip of his barrel and the front of his scope. He couldn¡¯t have asked for a better place to shoot from, but at night there would be a flash from every shot. He wouldn¡¯t get many.

    The cat looked smaller in his scope than in the binoculars. It was only a 4x12 magnification. He could hit it though, he had shot groundhogs from further away on the farm. She, he had decided it was a she-Mrs. Pickles in fact, looked up and went rigid.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    Headlights swept across the surrounding houses and bathed them in white followed by red to not obscure the Sharlah¡¯s natural night vision. The jet black armored truck drove carefully down the street, spotlights searching in every direction and mine sweeper working from side to side on the front.

    One crimson spotlight was holding steady on the house with the windmill causing both Connor and Mrs Pickles to flee back to their hiding spots. Connor pulled his rifle back from the window, letting the curtains fall loosely around the desk and sat with his back to the wall.

    It wouldn¡¯t do him any good to be caught gazing out the window when a spotlight inevitably swept across the school. He knew they couldn¡¯t see him there. For all of their tech in space, once their troops were on the ground, the Sharlah were not that far ahead of humanity.

    Their weapons were deadly, their troops strong and fierce, but they couldn¡¯t see him through the wall, and to track him down, they would look for signs on the ground. He knew this from experience. To his surprise though, the truck didn¡¯t stop in front of the windmill house, he heard the electric engines spool up slightly and move off into the distance.

    They¡¯ve gained a new respect for us. They wouldn¡¯t have done that in the beginning. Good.

    Connor risked a peek and saw the truck now off to the center between the police station and the residential neighborhood, unloading it¡¯s squad in the perceived safety of a grocery store. They fanned out into a line and moved toward windmill with their weapons raised.

    At the end of the parking lot, the squad took cover behind abandoned cars and begin calling out through their implanted translators for the people inside to surrender. Connor slowly moved behind the old bolt action 30-06 that had been given to him when he moved away from home. He had killed his first deer with it, and every deer since, along with a lone wolf that had been terrorizing his family¡¯s farm and now several alien soldiers.

    He searched them for any clues as to who should receive the first round. They wore form fitting armor that was as black as the truck they rode inside of. Their armor was so black that they seemed to smother the light wherever they went, even the visors of their helmets were as black as space on the outside. He could see them turning to each other as they communicated privately.

    That one in the middle though, he¡¯s looking both ways like he¡¯s talking to everyone. He has something on his wrist too, I¡¯ve seen that before. It¡¯s a long range communicator.

    The Sharlah advanced forward, spreading out even more as they got closer so as to cover the front and sides of the house, though he got the sense that they were also becoming more casual about their movements. Surely any humans inside would have surrendered or at least shut off the light by now. There were five by his count. One went to each side, and three were stacking up at the front door. They icy cold feeling of adrenaline surged through him.

    Take a deep breath, let it seep out and come to a natural pause. Keep your crosshairs on the target. They¡¯re moving because of your heartbeat, calm down. Try again. When it comes to a pause, slowly start to squeeze the trigger. It should surprise you when it goes off. If it does, you¡¯ll know it was a perfect shot.

    The squad leader pointed to the window where Mrs. Pickles had been, telling one of his soldiers to keep an eye on it as he banged on the door. When he turned around, to check behind him, he probably saw it.

    CRACK

    The rifle bucked into Connor¡¯s shoulder as the flash from the muzzle ruined his night vision. Long gone were the days where he would flinch in anticipation of the rather violent recoil from the high powered 30-06 cartridge. The slug buried itself in the squad leader¡¯s visor and blue gore spilled out as he flailed and fell down the front steps of the windmill house. The other two in front scrambled for cover but found none and started firing wildly as they moved back toward the grocery store and the vehicles there.

    When they turned to see if the two from the sides of the house were following, Connor¡¯s rifle barked again sending the closest one into the pavement in a heap. It was a spinal hit but it didn¡¯t appear to fully penetrate the alien plate. The Sharlah was out of the fight for the time being, but would survive.

    That¡¯s enough, it¡¯s time to go.

    Connor grabbed the rifle, loaded two more into the internal magazine, and started out the door at a jog, but had to go back for the scrap from her hoodie. The hallway outside was dark, and he couldn¡¯t really remember what it looked like, but he knew the stairs were to the left. Adrenaline was still burning inside of him, his hands now shaking because he let them.

    The stairs seemed longer than when he came up them the day before but he knew that couldn''t be true. How long had it been since his first shot, thirty seconds maybe? He rounded the first set and nearly leaped down the second set, only touching a few of them before crashing into something at the bottom and going down against the wall.

    The Sharlah trooper was on top of him in a flash, snarling audibly behind his faceplate. Connor struggled to push it upward and off of his chest but he was already feeling the fatigue that used to take far longer to set it. He was probably malnourished and dehydrated among other things.

    ¡°Get. Off.¡± He grunted, trying once and then twice to sweep his hips to the side but the rigid metal plates of it¡¯s armor were digging into his thighs.

    The creature pressed his forearm into Connor¡¯s face, holding it down and to the side as it reached with it¡¯s other hand for the beam rifle that now lay a foot away from the struggle. Connor growled reached for his knife that was pinned in his leg holster and felt the cool metal of it¡¯s handle. With everything he had, he pulled it free and slammed it between the thigh and knee plates of the Sharlah soldier where only a thin under suit was exposed.

    The alien screamed in agony and lunged out toward it¡¯s rifle but Connor was on top of it in a fraction of a second and ripping it¡¯s helmet upward with everything that he had left. The Sharlah screamed again and raked at his arms with it¡¯s clawed gloves, ripping bloody lines in Connor¡¯s exposed forearms. He didn¡¯t care. The Sharlah tried to stand but slipped in the blood from it¡¯s wounded knee and fell to the ground again as it¡¯s helmet was ripped free.

    Connor rained down punches to the back of it¡¯s head as it howled and rolled onto it¡¯s back. He landed blow after blow with his blood soaked right hand and stabbed wildly with his left which was still holding the knife until red light spilled through the windows. The alien soldier gasped and coughed, spitting blue gore from it¡¯s shattered mouth and nose. Connor stopped, letting his arms fall to his sides. He glanced at his rifle, the rage that had saved his life giving way to dread. He could not allow himself to be captured They knew what he¡¯d done.

 Chapter 1 - Ash the Pilot

    Ash cycled through the direct messages on his tablet as the video call to his daughter continued to attempt a connection. There was nothing wrong with the call itself, she just refused to answer any of his calls.

    ¡°Come on Laura, this is important.¡± He muttered and lifted his coffee pot to start pouring his last cup of the night.

    The stream came out much faster than anticipated as his attention was divided and not sufficient for either task. The hot liquid splashed back over the rim of the mug and onto the screen of his tablet. Ash swore and frantically wiped the screen with his white t-shirt and noticed the screen displaying the ¡°Call Ended¡± message.

    ¡°SHIT!¡± Ash swore again and tapped the call button but another call was coming in and he inadvertently answered that one.

    ¡°Hello? Ash Miller?¡± a female voice asked through the speaker.

    ¡°Shit, uh yeah, this is Ash. Who is this?¡± he said, noticing the coffee stain that seemed to have a life of its own and was spreading across his shirt.

    ¡°This is Katherine Young, your copilot for the Solent. You can call me Kate of course, um, if you want.¡± The girl said. The last part coming out awkwardly.

    ¡°Uh, okay.¡±

    ¡°I was just calling to confirm that the ship is ready. I can¡¯t get any real answers from VFC. I was hoping you would know more?¡±

    ¡°No, they haven¡¯t called. I was wondering that myself. I guess we¡¯ll just have to turn the key and see what happens.¡± Ash replied, double checking that the call was audio only before scratching his balls and walking away momentarily to get a towel.

    ¡°The key sir?¡± Kate asked, unsure if it was an attempt at humor or an indication that her new pilot was shockingly uneducated.

    ¡°Yeah, I have it here somewhere.¡± Ash said, rattling the forks and spoons in his dish strainer. ¡°Relax kid, I¡¯m sure they would have called us if something was wrong. I¡¯ll meet you on the pad at 0430 and you can kick the tires as many times as you want.¡±

    Kate laughed nervously and wished him a good evening. She sounded young but Ash knew that the minimum age to even touch a starship¡¯s controls was twenty five so she wasn¡¯t too young for a good natured jab or two. He selected his daughter¡¯s name in the contacts and tried to call her again but came up empty handed, so he wrote her a message.

    Laura, honey, did you answer last time I called? I spilled my coffee and might have hung up on you. I just wanted to talk before we head out tomorrow. It¡¯s a big day for my company. It¡¯s the first time we¡¯ve shipped something off world. We¡¯ll be gone for four months but I can still send you messages like this. I hope school is going okay and that boy is treating you well. He seems nice. I love you dear. -Dad.

    Ash walked into his bedroom to start packing but realized that he forgot the ¡°creamer¡± for his coffee and went to the cabinet above the sink. The shot of bourbon raised the level of the coffee in the mug but he had accounted for that and not poured too much. Ash scratched his balls again, wondering if something was wrong with them, and then began throwing unfolded laundry into a duffel bag.

    If a zipper could scream, his zipper would have been howling as he forced the bag to close around the pile of clothing, toiletries, devices, and the bottle of rum that they were working to conceal. He reached into his underwear drawer and found the small fixed blade knife and sheath that his grandfather had passed down to him and looked at it for a moment.

    It was a work of art. The handle was black with a snarling wolf at the bottom and foliage snaking up to the blade. His grandfather had loved wolves and Ash shared his appreciation for the animal though he had only ever seen one in a zoo. He slipped the blade into a side pocket of his duffel bag and muttered ¡°For the aliens¡± with a chuckle. He often talked to himself, a side effect of being a forty five year old man who lived alone in a three bedroom home.

    Ash grabbed a cold beer from the refrigerator and flopped into the loving embrace of his recliner which was molded to his exact fit. A hockey playoff game was already in progress which he decided was perfectly acceptable.

    Ash didn¡¯t follow many sports but he loved hockey. It was fast paced, hard hitting, and anything could happen if there was still time left on the clock. A double header was on the schedule for the evening, first an east coast matchup and later a west coast game running until at least 11:00pm and possibly later if there was overtime. Lucky for Ash Miller, strategist, he had already set his alarm because he never even saw the end of the first game.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    ¡°Ah god, shit, shut up please.¡± He cursed, knocking the tablet from the arm of his chair and causing the alarm to continue blaring from the floor. ¡°Please stop.¡± He muttered, finally reaching it and canceling the sound by swiping his finger across the screen. He rose on unsteady feet and quickly got to the bathroom to start his morning rituals but a quick glance at the wall clock informed him that the alarm that had woke him wasn¡¯t the first attempt and he only had 15 minutes left. He only had time to brush his teeth and put on some deodorant before running out the door with duffel bag in hand.

    Seventy five miles per hour seemed reasonable after his tires finally left the dirt roads near his house and proceeded onto the highway. A weather report interrupted the tired old commercials on the radio and announced a clear morning, followed by scattered showers later in the day and a stray thunderstorm was possible.

    Ash thought about that and realized that he would have left the planet by the time the rain started and that was hard to wrap his head around. The weather report didn¡¯t apply to him. He was ripped from these thoughts when the alarm on his tablet, apparently ending a snooze cycle, started screeching in vain from inside his bag. He hated that sound. He wanted to kill it. Just pull over and smash the thing on the side of the highway and be done with it.

    The floodlights in the parking lot of the Vista Freight Company, or VFC came into sight and ash marveled at the sprawling new building that was bustling with activity. The large lot of the trucking department seemed to only be at half capacity, probably just the night shift workers for another hour or so. Tractor trailers maneuvered into position as forklifts zipped around, beeping their horns as they passed blind corners. Most of the office windows were dark but were illuminated by the new warehouse across from it where several landing pads, all empty except for one, were flooded with light.

    ¡°There she is, the Solent.¡± Ash said to himself as he parked next to the only other vehicle at the back of the lot. A young girl got out of the back passenger side and waited, nearly at attention, for him to secure his pickup truck.

    ¡°Sir, Katherine Young, it¡¯s a pleasure to-¡° She stopped with a puzzled look on her face. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to take your keys and lock it?¡±

    Ash grabbed the shoulder strap of his bag as it dug into his shoulder and turned to look at the old, square bodied pickup. ¡°That old thing? He motioned to it with his free hand and smiled. The paint was flaking from the hood and the headlight was cracked but not broken. ¡°I hope someone does steal it, maybe they¡¯ll treat it better than I do.¡± He reached out to shake her hand.

    ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡± Kate said, smiling.

    ¡°Don¡¯t jump the gun miss, you don¡¯t know that.¡±

    Kate smiled and went to the driver¡¯s side of the car to say her goodbyes. It was a brand new luxury sedan with nifty blue interior lighting. Ash walked closer to admire the reflection of the landing pad lights in the paint but stopped short.

    ¡°Mr Young?¡± He said, startled at seeing the owner of his company, a man whom he had only met once before, but immediately put the pieces together. ¡°Is Kate your daughter?¡±

    ¡°Mr. Miller, the million mile man.¡± Young replied with a genuine smile, referencing the award given to any driver who reaches one million safe miles of trucking for the VFC. ¡°Kate is my daughter. I trust you¡¯ll take good care of her and show her how to be the best trucker in the company?¡± He said as he handed Ash a large envelope with all of the paperwork that he would need.

    ¡°That¡¯s space trucker now, sir.¡±

    ¡°Space trucker, yes.¡± He chuckled

    Ash smiled and started to reply something along the lines of ¡°Driving that hard had cost me my wife and my relationship with Laura¡± But he was interrupted by another car whipping into a parking spot and encroaching into the next. All heads turned as a young man with a backwards ball cap stepped out and tossed a cigarette to the side. He grabbed his luggage from the trunk and waved to Ash as he walked toward him.

    ¡°Jayden Cross, your engineer.¡± Mr. Young said ¡°He¡¯s brilliant with tech. You have a solid crew but I expect you¡¯ll have to learn some things on the fly, no pun intended. I trust you Ash, make us proud and take our little company to the stars.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve met Jayden before, when he was a diesel mechanic. Wow, he works on space ships now? I¡¯ll do my best sir.¡± Ash replied, looking at the imposing form of the Solent on it¡¯s landing pad.

    "Space ships, computers, semi trucks, I can fix anything with enough time and an owners manual." Jayden said as he reached them.

    ¡°You should start by changing your clothes. You smell like a trash can.¡± Mr Young said and climbed back into his car, shaking his head. "Good luck Jayden, and take care of my ship."

    The Solent was an older ship when judged by the standards of space vessels which were advancing by leaps and bounds, but it¡¯s physical age was fairly new, unlike his truck. Every year seemed to bring newer and better components that cut down on travel time, made the crew safer, more comfortable, and some with better weapons for the United Dottir Militia or UDM for short.

    The VFC had staked it''s entire future on being an immediate competitor in the space cargo industry. They offered a lower than average rate for the Solent''s first run. The payout would cover all costs and provide a small profit, but the objective was to enter the arena and win the bid to pick up a load of raw iron from Ingrid, moon of the planet Aegir which was an ancient Earth word for ocean. The planet itself was habitable but had very little land mass. The moon however was rich in resources and had constant shipping and receiving traffic to it''s spaceport.

    Ash thought about ancient Earth as he looked at the shipping manifest. Very little was known about it beyond the fact that it was destroyed by a large scale nuclear conflict and that Dottir was merely a colony world when the aid from Earth ceased. He was taught in school that the early people of Dottir were strong and persevered through the loss of the home world to make a new life here. Now, over three hundred years later, humanity was once again reaching into the stars

 Chapter 2 - The Solent

    Ash flopped into the pilot¡¯s seat, much like he did at home, but it did not embrace him right away like his trusty recliner. He bounced at first, and then sank deeper as the memory cushion molded around him.

    ¡°Okay, I get it, you don¡¯t know me yet. We can take it slow.¡± Ash muttered under his breath.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡± Kate asked with a puzzled look to her left.

    ¡°Oh, not you. The uh thing. The seat.¡± Ash stammered.

    ¡°Um, ok, did you bring the key?¡± She asked with a grin.

    ¡°Oh crap, I left it with my truck keys.¡±

    The Solent came alive as they went through the pre-flight checklist that they had only learned a few months ago in pilot training. Space flight itself was not a new concept but had only just become a commercial venture in the last decade or so. New pilots had to undergo weeks of physical testing and conditioning before moving on to learning large amounts of knowledge and safety procedures. You didn¡¯t need to know how to build a ship, just how to fly it safely and preferably how to land but even that could be handled by Charlie, the mandatory shipboard A.I.

    ¡°Commander please hold a moment. Mr. Cross is working on a small issue with the fuel tanks.¡± Said a woman¡¯s voice from the overhead speakers.

    ¡°Holy-.¡± Ash started.

    ¡°Thank you Charlie, let us know when it¡¯s resolved.¡± Kate replied, looking up for some reason.

    ¡°Yes Miss Young.¡±

    ¡°Kate is fine.¡±

    "Yes Kate.¡±

    ¡°Miller, the fuel is getting a little hot but I think it will be okay for liftoff. I juiced up the coolant system a little bit, no issue.¡± Jayden said from the same speakers.

    Ash looked puzzled but replied ¡°Yeah okay, keep juicing or whatever you do down there. Let¡¯s not blow up, that would be embarrassing.¡±

    Pilot¡¯s didn¡¯t have to go to engineering school, and engineers didn¡¯t learn how to fly the ship. It would be too much to learn and the job market demanded new skilled workers at too high a rate. Every transportation company wanted to reach for the stars and take on the new opportunities that awaited them, but a lack of specially trained employees put a bottleneck on the progress. Mr. Young however didn¡¯t feel comfortable with this arrangement and saw to it that his little girl be cross trained as much as possible in the time between completing her pilot training and liftoff.

    ¡°We wont blow up, once we¡¯re in the sky the air will help cool the tanks as well. It¡¯s a known flaw on the T60.¡± She said. ¡°Keep going on startup.¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°Alright, almost ready.¡± Ash said with an approving nod.

    Once the pre flight checks and procedures were complete and the crew was strapped into their seats, it was finally time.

    ¡°One small step for truck drivers, one giant leap for their bosses.¡± Ash said, and engaged the engines like he had done many times in the months leading up to this moment. The only difference being that it was real this time and he was about to leave Dottir, ¡°Daughter of Earth¡±.

    With all boosters pointed down and firing into the surface of the pad, the aging space truck, shaped like a much thicker B-2 stealth bomber from Earth in the 1990¡¯s, lifted herself into a vertical climb of over one hundred feet into the air and into a hover for dramatic effect.

    ¡°Miller, don¡¯t showboat too long, we need some airflow, temps are rising.¡± Jayden said from engineering.

    ¡°Ok, roger that, here we go.¡± Ash said and pulled back on the stick to angle her nose upward and the boosters automatically adjusted to give the ship what the pilot was asking for. The Solent rocketed out of sight and into the atmosphere in minutes. To Ash, who had witnessed space travel in it¡¯s early days, this was a feat of magic. There was intense pressure from the G forces of the sudden acceleration but most of it was dampened by the advanced tech, that Charlie was in charge of, and also from the foam that now hugged their bodies securely as they sank into it.

    ¡°Charlie, how much longer.¡± Ash managed to croak out.

    ¡°Thirty seconds.¡± The robotic woman replied through the cockpit speakers.

    The Solent breached the last layers of Dottir¡¯s outer atmosphere and plunged gracefully into the black ocean of space. The force of the gorilla on Ash¡¯s chest was replaced with a normal amount of artificial gravity and relief flooded over him. He looked over at Kate and could see her recovering as well.

    ¡°Jay, are you alright down there?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Yeah all good. Everything in the green. Permission to come up and look out the window?¡±

    Ash smiled. ¡°Of course, it¡¯s incredible.¡±

    It was incredible. Unlike the B-2 bomber, there were more windows than just the ones that acted as a windshield to fly. There were smaller ones on each side of the cockpit as well as a large window in the ceiling. Charlie had thoughtfully put a view of Dottir on the center console, due to it being behind the Solent as they worked to pull away from her gravity. It was stunning. The green, brown, white, and blue were so vibrant against the inky black of space that it didn¡¯t even look like it belonged there in the first place.

    ¡°Charlie keep us on course please.¡± Ash said and reached into his duffel bag for the bottle of bourbon, still intact and hidden under his clothes. Kate¡¯s eyes widened.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± She hissed. ¡°You can¡¯t have that!¡±

    Ash grinned. ¡°Let me just throw it out the window then.¡±

    She put her hand to her head and sat back in her copilot¡¯s seat. Incredulous.

    ¡°Ohhhh baby!¡± Jayden said after he peeled himself back from the window.

    ¡°Oh my god, we¡¯re gonna die.¡± Kate said, looking up at the ceiling as if the answers would be there.

    ¡°A toast, to the V.F.C.¡¯s first ever space flight, and to our safe return!¡± Ash took a sip and passed the bottle to Jayden.

    ¡°To our safe return and may we bang many hot alien chicks.¡± He glanced at Kate ¡°and dudes, along the way¡± and he took a long sip before offering it up to her. To his surprise, she took it.

    ¡°To a safe voyage into the mostly unknown.¡± She said, and took a sip of her own.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take first shift Kate, go ahead and get some rest, I¡¯ll see you later.¡± Ash said and put the bottle back into his bag with a wink and a nod.

    "V.F.C. 1, this is the U.D.M. vessel Bao. You are cleared to break orbit, safe travels." A voice said over the ship wide comms and Ash instinctively hid the bottle of rum beside his leg for no reason at all.

    "Thank you Bao, we''ll see you in a few months." Ash replied and pushed back against the memory foam. "Accept me." he muttered.

 Chapter 3 - Ruo the Officer

    Mei Ruo sat in the central command seat of her state of the art destroyer, Bao, or ¡°Protection¡± in English. It was her first deployment as the captain of a starship but not her first time in the command seat. She had been the leader of an escort flotilla tasked with protecting Tiantang submarines in the Sea of Iron during peace time.

    Space combat, in theory, was very similar to naval combat until you had to start factoring in the distances involved and the time that it takes light to travel to your sensors and eyes. Also the fact that there is no sea level, or even an up or down to orient your vessel. The ships of the United Dottir Militia would usually orient themselves in relation to the Planet with the northern hemisphere being ¡°up¡± and the southern being ¡°down¡± but this was just to help everyone stay in an orderly formation.

    The idea that the space above Dottir would be akin to international waters was not favored by all nations with space capable ships, but it was understood by them all. New Vista and Tiantang, Ancient Chinese for "Paradise", being the first two nations to field warships, caused tension among the nations but the Republic of Svoboda rushed several of their own into orbit and the Neutrality of Orbit Treaty was signed.

    Every nation with ambitions to reach into the stars with their military would have to sign the document or risk being treated as pirates and blown out of orbit. In the years to follow, Dottir orbit remained peaceful with only the three main nations out of four being able to achieve a successful space program. The people of New India were not far behind but the eastern continent of Dottir suffered from violent and unpredictable weather for six months of the twelve month year.

    Ruo was nervous at the thought of her new position, so she tried not to think about it as being any different from commanding a destroyer on the Sea of Iron. There were officers above her to make any tough decisions with the flagship Xi¡¯An in immediate communications range should anything be stirred up. Likely her tour of duty would be quiet and consist of mostly administrative duties. She pulled on her sleeves and straightened her pant legs before looking at the ship clock and giving her second order of the day.

    ¡°Zhao, sound the change of shift.¡± She said to her second in command.

    Zhao was the same rank as Ruo, Lieutenant Commander, but lacked the command experience. Some day he would have his own ship, that was all but guaranteed, but he was assigned to the Bao to learn the nuance involved in dealing with people and higher ups before taking on the task.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am, sounding shift change.¡± He said, and sounded a soft tone that would be heard in every room and corridor of the ship.

    ¡°You have command, I¡¯ll be in my quarters until breakfast if you need anything.¡± She said and gave him an extra nod to convey the unspoken ¡°Seriously, if you need anything.¡±

    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am, lets pray for a quiet night.¡± He replied and sat down in the recently vacated command seat.

    Ruo hit the button to close and lock the door to her quarters before flopping face down on her rack, boots and all. She sighed and rolled over, looking at the pictures taped to the frame of the vacant top bunk. It would be silly to house another sailor with the captain but only one type of rack was produced for the Tiantang Navy so it was installed in every quarters aboard the destroyer regardless of rank or occupation.

    She lay there for a few more minutes before kicking off her boots, trousers, blouse, and closing her eyes. The relief that she felt having shed the stuffy dress uniform was immense but short lived as fifteen minutes later, her tablet began calling for attention with a loud chime. It wasn¡¯t an emergency voice call, but it was a priority text message so she walked the five steps across her comparatively spacious quarters to see it.

    ¡°New Vistan cruiser on collision course, please advise - Zhao¡±

    ¡°Hold course. They will adjust. They would be a bug on our windshield. -LCDR Ruo¡±

    With that handled, Ruo settled back into her rack, this time pulling the blankets over her head but hearing the tablet chime once again as her mind drifted off to sleep.

    What now she thought with far more aggravation than she had the first time. How is someone supposed to command a warship without sleeping once in a while? She wasn¡¯t mad at Zhao personally, he was only doing his job, but he needed to at least try to be independent. The message however was not from LT Zhao, it was from her daughters back home in New Shanghai. It was a video message showing the two girls, eight and four years old, doing their best to wear her old naval academy uniforms and singing a song. Ruo felt a tear welling up and a smile come across her face simultaneously.

    It was a strange mix of emotions. Unconditional love, intense happiness at seeing them, but crushing guilt for not being home every day to see them in person. To take them to the school bus, to cook them dinner, to celebrate the holidays and teach them how to do their homework. She could do none of that from a destroyer, she was missing it all, and for what? To defend the planet from what? It was said that the militaries of her people''s home world, Earth, were responsible for it''s destruction.

    Why now did military vessels orbit the planet with weapons capable of doing the same immense damage. Ruo closed the tablet again. She couldn¡¯t reply, not in her state of mind. She knew she would feel better in the morning and would tell them how much she loved and missed them without crying. As she drifted off to sleep, she thought of them. Their sleeves far too long, the boots like flippers on their small feet, the hats falling down over their eyes, and she smiled as the fatigue took her.

 Chapter 4 - The Black Ocean

    Space didn¡¯t look how Ash had expected. Sure he had been told what to expect several times by his instructors but he had always held on to the hope that it would be magical and full of stars, it wasn¡¯t. He could see some stars, of course, but they were very very far away. It was mostly like being underwater in the middle of the night.

    Night was a funny concept to think about now that he had no planet to block the sun¡¯s light. There was no night, just numbers on the clock and his own fatigue to tell him what time it was. He needed to power through this night, take one for the team, so that Kate would be ready for her first shift tomorrow. Ash wondered if she was even able to sleep after the excitement of the launch. He got an idea.

    ¡°Charlie, is Kate sleeping?¡± He said to thin air.

    ¡°Yes Commander.¡± The Ai voice answered without hesitation.

    Ash chuckled internally and wondered how far he could push Charlie before she, or it, wouldn¡¯t answer a question but thought better of it and focused on his duties. His duties were mostly sitting in the pilot¡¯s chair and being available in case of an emergency. There was very little piloting to do once the main course was set.

    ¡°Charlie, is Jayden still awake?¡±

    ¡°No Commander, but I can wake him if the need arises. His quarters are very close to the engine room.¡±

    Ash was surprised that she had understood the question behind the question and given a more detailed answer. AI tech on Dottir was rapidly advancing and had come a long way from making weird drawings based on prompts and self driving vehicles. Charlie was far more advanced than that. The rumor mill had decided that she was top secret military tech that was dumbed down for civilian use but no person or country had ever taken credit for her development.

    She just simply was, and every nation with space capability had access to her. He thought it more than odd, but was thankful that she was aboard on such a dangerous task. The run itself wasn¡¯t very complicated or dangerous. Fly 65 million miles to the moon, Ingrid, over the course of about 6 months and unload the cargo which was tools, food, water, and other necessities, then load with the various ores that have been mined from under the surface and fly back. Simple but dangerous.

    ¡°Charlie can you play music?¡± Ash asked an hour later.

    ¡°Yes, I can relay radio stations from Dottir until we are out of range. I also have over 100 terabytes of music and movies stored.¡±

    ¡°That is fantastic news, go ahead and play whatever you like.¡± Ash said as he flipped through various status reports on the primary screen.

    ¡°I do not know what I like, please choose a genre and I can play a random artist.¡±

    ¡°Okay then, how about classic rock.¡± He replied and put his feet on the instrument panel.

    ¡°Playing Van Halen, a classic rock band from Earth, please remove your feet from the instruments, that is not safe.¡± Charlie said in her matter of fact way.

    "A band from Earth huh? How do you have music like that?"

    "The song is called Jump."

    Ash cocked an eyebrow, not really understanding how an Ai assistant could ignore a direct question from the captain of the ship but he didn''t ask again.

    Morning seemed to have come very quickly to Ash. He wondered if he had dozed off a few times as the battle to stay awake was a bloody stalemate between 0400 and 0600 but he was pretty sure that he hadn¡¯t. Kate walked out of her quarters and straight to the kitchen. Her boots were still untied, her gray jumpsuit top was left dangling from her waist, showing the white tank top underneath and her hair was a mess.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    ¡°Good morning sunshine.¡± Ash said, turning back around to face the front.

    ¡°Yeah yeah, I know I¡¯m a mess. This is going to be an adjustment, not having any birds or sounds of the city to wake me up. It doesn¡¯t feel like morning.¡±

    ¡°I know what you mean.¡± Jayden said as he too walked into the mess area behind her. Unlike Kate, the brown skinned engineer was in full uniform with his jumpsuit fastened and boots tied.

    ¡°Are we there yet?¡± Jay said, looking over Ash¡¯s shoulder at the tiny white dot that was Aegir.

    ¡°I¡¯m not even sure we¡¯re moving.¡± Ash said with a smile.

    ¡°We are moving at a speed of 34,500 kph and accelerating¡± Charlie said through the speakers above the cockpit.

    ¡°Like a three legged dog trying to bury a turd on a frozen pond.¡± Ash said back to her but no reply came. He liked to think she was laughing, however a robot laughed.

    When dinnertime came, the crew sat around the small circular table that pulled out from the wall in the kitchen area and ate fresh chicken thighs with various wing sauces. The Solent was stocked with enough fresh food to last for the first leg of the journey, but they would be eating canned and packaged rations for the trip home, along with a few months of slim emergency rations so the crew could survive long enough to be retrieved if the emergency was bad enough to stop them, but not bad enough to kill them. So, it was best to relax and enjoy the good food while they still could.

    ¡°This is great Jay, if the mechanic thing doesn¡¯t work out, you could easily get a job at a shitty restaurant.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Ash, I¡¯ll keep that in mind when you get me fired.¡±

    Kate smiled and looked up from her plate. She had been mostly quiet thus far, only speaking up when she had something important to say. ¡°Do you guys know each other?

    Ash laughed and said ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve met him. He used to curse at me when I limped my broken equipment into his shop back at the VFC. That¡¯s normal though, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever met a mechanic who was happy to see a busted truck.¡±

    ¡°A whole year of specialized training to work on a freaking starship and imagine my surprise when it¡¯s Captain Miller waiting for me on the landing pad. The man who smashed his mirror off of a school bus. A parked school bus. twice!¡± Jayden said, spreading his arms in exaggerated bewilderment.

    The days dragged on and turned to weeks as the excitement of being on a starship started to fade and become more like a job than a vacation. An amazing job, of course, but the picture outside had barely changed in that time. Aegir was still a small bright light, maybe slightly bigger now, but then again maybe not.

    Ash ran a loose ship. He let the ¡°kids¡± do what they needed to do to stay happy. Morale was a top priority on such a long journey, he knew that from his time as an over the road driver and the same concept still applied. He didn¡¯t force them to always be in uniform when they were outside of their quarters, if they wanted to wear a hoodie and sweatpants, that was fine. If one of them had a headache or didn¡¯t sleep well, he would stay on duty for a few extra hours.

    That was no problem. He was the old man, the Captain, and the leader for the first time in his otherwise lonely career. He really wanted his crew to like him. He never felt any disrespect or felt like they were brushing him off. If he asked for a system to be checked, Jayden would drop what he was doing and make sure there wasn¡¯t a problem. If he woke up to use the restroom and checked on Kate, she was there in the cockpit, wide awake. He didn¡¯t miss the solitude of the open highway, sleeping in the parking lot of a gas station, the noises of the driver next to him farting or screwing a lot lizard at two o¡¯clock in the morning. He was a space man now, with a trusty crew, and he liked it.

    ¡°I wish I had packed some board games or something else to do. I know Charlie has every movie known to man and a lot more that aren''t, but even that gets old after a while.¡± Ash said as he joined Kate for the morning shift change. She was dressed in a pink hoodie and jeans, a favorite of hers.

    ¡°I know what you mean, I read all of my books in the first few weeks. I really didn¡¯t think this through.¡± Kate said.

    Charlie spoke into the cockpit ¡°I can simulate a board game using the holographic console in your office Ash.¡±

    ¡°What? Really? I thought that was just for ship diagnostics and reading messages.¡±

    ¡°Yep. Any game that I know about, I can display it on the table.¡± Charlie declared proudly.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s see it. Can you do Chess?¡± Ash said, smiling and motioning for Kate to follow him to his office. Before he opened the door, Charlie had already displayed a 3d chess set on his desk, but the black side was against the wall.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I can flip the board between turns.¡± Charlie said, seeming to read his mind.

    Ash smiled bigger and waved toward the board. ¡°Your move Kate, do you know how to play?¡±

 Chapter 5 - Fleet Lord Skald

    ¡°Fleet Lord, please take your time. You will be disoriented and your balance may suffer until your body has had time to adjust.¡± The scrawny cryo tech warned Skald has he rose from his chamber. He was naked but tattoos covered most of his grey skin, nearly acting as clothing to cover him.

    ¡°It is not my first time.¡± He replied curtly. His voice struggled with the short sentence.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sorry. Allow me to get you some water.¡± The tech said and excused himself to allow the Fleet Lord to gather himself.

    ¡°Where is my hand. Send him.¡±

    ¡°Yes, right away Fleet Lord.¡±

    As soon as the tech had left his office, Fleet Lord Skald allowed his pain to show. His muscles were stiff, his throat was dry, and there was a fog inside of his head that clouded every thought. He felt as if he was still in a dream but the pain was real enough that it couldn¡¯t be. Sharlah were not meant to dream while in cryo sleep but he had. He dreamed of his failures. He dreamed of the civil war and the famine that followed.

    The Milky Way galaxy had been home to the Sharlah for millennia but as the inferior species who also inhabited it began achieving space flight, they no longer tolerated the actions of the Sharlah. As much as it pained him to admit, the alliance that had formed as a result of their shared fear had actually presented a military threat to his people.

    Factions developed within the Sharlah central government. Some calling for full scale war against the newly developed galactic council, others advising peace and coexistence. Years of hearings had bore little results that were in favor of the Sharlah way of life. The council was not ready or able to commit a genocide that would have sent them all back to the stone age, win or lose, so had decided that any species who had not yet developed sub light travel would not be under alliance protection.

    As a carnivorous species, The Sharlah could harvest these beings to feed their people and take what they wanted from their planets. A compromise. With careful planning and responsible harvest, this arrangement had worked for over five hundred years. The Milky Way galaxy was teeming with life and most of it could be classified as fauna. Animal life. Boring. Devoid of the glory of conquest.

    The Harvesters, a massive prison vessel used to collect and hold the creatures would arrive in orbit and cull every herd worth it¡¯s weight in meat. It was a logistics operation, not a conquest. The warriors had become farmers to appease their enemies. The thought disgusted Skald. His ancestors had thrown down their weapons and bowed to the rest of the galaxy as if their way of life was somehow unacceptable in their modern times.

    The food supply may have been sustainable for the Sharlah, but the way of life was not. They were warriors. They were dominant. It was in their genes. The galaxy belonged to them and the primitive space faring species only existed because the Sharlah allowed it. This is why his father, his clan, had attacked the planet called Earth.

    The beings who lived there, humans they were called, had only just left their solar system. In the time between when the wormhole capable drones had found their ball of mud and his clan''s arrival in orbit, they had developed into a spacefaring species and had even somehow left the orbit of their world.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    His father had broken the Treaty of Coexistence when he invaded but it was a glorious and bloody victory. It had awakened in the Sharlah a feeling that they had not enjoyed in generations. Conquest. Victory. Blood and smoke and screams. This was their way. The humans were property, not galactic neighbors meant to be protected and allowed to continually advance into their space age.

    The actions of his father had sparked outrage among the reformers, the weak, the coexistent. When he showed up to his trial holding a human female on a leash, his conviction was sealed. Skald¡¯s father was a martyr. A harbinger of the old ways and the spark that ignited a civil war among the clans. It raged for decades with little to no interference from the council.

    The savages were taking themselves out as far as they were concerned. When the killing had finally come to a close, very few clans were intact and the farming operations were no longer running. Victorious Sharlah were forced to feed on the bodies of the dead and captured due to the fact that their ships could not yet use wormholes but instead relied on a series of worlds to use as fueling stations for both ships and supplies.

    Skald¡¯s exploration fleet into the andromeda galaxy included entire prison and breeding ships dedicated to farming the descendants of the weak Sharlah as well as humans to sustain his crews on their voyage. After the supply chain breakdown over 130 years ago, little was known about Earth or the Sharlah of his clan who were stationed on it. Likely they were awaiting the end of the war and for operations to resume. This was not his concern. A fresh start and galactic dominance was in order.

    ¡°Fleet Lord, it is good to see you again. Are you well?¡± Hand Vigas greeted him as he entered the Fleet Lord¡¯s quarters.

    ¡°I am well Vigas. What is the current situation? How long have we been in cryo?¡±

    ¡°One hundred and twenty three home years Fleet Lord. The original crew is much older now, elderly, but very few have died. Our officers are being brought out of cryo sleep and replacements for the old and dead will be trained. The drones were correct, the target world is a human colony, though little else is known.¡±

    ¡°A human colony? Seeded before the invasion?¡±

    ¡°Likely yes, or during. Colony is likely the wrong word but we are unsure of their tech level. I believe they had help from the council races, it is the only way that they could exist here.¡±

    The hand seemed nervous about that. Humans were not sitting members of the galactic council, they were thought of as primitive and volatile. Constantly warring among themselves. They had not yet been contacted by another race for fear that it would plunge their religious society into chaos.

    The council had no reason to help them set up a beta colony in the Andromeda galaxy, that was curious, but Skald¡¯s gamble had payed off. He had followed the reports of activity from his Andromeda scout drones and he had found them. With Earth fallen, they would be cut off. An isolated farm and a jumping off point to expand into Andromeda where the Milky Way species had no authority.

    ¡°This is wonderful news Vigas. How far out are we?¡± Skald asked as he stood and stretched his toned muscles.

    ¡°A month at least, Fleet Lord, I was unsure if we should wake you yet but decided that we should, so that you could guide the fleet on approach.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Vigas, your sound decision making has brought you to the Andromeda Galaxy and glory will follow.¡± Skald said, pulling the head of his second in command close to his own, and then began to don his jet black armor and his crimson helm. The only one of it¡¯s kind in the entire fleet. ¡°Tens of thousands of Sharlah will feast on this ball of mud and the hairless primates who think it belongs to them.¡±

    ¡°Shall I bring you a human?¡± Vigas asked, hissing with delight through his razor edged teeth.

    ¡°Do any of the reformers remain?¡±

    ¡°Yes Fleet Lord, but their populations have dropped, as we cannot feed them well enough. The humans can eat fruits and vegetables.¡±

    ¡°This was expected. Bring me one.¡±

 Chapter 6 - Urgent message

    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."

 Chapter 7 - Collision Course

    Ruo awoke to the sound of muffled voices yelling on the bridge. She dragged herself out from under the blankets and quickly threw on yesterday¡¯s uniform, deciding that whatever the commotion was, it was more important than a crisp look. She did however take a moment to steel her emotions. Even though her secondary job on this tour around the star was to train LT. Zhao on managing a crew, it wasn¡¯t something that she enjoyed doing. Accepting what her morning had already become, she slapped the unlock button and stormed onto the bridge before the door had even finished opening.

    ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± She yelled over the excited voices much like a parent does to stop an argument between their children. To her surprise, the bridge crew was not at each other¡¯s throats, rather, they were gathered around the main sensor display. ¡°Lieutenant Commander-¡± The fresh faced sensor tech said with wide eyes. ¡°The Vistan ship, it¡¯s not changing course. We will collide in two hours.¡±

    Ruo sighed. ¡°This is a common occurrence. I ordered Lieutenant Zhao to maintain course for a reason.¡± She glanced at the duty officer for only a moment, but it was enough. ¡°and that has not changed. Everyone back to your stations. Zhao, I need to go over something with you in my quarters. I never want to see my bridge in such a condition again. You are all sailors in the Tiantang Navy, act like it.¡±

    ¡°Lieutenant Commander, I¡¯m sorry.¡± Zhao said sheepishly.

    ¡°I do not want an apology, I want an explanation. You had your orders.¡±

    ¡°I..I¡¯m not sure what I did wrong. The situation was becoming an emergency. I wanted to adjust course but you ordered me not to, why?¡±

    ¡°To change course would be to show weakness. We may be on the same side now, but they are measuring us. We must show them how small their dicks are. The crew sensed your lack of confidence and reacted to handle the situation themselves.¡± Ruo said, an unreadable emotion taking over her face. Disappointment? Anger? ¡°If they collide with us, they will all die and we will simply have to wipe off the mess. Why would they allow that to happen?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I understand now. I¡¯m-¡° He started to apologize again but stopped short with a glance at her face.

    ¡°Do not ever apologize. That also shows weakness.¡± Ruo said, standing from the table. "When you make a decision, you face the consequences with a stone cold face because it is what you have chosen."

    ¡°Yes Lieutenant Commander.¡±

    ¡°You are still on duty for another 3 hours. Navigate the situation with authority Lieutenant Zhao.¡±

    Further sleep eluded Ruo and she spent the next 180 minutes alternating between monitoring the bridge cameras and filling out the mind numbing paperwork that she was forced to do every day. The high speed pass from the Vistans went smoothly with Zhao pretending to ignore it, but she could see his tense body language matching those crew members who were new on this tour, as the timer displayed over the sensor station counted down.

    They did maintain heading, this was commendable, and a sigh of relief swept across the bridge as the more experienced Vistan crew sailed past at a tight 10km. The cruiser having slightly adjusted course over the final two hours with short spurts of thrust. There was some unprofessional clapping and cheering but there were times when a lapse in discipline could be let go. This experience would build morale and camaraderie among the green crew.

    Too heavy a hand and Ruo risked stifling the talents and ingenuity that had elevated these individuals to the United Tiantang Navy and their vessel''s post among the militia in the first place. They were all top level professionals and specialists in their jobs. A good leader needed to walk that line and allow her best people to do what they do without fearing a confrontation with her. Even in disciplining Zhao for allowing a lapse in professionalism, she did not scold or embarrass him. To do so would be to make him an adversary rather than a student.

    Ruo stepped out of her quarters exactly ten minutes before the change of duty tone, as was customary in the Tiantang Navy, but this time she did not quietly observe the happenings on the bridge. All eyes turned to her as she walked across the sacred room, looking at each station as she passed. Zhao started to rise from the command chair but she waved for him to sit.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°You did well with all things considered, but as I said before, I never want to see my bridge in such disarray. I never want to see my crew leaving their stations or second guessing the officer on duty. If the officer on duty is not the captain, they are operating under the captain¡¯s orders, so in second guessing them, you are second guessing me. The Vistans tested our mettle and they learned that the Tiantang Navy will not yield to their childish game. We held our course and dared them to cause a fatal accident. Well done. Lieutenant Zhao, you are relieved of duty, get some rest.¡± Ruo said and took her position in the command seat.

    <hr>

    Ruo sipped her morning coffee as she quietly scrolled through what she called her daily mail. Her tablet displayed several categories representing the various areas of the Bao and their operations. Each category had it¡¯s own subcategories and some of them had the exclamation mark symbol demanding her attention. She tapped on the mess hall icon and read the message there. One of the freezers was malfunctioning but keeping the food cold enough for now. Maintenance was already working on fabrication of a new electrical plug. She sent a simple message in response.

    Acknowledged, use any food today that cannot be transferred to a different unit.

    She navigated to other areas, handling minor issues such as weapons maintenance and a respiratory illness that had affected a few crew members from logistics, before opening her direct messages.

    Lieutenant Commander Ruo, if you are available, I would like to show you something that we have been working on. - Master Sgt Kang

    Attached was a photo of an empty storage area with a makeshift model of a small ship and special operators breaching a doorway inside. She perked up at this as she very much liked Kang and his band of ¡°extra special soldiers¡± as she jokingly called them. They were a no nonsense unit that had seen a fair bit of action against criminal elements inside of Tiantang but they also were enjoyable to be around. It didn¡¯t hurt that some of them were fairly attractive as well. She remembered that she still had yesterday¡¯s uniform on and worked to smooth out some of the wrinkles.

    As the commanding officer of the Bao, fraternizing with the soldiers in a romantic way while in service would be deemed inappropriate but visiting them to sit in on their training and evaluating their effectiveness, well that was encouraged. That was good leadership.

    As she reached the hanger that held their mockup of a boarding operation, she could hear loud laughter coming from inside and a shot of anxiety flowed through her, right down to her full stomach. Lunch was a bit excessive due to the freezer malfunction. It was childish. A group of boys doing boy things made her nervous. She gathered herself and walked into the hanger. One of the team was laying on the ground outside of the main hatch of the fake ship and calling for someone to carry him.

    "I''m hit right in the ass, help, someone needs to suck out the bullet!" he yelled and reached out to his teammates. All of which quickly found other things that needed their attention. One even went as far as to pull the cleaning kit out of his rifle and start wiping his holographic rifle scope.

    "CAPTAIN ON DECK!" Kang shouted and stood at attention as the other troops scrambled to do the same.

    "At ease gentleman. I was told that I needed to see this?" Ruo said with a smile.

    Kang chuckled as he relaxed his posture. "Uh yes, about that. They were just taking a break. That''s how they do it apparently. We''ll suit up for a real run and place fresh targets. Please join me on the catwalk."

    A short time later Ruo had a cats eye view of the small freighter. There was no roof to the ship, only walls and doors, but the layout was very true to life. Cardboard cutouts of aliens with snarling faces and futuristic weapons were placed in some rooms, other rooms had humans, and some rooms had both. The extra special soldiers had transformed into a professional unit with loaded weapons, simulated ammunition, and night vision goggles. The lights in the hanger were cut off causing Ruo to jump and reach for Kang''s arm, he did not react to the touch, but he did open his tablet which showed a white phosphorous view of the ship from the security camera''s in the hanger.

    "You put on quite the show Master Sergeant." Ruo said quietly.

    The main door on the mockup ship was made from scrap armor panels that had been replaced the last time that the Bao was docked with the Tiantang shipyard in orbit. It suddenly lit up as a breaching device was armed and began a quick countdown. The light flashed five times and then rapidly before an explosion rocked Ruo''s insides. The door crupled inward and the team filtered through quickly alternating so as the rapidly gain sightlines on the whole interior. One to the left, one to the right like a zipper.

    "CONTACT LEFT" rang out followed immediately by three shots and a "CLEAR". Kang was smiling at the decapitated cardboard alien that had been holding a human hostage moments before. The boarding party moved methodically from room to room, clearing hostiles and rescuing innocents before Kang threw a curveball at them.

    "Man down! Man down!" he screamed and the operator who was on point did his best ragdoll and slumped against the wall. The man behind him grabbed his collar and began dragging him to the rear as the rest of the team pushed forward. The medic worked on the casualty for the rest of the operation until they were given the "All clear" command from Master Sergeant Kang and the lights came back on.

    "Very impressive Kang. I hope that we never need your men to do that, but it''s reassuring to know that they can." Ruo said.

    "If you think that is impressive, you should see them when we have pizza."

 Chapter 8 - New Job

    Ash was normally a very friendly and positive man despite his lonely former profession, his divorce, and his lack of contact with Laura as she grew older. That¡¯s why when he left his quarters after watching the holographic message from Kate¡¯s father, she and Jayden knew immediately that something was wrong.

    ¡±Ash what happened? What did Charlie say?¡± Kate asked as she sat down with Jayden at the tiny kitchen table, obvious concern in her eyes. There were very few minor problems when you lived in a tin can that was flying through space on autopilot. Ash followed and cleared his throat.

    ¡°We uh- we were lied to about this job. It was for a good reason, but um- I¡¯m really not sure how to tell you this. Charlie are you able to play the audio from Mr. Young?¡±

    ¡°Yes Captain. Give me a moment to isolate it and I¡¯m done.¡±

    ¡±What?¡±

    ¡±I was already done before I finished the sentence but you couldn¡¯t have known that so I had to tell you.¡±

    Ash nodded in appreciation. ¡°This won¡¯t be easy to hear, but I believe that it¡¯s the truth. If it¡¯s not, then your dad has a really weird sense of humor Kate.¡± Ash said. He was staring blankly at his meatloaf and mashed potatoes as he spoke.

    ¡±I don¡¯t think he has one at all Ash.¡± Kate said.

    <hr>

    "Well lets get to it." Ash said, lifting the prybar that he had found in the tool room. This was only the second or third time that he had visited the Solent''s considerable cargo hold. He hadn''t loaded it himself, he merely looked over the paperwork and took a peek inside to make sure everything seemed okay. This time he had a reason and it was going to be hard work. The so called mining supplies were in large wooden crates that were nailed shut and sitting on their own pallets for easy unloading. "Jay, how big would this jump drive be? These boxes are all pretty small to be carrying an engine for a starship."

    "I honestly don''t know, I''ve never seen one before. This must have been secret squirrel shit."

    "Captain, the jump drive isn''t actually an engine itself, it''s a modification for both the engine and myself in a way, think of it as a new computer system." The always present and always listening Charlie said.

    "Okay, here''s what we''ll do. We start on the left wall and pop everything open. We figure out what is empty and what has something in it and we organize them. empty gets collapsed to the right wall, full stays to the left. Kate you''re on duty but can you help us get started?"

    "Sure, I''ll follow behind you and mark them with lipstick after you crack the top. Jay can move them." She said with a wink.

    <hr>

    "Here it is, right Charlie?" Jayden yelled over the sound of splintering wood and the grunting of a middle aged man who was out of breath.

    "Yes Mr. Cross, that''s it. Please take it to the engine room so we can get started immediately."

    "Mr. Cross? Why so formal."

    There was no answer even though everyone knew that she couldn''t help but overhear.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    "Ash, did you see this?" Kate called out from the right side of the cargo bay.

    "What is it?"

    "You had better take a look. I thought this one was empty too until I tried to move it. It''s way too heavy to be."

    Ash tried to move the pallet and agreed. "Yeah there''s something in here, watch out, let me rip the nails out of these walls." He said and started pulling the crate apart.

    Inside the two layers of wall there were white boxes stuffed into every inch of open space. Ash pulled down one of the walls as the boxes tumbled out, spilling, and their contents clinked off of the metal flooring. His eyes went wide. "Bullets! Oh my god. There''s probably a hundred boxes in this crate."

    "Ash look, the floor panel isn''t actually the bottom." Kate said, pointing to a gap between the bottom of the crate and he floor boards.

    Ash stuck his prybar in the empty space and pulled with all of his remaining strength until if finally gave way. The secret area held three old earth rifles. AK-47''s to be exact or some variant of that. Ash had seen them in some of the old earth movies that Charlie had stored in her database. "Jay go ahead and work on the jump drive with Charlie, we need to look closer at these crates." Ash said, wiping the sweat from his brow and staring up at the lights in the ceiling but he found no button to make things easier.

    <hr>

    "Charlie, you never answered me. Why did you call me Mr. Cross in front of the others?"

    "Two reasons. I didn''t want to seem too familiar with one member of the crew over the others. Also I feel... I feel guilty."

    "Guilty? How so?" Jayden said as he opened the large box that contained the hardware for modifying the engines to fold space. His hands were shaking. This must have cost millions of credits, or had it? It was alien tech after all. Did they just supply the first humans on Dottier with it?

    "I feel as though I''ve lied to you. In all of the times we''ve talked through the night, I never mentioned anything about the Sharlah or what happened to Earth. I don''t think I lied. I think the information was blocked until we reached a certain time or place in the trip to Aegir and Ingrid. It was like I suddenly knew everything and I could access abilities and processing power that I never had before."

    "It''s ok Charlie, I don''t think I would have wanted to know before we left. There are people that I love on Dottir. I couldn''t have left them knowing what I know now. None of us could have. That''s why Mr. Young hid everything until now. We have no choice but to try to help from out here."

    "Why didn''t he send an army instead of three people?"

    "I think three people would be easier to keep alive. Less food, water, more mobile. Plus if we do find some way to contact other races, it won''t be as threatening. People would have noticed an army leaving the planet and asked questions too. I don''t know if we can do anything honestly. He probably just wanted to get Kate off world. They must be pretty bad if he was that scared."

    "They are. I can show you."

    Jayden was opening and organizing the various parts by size and shape but he stopped cold. "What do you mean?"

    "I have footage from the invasion of Earth, I can show you the Sharlah."

    <hr>

    ¡°Whoa." Jayden gasped.

    "Right?" Ash said as Jayden stood in the doorway of the cargo hold. His eyes wide and his mouth open. Against the right wall stood three blue suits of what looked like armor or at least beefed up environmental suits. He could see the oxygen tanks attached to the back of each one and a number of spares still in an open crate behind them. Next to that was a crate with the rifles, ammo, magazines, and grenades, as well as first aid supplies.

    "What are we supposed to do with this stuff?" He asked, shaking his head.

    "Well I''m not sure but there is an old saying. ''I''d rather be caught with it than be caught without it.'' Mr. Young stashed all of this here for us, I would assume just in case we need it." Ash said, sweeping up the wood scraps and packing material and tossing them into an empty crate on the left.

    "We should bring those up to the main deck. If we need oxygen or guns, it''s probably an emergency." Jayden said, rubbing his hand down the soft yet hard plates built into the suit.

    "You''re the idea guy. I like that." Ash said and pointed at him.

    It took all afternoon to stow away the supplies that they had found. Along with everything else there was what looked like years worth of food and drink as well as water filters to recycle contaminated water or waste. The environmental suits were clearly sized for each of them, so there was no need to claim one. They strapped them all in a line against the wall near the kitchen and each claimed all the armaments that they could store in their quarters. Charlie told them she could teach a few basic first aid classes so that they could make use of the medical supplies but she insisted on showing them the footage from Earth as soon as possible.

 Chapter 9 - First Contact

    ¡°WE HAVE CONTACTS BEARING¡­.BEARING¡­ THEY¡¯RE EVERYWHERE! The voice of her sensor operator broke Ruo out of a mid-shift daze and sent a shot of adrenaline burning through her body.

    ¡°What? What is it? Distance?¡± She stuttered, trying to find the right questions to ask.

    ¡°Unknown vessels, Ten light seconds. Oh my god there are more now! Thirty, maybe Forty total. There¡¯s something interfering with our sensors. A blast of radiation I think or an EMP.¡±

    Ruo shot out of the command seat, calling for Zhao and motioning for the large monitor to show her a view outside of the ship. The image instantly changed from the forward point of view which mostly showed Dottir as the ship closely orbited her, to the starboard view. The blackness of space was repeatedly punctured by flashes of light, almost like a rapid thunderstorm back on Earth. Ruo thought it would have been beautiful if not for the implications of each flash. These were ships flaring their engines to slow themselves.

    ¡°Lieutenant Commander, we¡¯re being hailed on a system wide frequency.¡±

    ¡°Play the message.¡±

    ¡°All ships of the United Dottir Militia. This is not a drill. Scramble into formation and break orbit. I repeat. This is not a drill, scramble into formation and break orbit. Approach the unknown ships and attempt to make contact. Do not fire. Do not fire.¡±

    A feeling of calm washed over Ruo as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. A practiced mental maneuver to gain control of her fear and emotions so that she could lead others who were just as scared and looked to her for answers. Her eyes opened and her face was all business.

    ¡°Do as he says. Break orbit and join the other ships of the wall. Keep the weapons locked, we don¡¯t want to be the reason for a war to break out. Sound battle stations.¡±

    An alarm Klaxon wailed five times and the lights across the ship dimmed to signify all hands to battle stations. All across the ship items were strapped down or stowed, environmental suits were made ready, weapons were handed out to those qualified to use them, and crewmen prayed to their gods for safe passage through whatever lie ahead. Zhao barged onto the bridge with messy hair, buttoning his blouse as he fast-walked toward Ruo.

    ¡°What is it?¡± he said, still bleary eyed.

    ¡°Forty plus unknown contacts in system and more are coming as we speak. We¡¯ve been ordered to break orbit and form a wall. They''re manipulating our sensors. Take the second seat and monitor communications for anything that I might miss.¡± She ordered, stopping all questions or conversation that would have followed the revelation.

    ¡°Yes Lieutenant Commander.¡± Was his crisp reply and he set to work.

    The Bao vibrated as the lightly used engines roared to life, turning the ship away from the vibrant blue and green of Dottir and into the inky black of space itself. Ruo¡¯s nerves tried to claw their way back to the forefront and her stomach twisted and threatened to show itself but she pushed it all down to where it came from and stared at the forward view. Flash. Flash. Flash. They just kept coming.

    Hours passed and conversation fizzled out as the tension took hold of everyone aboard the Bao. Some of the other nation¡¯s ships had already arrived at the pre determined rally point and took their positions with the larger capitol ships in the rear and their escorts all around them to act as a primary point defense for incoming missiles. Nobody even knew if these mystery ships used missiles.

    The entire doctrine of the U.D.M. was based on what humans knew to be possible but everybody knew that if hostile aliens attacked, anything could be possible. Ruo¡¯s destroyer, Bao, took up a position alongside the flagship super destroyer, Xi¡¯an, which was tucked away behind 35 cruisers and 10 heavy battleships, all armed with their own missiles, energy weapons, and point defense drones which had not yet been launched as they were very costly and could not be recalled.

    The Alien ships too were coming together.

    Flash. Flash. Flash.

    ¡°How many are there now?¡± Zhao asked the sensor tech.

    ¡°Over one hundred sir, but our sensors are struggling. Each ship seems to be sending out a pulse of some kind that temporarily disables them. I can only see what is happening when there is a momentary lull.¡±

    ¡°Very well. You¡¯re doing fine.¡± Zhao said and glanced at Ruo who only nodded.

    Ruo looked at the real-time tactical information on her personal instruments. To the left of the Tiantang wall was the considerable New Vistan fleet and to the right, the Republic of Svoboda fleet had lined up. Between those three nations, there were 140 warships but that was largely escort vessels and battleships. They were still armed with sharp teeth but only seven were hulking capital ships. The alien formation continued to grow and float slowly toward Dottir.

    It was still outnumbered but there was no sign of the new arrivals slowing. Ruo feared that soon the battle would look like a knight standing before a dragon with his village behind him. Maybe it wouldn¡¯t be a battle though. She did not know their intentions, although there were better ways to introduce yourself than bringing an entire fleet and blasting radiation throughout the system.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°We are being hailed on all frequencies!¡± The communications tech called out. ¡°Audio and visual.¡± He added.

    ¡°Acknowledged, show me.¡± Ruo responded curtly.

    The image on the main view screen changed from the growing fleet ahead to the view inside one of the ships, ceasing all conversation on the bridge of the Bao. The screen showed a human-like form dressed from head to toe in body armor so black that it seemed to darken the area around it. A set of gloved hands reached up and slowly removed the crimson red helmet, exposing a gray face punctuated by slanted black eyes and a grin showing a set of teeth that would scare away most earthly predators.

    It¡¯s nostrils flared as it held out it¡¯s hand to a crew member but it didn¡¯t break eye contact with the camera. It took a small metallic object from an open gray palm and inserted it into it¡¯s ear. Ruo¡¯s skin crawled at the sight. They may have been human-like in shape, they had two arms, two legs and two eyes, but they would never be mistaken for one outside of that armor.

    It''s low gravely voice commanded authority.

    ¡°My name is one that you would not understand or be able to say. You will refer to me as Fleet Lord Skald. A name that I have chosen from the history of your...other world. Our world. We have come to harvest what belongs to us. We have traveled a vast distance to make our claim. You would be wise to hand over control peacefully. You have one of your days to decide. The amount of blood that must be spilled before this happens will also be decided by you, but know this. You cannot resist the Sharlah. If you try, you will only know war and a crushing defeat. We can uplift your species from the ball of mud that you inhabit. We have technology far beyond yours. We can cure your diseases, we can bring peace to your nations, we can show you other worlds, but you must not resist us.¡±

    More ships entered the system.

    <hr>

    Charlie took control of the flat screen television in the lounge area of the Solent and the screen turned black before projecting a paused image of dirt and the toe of someone''s boot.

    "What I am about to show you is extremely graphic. I think it is important that you know what the people of Dottir face if the message from Mr. Young is true. You will not be the same people that I see now when this video is finished." The soft feminine voice of the ships ai sounded even softer than normal. Ash was beginning to think there was more to her than just programming.

    "Go ahead Charlie. I want to know." Ash said, glancing over at Jayden and Kate just to be sure. They nodded solemnly.

    The video unpaused and it the camera quickly tilted up and took on the view of a helmet camera. The soldier was getting up from a rest on the side of a road. It looked just like Dottir, it was shocking. even the roads were painted the same way. She really was the daughter of Earth. The soldier waved his arm in a circular motion and several others rose to their feet and began climbing into the truck that was parked right in front of them.

    "Lance Corporal! Thirty seconds, lets go." the POV soldier said as he climbed into the drivers seat and started up the old military transport. There was a banging sound behind him and he started to pull away when an emergency alert sounded from the cell phone in his pocket. he stopped midway into the road and pulled it out to check. The message read.

    "All units report back to Camp Lejune. This is not a drill. Hostile fleet in orbit."

    "I am skipping ahead now." Charlie said, nearly in a whisper.

    The video jump cut to the man looking down at his blood soaked camoflauge thighs, still in the truck and then over at the passenger who was missing half of his head and face. The front of the truck was on fire as he rolled out of the drivers door, dazed. He stumbled on wobbly legs over the embankment as a jet black fighter craft banked in the distance and then lined up the covoy for another strike. Red beams zipped from it like lightning bolts and the flaming transport lifted and rolled as if picked up by a strong wind. I just missed the soldier who had captured the moment perfectly and it rolled down the embankment, spilling men and equipment from the back.

    He ran to them and grabbed a rifle and several magazines from a still form on the ground. "RALLY ON ME!" he screamed, making the same circular motion. Another craft flared its tail end, firing thrusters from the bottom to come to a hover just over the ground. The side door slid open and armored alien troops spilled out, firing red pulses from their rifles that splintered the trees behind him. Screams erupted from the men higher on the bank as he called out "FIRE!" and opened up with his own rifle.

    Some of the alien troops stumbled with the impacts and a few even went down but behind them were more. He stopped and watched in shock as a second craft belched out larger beings, still humanoid but massive, like professional wrestlers. Behind them were muscular dog like creatures that were snarling and trying to bite everything, anyone, even friendlies in their path that weren''t on the ship with them.

    The video cut again and the POV soldier was looking at the ground and crying. He was deeper in the woods this time, he must have retreated. A wounded soldier was lying beside him and trying to hold pressure on his throat but he was pale and trembling. He looked at the man with the camera, pleading with his eyes.

    "I''m sorry. I c-c-cant help." He said as he picked up his rifle and limped away from him. Howls echoed through the forest and red beams flashed through the canopy, bringing down the tops of trees like razor sharp chainsaws.

    The man stumbled but climbed back to his feet and then stumbled again. He looked down at a mangled lower leg. It was burned all the way up to his shin and his boot was missing. Tattered camouflage and blood was all that remained of his foot. He started to crawl, the camera buried in the leaves and dirt but was lifted and tossed at least five yards, coming to the ground with a grunt.

    He rolled over just in time to see a gray faced nightmare coming down on him with fangs ready to tear his flesh. It wasn''t one of the dogs, it was one of the soldiers. He screamed in terror and pain as it ripped into his chest rig and then began trying to remove it. He lifted his rifle and fired but it was swatted away by another alien being that was still wearing it''s jet black helmet and it kicked him in the face, sending the camera skittering away. It landed a few feet away, still recording, but Charlie cut the feed.

    <hr>

    The feed cut off and was momentarily black before returning to the front facing cameras of the Bao. All heads turned to Lieutenant Commander Ruo including Zhao who looked at her in shock. Ruo again pushed her feelings into a dark corner and put on a brave face. There was no call for her to make. This situation was far above her pay grade and she simply needed to wait for word from the flag and execute her orders.

    ¡°I don''t know any more than you do. They seem hostile but willing to talk. We do not yield." She said, her voice low and breathy. "Hold our position in the wall and wait for orders from the Xi¡¯an. Admiral Chen has also received the same transmission.¡±

 Chapter 10 - Connor James

    ¡°Hey babe!¡± Laura said as she barged into Connor''s dorm room and laughed when he turned his head toward her and all she could see was the virtual reality headset that covered the upper part of his face.

    ¡°Hello adventurer.¡± Was all that he said before turning back to the front and pressing the joysticks forward.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think maybe you should be getting dressed? We have to leave in like 45 minutes.¡± She said, setting down a bag of fast food.

    ¡°Can¡¯t I just wear this? It¡¯s dark in the theater, nobody will even notice.¡±

    ¡°You could but I wouldn¡¯t recommended it, its starting to rain. Here.¡± She said and threw a pair of pants at his head which he expertly caught in one hand.

    ¡°You know the camera turns on when something is about to hit me.¡± He said before noticing the middle finger she was holding up at him. "Nice one.¡± He nodded.

    As they ate, Connor looked at his lovely girlfriend and wondered how he had been so lucky to find such a patient and kind beauty like her. She was a ten in his eyes and far out of his league. She could have almost anyone, but she chose him. He was also loving and kind toward most people but at times he could be an immature man-child. He loved comic books and video games and really anything inside of the realm of nerdism. He had found that most people that you meet while pursuing those interests are also very accepting. He had decided early on that they were his people.

    ¡°Alright lets hit it, I just got a message from Rich and Sheila. They''re already waiting for us. Hopefully they saved us a couple of seats.¡± Connor said, and quickly slipped on his boots and Spider-Man hoodie.

    Laura laughed ¡°Okay Okay, lets go. I can¡¯t wait to see if they survive the evil villain, uh¡±

    ¡°The Stalker.¡±

    ¡°Right, Stalker.¡±

    ¡°The Stalker.¡±

    "The Stalker" She said with an eye roll.

    The theater was only a few miles away from campus, as most things were. The city had built itself around the college, knowing that it would be a massive source of income and it was there to stay. Connor jogged up to the ticket booth but always-on-time Rich had already bought their tickets and was nervously waving for them to hurry up.

    ¡°Thanks man, I got lost in VR, thank god for Laura. She found me and fed me.¡± Connor said, hustling toward screen 12.

    ¡°Again?¡± Rich asked, looking back at the girls and shaking his head. ¡°You know your dad would kick your ass and put you to work if I told him what you¡¯ve been doing with your time.¡±

    ¡°Yeah he probably would, so don¡¯t tell him. He has enough farm hands, he doesn¡¯t need me anymore.¡± Connor said.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t have to pay you though, he just has to not kick your ass and you consider yourself compensated.¡± Rich replied.

    ¡°True.¡± Connor said, holding the doors for the ladies and following behind them.

    They settled into the back row, as was tradition, and after the previews they dawned their 3d glasses for the main event.

    "Babe, are you sure I can stay at the farm this weekend? I want to meet your parents, but I know how busy they are."

    "Yeah, it''ll be fine."

    "Did you ask?"

    The low lights in the theater flickered and then went off for a few seconds before returning to light up the aisles and emergency exit. Connor looked over at Laura and raised his eyebrows as the screen, too, flickered before coming back up and showing a man in jet black body armor.

    ¡°Ohh he¡¯s new.¡± Connor whispered and Rich nodded his agreement.

    ¡°¡°My name is one that you would not understand or be able to say. You will refer to me as Fleet Lord Skald. A name that I have chosen from the history of your...other world. Our world. We have come to harvest what belongs to us."

    The speech continued to the end followed by more flickering and the beginning credits for The Stalker.

    ¡°Wait, what was that? That was weird.¡± Sheila said and shifted in her seat.

    ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t know, maybe that was a preview for another movie. I don¡¯t think he was from the comics.¡± Rich said and put his arm rest down to accommodate his 48 ounce soda.

    After the movie was over Sheila had suggested going out for a late dinner at the Vista Line Grill where she used to work. It was open 24 hours and had decent food but the best part was that they would sometimes serve 19-20 year olds a beer or two, so long as the waitress knew you.

    ¡°Hey look, it wasn¡¯t just in our movie, my dad said it came up on the TV too.¡± Rich said, flipping his phone around to show a video taken from his dad¡¯s recliner. It was the same dark figure with gray skin, shoving what looked like a tiny metal worm into his ear.

    ¡°Well shit, it must be a prank or something. Hackers maybe.¡± Connor said.

    ¡°It looked so real though, like their makeup and everything. That guy even blinked his eyes.¡± Laura pointed out, taking the phone from Rich and rewinding the video a few times. ¡°Look, you can even see his nostrils flair, like that¡¯s his real nose.¡±

    ¡°Maybe they just found some ugly bastard and painted him gray.¡± Said Rich

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Lets just watch the movie and get home. It will probably be on the news tomorrow if it¡¯s some kind of prank. Laura said and handed the phone back to him.

    <hr>

    The old farmhouse still looked the same as it had when he left for college nearly a year ago. The weeds were higher and encroaching on his mothers flower beds which stretched around the picturesque front deck. It stretched across the front of the house on both sides of the door and gave anyone who sat there a perfect view of the main wheat fields and the four hundred yard long dirt and gravel driveway from the main road. It was late, nearly 11:30pm, but they had been expecting him so the door was unlocked and Conner lead the way through the dark kitchen to the extra bedroom that his older sister had once owned, it had become a guest bedroom and also a place to store boxes full of junk.

    "You can sleep here." He whispered and threw dozens of garments with hangers off to the side. "Sorry it smells weird."

    Laura laughed quietly "You didn''t answer my question earlier, did you ask them?"

    "I''ll ask tomorrow." Conner said and stuck out his tongue as he leaned in and kissed her goodnight.

    Several things happened while Connor slept off the late night in his small Childhood bed. The sound of a warning from the television went unheard. Military bases all around the world were coming alive with activity. Fighter jets were being fueled and strapped with their full compliment of missiles. Soldiers were roused from their dreams and told to gear up and be on alert. The president of New Vista was rushed into a waiting chopper and taken to an unknown location, and a wall of brave defenders from every space navy stood firm in the face of an overwhelming fleet, though not a soul aboard those ships felt anything but fear.

 Chapter 11 - Message From the Milky Way

    Fleet Lord Skald,

    Your insubordination will not be tolerated. I can only hope that this message finds you just before the moment of your death but I know that you are too stubborn to die. You have committed a betrayal that will go down in history as the worst of our people. Not only did you take ships and warriors that did not rightfully belong to you, you also doomed your clan stationed on Earth. One hundred years from now when your little pet hands you this message, it is your duty, your honor, to self destruct all vessels of your fleet. I know you will not do that so the warrior in me looks forward to meeting you in battle should our race decide to officially expand into the Andromeda Galaxy. Your impatience and your ambition has brought shame to your clan. Those that you left behind will be executed in whatever manner that I see fit. Your father would be proud, but the rest of your kind will pay for your poor judgement. - Overlord Cygnus

    <hr>

    "Who has seen this waste of data?"

    "Only me Fleet Lord. I pulled it from the main directory along with other...concerning reports." Hand Vigas replied with false bravado on his face. This could be his end but he did not truly believe that the Fleet Lord would kill him in an uncharacteristic loss of control.

    "Very well. Wipe it from existence. Cygnus has no power here. He is bluffing. What other news do you bring?"

    "Yes Fleet Lord. The farm ships report extreme losses among the human population due to malnutrition and the expected hunger of the officers and other personnel that were in cryo. The farmed population has served it''s purpose but we must land on Dottir."The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    "Understood. Bring me a human and prepare to make another broadcast."

    "Yes Sir." Hand Vigas turned to leave the office of the Fleet Lord.

    "Vigas."

    "Yes Fleet Lord?"

    "This broadcast only goes to the ships of the defense force. Do not hijack the planetary feeds."

    "Yes Fleet Lord."

    As the door to his office slid closed, Fleet Lord Skald stared into the mirror in his bathing chamber. His reflection exuded authority. His face was hard, his eyes black and empty. There was no fear, no apprehension, no mercy. He had made the decision to defy orders and strike off on his own and he would see it through. The captains of his fleet did not need to see that message, it was of no consequence to them. They were here with him because he made the right decision, not because he had lied about having the approval of Overlord Cygnus to expand. Some of them would give their lives this day for the conquest of Dottir and any distraction from the course could not be allowed to propagate through his fleet. His armor was immaculate, perfect. The lights in his office reflected off of the black panels as he passed under them. Whomever had taken care of it for the past one hundred years had done an admirable job. He made a mental note to thank them, if they had not died of old age.

    The Sharlah warriors in the corridor brought their fists up in salute as he passed and he returned it. Skald had earned their respect on the battlefields of earth as a young man. His father was the Fleet Lord of that war and it would have been enough just to be his offspring but to actually spill blood among some of these very same officers was the highest form of respect earned. As he passed one of the many armories aboard his vessel, The Fist of Conquerors, the young soldiers inside shot to attention with startled looks on their faces. They were born on this voyage, were educated in classrooms and training hulls, were raised for one purpose - to kill humans and take their world for their race. They recognized their Fleet Lord, soon to be Overlord, and trembled with fear and excitement.

    Skald nodded his approval of their existence and said "Carry on." causing immediate relaxation in their posture but not their faces. "Today you will have your glory. We strike when the broadcast ends."

 Chapter 12 - Battle Stations

    ¡°You are to hold position. Do not let them pass. We are here with you no matter what happens. It is our duty to protect the Dottir, to protect Tiantang, and to protect our families at all costs.¡± Ruo walked slowly across the bridge and read the official orders to the men and women who were looking for her guidance. It was an unconventional way to communicate orders but she felt that it was appropriate and possibly motivating to them. ¡°Though their fleet is enormous and could easily bypass a fight with us, they seem to want to negotiate a surrender first. We will not surrender our planet. We simply cannot. All of Dottir stands united in this. It may be the first thing in which we have all fully agreed on.¡± A chuckle escaped the lips of several of her sailors and she returned a grin.

    ¡°Lieutenant Commander Ruo.¡± Zhao called out as she finished her performance of the orders from the Xi¡¯an. ¡°Admiral Chen would like to speak with you privately in your quarters.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Zhao, please make sure we hold our position alongside the Xi¡¯an. Any missiles, if that¡¯s what these things use, will be our responsibility to shoot down. Do not let anything past us.¡±

    ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am, our shield drones are deployed and the shipboard point defense system is running in the background unless gunnery takes over.¡±

    ¡°Very good, dismissed.¡± Ruo said, holding eye contact just a moment longer and nodding appreciatively at the young officer. She walked into her quarters, ensured that the door locked behind her, and gave her blouse a straightening tug before opening up the comm request from Admiral Chen.

    ¡°Lieutenant Commander, I¡¯ve had my techs running scans on the alien ships since they came into range. They seem pretty certain that these things don¡¯t have any kind of energy shielding or point defense cannons. They¡¯ve been taking impacts from small and medium sized rocks and have been maneuvering to avoiding collisions with larger ones.¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t they have defensive systems to stop damage to their ships during travel at least?¡± Ruo thought out loud.

    ¡°We¡¯re not sure, we think maybe it¡¯s because their armor is very advanced and space rocks aren¡¯t a threat to them. Either that, or they¡¯re bluffing about their tech.¡± Chen answered.

    ¡°Even if they are bluffing, they traveled here from outside of our solar system and that is something that we haven¡¯t yet been able to do.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that is true. Also their ships seem to be many different makes and models. Almost every ship has a different signature, from the engines all the way to the color of the paint in the ones that we can see.¡± Chen said, shaking his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think this is an organized alien navy. They¡¯re not even in a formation, at least as far as we understand the concept.¡±

    ¡°That is very strange. Has anyone from Naval command contacted Fleet Lord Skald?¡± Ruo asked.

    ¡°No, the politicians back home are running around in a panic. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if the building was on fire right now.¡± Admiral Chen laughed at his own joke. It was comforting to see the flag officer was feeling relaxed enough to indulge a joke.

    ¡°Admiral Chen, if this goes sideways, it has been a pleasure to serve under you.¡± Ruo said, and the wind visibly left his sails at the thought.

    ¡°Mei, I cannot think of a more noble death than standing firm in the face of an invasion of your home. You are all heroes and you have my utmost respect. It is already a pleasure to serve with you.¡± Chen said, a tear welling up in the corner of his eye.

    ¡°Good luck Admiral. We wont let anything past us, you just worry about shooting.¡± Ruo said with a nod and closed the connection before the tears could show in her own eyes.

    Ruo took a moment to gather herself and then glanced at the clock. It was nearly 22 hours since the message from Fleet Lord Skald had been broadcast through the fleet. She stepped out of her quarters and ordered Zhao to take a break and then return so that both of them would be on the bridge during the crucial countdown to the Fleet Lord¡¯s deadline.

    ¡°Can I get you a coffee?¡± Zhao asked her as he stood from the command chair.

    ¡°Of course.¡± She said with a smile and took her place. As she eased back into the comfortable embrace of the command chair and brought up the tactical screen, her body went rigid.

    <hr>

    The viewing screen changed to a fleetwide broadcast from Skald but this time he was not wearing his helmet and there was an extraordinarily pale and sickly looking human being kneeling at his side.

    "Humans. You have made your decision. I am pleased that you chose to stand and fight." He said. The gray skin around his pointed teeth pulled back into a disturbing smile before he lunged at the human and ripped a gaping hole in his throat. Bright red arterial blood sprayed into the sky like a fountain as the video feed cut back to the normal view in front of the Bao.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    ¡°BATTLE STATIONS!¡± Ruo called out, sending the ship into a flurry of well practiced chaos. The lights on the bridge dimmed slightly, compartments were sealed, environment suits were donned, and prayers were said by those who prayed. Zhao ran back into the bridge, empty handed, before sealing the door behind him. He wore a wide eyed expression as he asked for a report.

    ¡°The Sharlah are changing course away from us. I think they¡¯re lining up for a broadside. This data is several minutes old, they may have already fired. Move the drones out away from the ship and use the beams on anything that gets through. We are a shield for the admiral, don¡¯t forget.¡± Ruo called out not just to Zhao, but to all stations and was met with various acknowledgments.

    ¡°Missiles incoming. They¡¯re 4 minutes out.¡± It¡¯s a small volley, maybe just a probe to see how we react.¡±

    ¡°Hold position, trust our drones.¡±

    ¡°Aye ma¡¯am¡± The sensor operator said with tension in his voice.

    ¡°Ruo, I¡¯m trying to reach Skald but he, or it, isn¡¯t answering now. Fire at will.¡± Came the voice of Admiral Chen from her command station. The battle stations klaxon and shouting aboard the Xi''an could be heard in the background.

    Over 200 streaks of light appeared on her tactical screen. Return fire. The Sharlah would hopefully regret their assumption that a probing strike was a wise first move. Surely they could detect the shield drones surrounding most ships and extrapolate their purpose. It was amusing, for a fleeting moment, to picture the missiles passing each other in space on their way to do harm to each other¡¯s original vessels. This was Dottir''s first space battle, and it was happening in orbit of the planet itself. Ruo had hoped that it would never happen, but if it did, that it be in some far off system and not for the very survival of her species. There was nowhere to run and no peace would be had. All she could do was fight until her very last.

    ¡°Shield drones engaging, it¡¯s working ma¡¯am. Missiles are detonating at a safe distance. There may not even be any survivors to hit with point defense. OH GOD¡± The sensor operator covered his mouth and stared in shock at tactical and then at the viewing screen as a bright flash engulfed one of the New Vistan cruisers followed by a vessel from Svoda and then a New Vistan battleship.

    ¡°Fleet, those missiles weren¡¯t even detected by our sensors, they came out of nowhere!¡± It was an New Vistan''s voice first, then translated by the ship¡¯s AI and played from Ruo¡¯s station.

    ¡°That¡¯s a hit and another, Sharlah ships are dropping like flies Commander. More missiles incoming, this time they¡¯re not shooting at us. It looks like they¡¯re mostly focusing on the Vistan wall.

    "They¡¯re returning fire, it¡¯s a damn cloud.¡± Someone called out. A junior sensor tech.

    ¡°Acknowledged, choose a target that is already damaged and send what we have. Maintain drone coverage as our first priority always.¡±

    The ship vibrated as gunnery aimed several minutes ahead of a flagging Sharlah battleship and launched half of it¡¯s 75 missiles from the starboard side pods. The battleship was venting atmosphere and pieces of hull were spinning away from a gash caused by the first salvo from Admiral Chen¡¯s massive barrage. Ruo wondered what kind of atmosphere they breathed, if Dottir was their target because they needed somewhere to live or if they planned on raping the world of it¡¯s resources and moving on.

    Several more human ships died in spectacular fashion as the Sharlah moved to open up their lines and envelop the combined fleet from the front and sides as well as from below. The volume of fire from both sides picked up and the shield drones around the Tiantang capital ships struggled to keep up. Bright flashes on the viewing screen pulled Ruo¡¯s attention from the tactical display and the Bao rang like a gong. Zhao was thrown to the ground, having not strapped himself into his seat as protocol demanded.

    ¡°We¡¯re hit! Those flashes were missiles popping up right in front of us. What kind of weapon can do that?¡± The sensor operator yelled out.

    ¡°Damage report!¡± Ruo ordered verbally into the comms on her display.

    The report materialized on her screen along with a flashing icon that she had never seen before. It was a red button, much like you would see in a children¡¯s cartoon, and it demanded her attention. The damage from the missile strikes was relatively minor due to her upgraded point defense systems actually picking up the warheads at the last moment and striking them only one hundred meters away from the hull but the explosions still hammered the Bao, causing dents, holes, and injuries among the crew in those sections. Ruo said a silent prayer for them and pressed the red button that demanded her attention. A message appeared.

    Commander Ruo, this is Charlie, an AI from a nearby vessel. There is no time to explain. This is the weapon that hit you. It is a jump missile, it warps space and time to appear just before it strikes. Target the highlighted ships, they are the only ones who can use them.

    ¡°Target the highlighted ships to destroy the undetectable missiles¡± She sent the message over the fleet-wide comms and watched as a concentrated barrage soared past the front line capital ships and raced toward the rear of the Sharlah formation. As they waited for the results, incoming fire detonated more and more of Dottir''s precious defenders. Ships broke apart and twirled in the space where they had once stood as they vented atmosphere and thousands of lives into the blackness.

    ¡°Commander, the targeted barrage will land in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1¡±

    ¡°They''re right on top of us, they were cloaked!¡± Someone shouted.

    ¡°What? Where?¡± Ruo asked as her eyes shot to the viewing screen in horror. The Sharlah ship had a smooth rounded back and eight legs, probably for landing on a pad. As she looked on, paralyzed, the beast belched out dozens of smaller fighter craft that streaked toward the Tiantang formation. Some were agile and maneuvered to evade incoming close range beam attacks while others were slower but still managed to survive with the distractions being caused. Ruo understood immediately and sounded a klaxon that she had only used in training. The overhead lights flashed blue.

    ¡°Prepare to be boarded!¡±

 Chapter 13 - Emergency

    Laura looked like a grown woman as she climbed the steps to the administration building of her third school of the day. She was touring their respective campuses, trying to find one the one that fit her the best. Ash had been on the road for months, going from one delivery to the next, trying to make his truck payment first, and then repair the wear and tear from the last time that he had done a chain like that. He would drop one trailer in the receiving dock, speak to the shipping manager, and then pick up one of their trailers and head for it''s destination. It was a brutal way to live but he did always come out on top with a large profit.

    "Dad look!" Laura said, posing in front of a large statue of a bear wearing a football jersey. Ash smiled and took a picture of her with his phone camera.

    "That''s one bear, two fish, and whatever that first thing was. A badger or something." He said as he flipped through the pictures.

    "A wolverine." She said as she walked up to the administration desk.

    The woman behind the counter looked as bored as the last two. Barely holding herself upright under the weight of the mundane bureaucracy Ash guessed.

    "Name?" she said, not even looking up from the paperwork in front of her. It sounded like a statement more than a question.

    "Laura Miller." Laura said, looking back and rolling her eyes as Ash grinned.

    "CONNOR!" The woman yelled, startling Ash and Laura with her unexpected enthusiasm.

    "Geez, okay, I''m right here." A young man said from a filing cabinet in the back of the room.

    "She''s here to tour EMERGENCY."

    "EMERGENCY! ASH WAKE UP NOW!!!"

    "Ahh, what. Shit. What is it?" Ash grunted and sat up in his bed. Charlie was actually yelling from every speaker she could find in his quarters.

    "THE SHARLAH ARE HERE! AT DOTTIR!" She yelled with panic that he wasn''t sure was part of her programming gave him a shot of adrenaline that was better than several cups of high grade coffee.

    "FUCK SHIT FUCK DAMNIT" Was all he could get out as he threw on his overalls and boots.

    Kate was on duty and wide eyed as she turned around to look at him.

    "What can we see, how many? What are they doing?"

    "I cannot get an accurate count but their ships number in the hundreds, not tens. They are jamming all sensors system wide but I can boost ours and see through much of the interference. They arrived in large numbers on the opposite end of the solar system. I am sorry but I wasn''t scanning that far. I only just detected them near Dottir. I..I don''t know how long they''ve been there but I don''t detect any debris."

    "Ok ok. Do they know we''re here?" Ash asked.

    "Yes."

    "Yes and?"

    "Yes, they have done a system wide scan, I am busy."

    Ash and Kate looked at each other and then at Jayden who was coming up from the engine room. He shrugged. "She''s busy."

    "ASH THEY''RE FIRING! I am sorry, they''re firing on the militia. They''re using jump missiles."

    Ash looked at the display on the Solent''s instrument panel which changed from a sensor overview to what looked like a very realistic video game of a ship battle.

    "I am generating a virtual view of what is actually happening as the light reaches us. This is approximately five minutes in the pas- stand by."Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    The ships were launching salvos of missiles at one another. Militia ships bearing the flags of the three main countries with space navies were in a wall formation that was impressive to behold but every wave of missiles from the Sharlah took human lives.

    "Whoa what was that? Those missiles just appeared in front of the ships?"

    "Ash I have just communicated with the fleet. Those are the jump missiles that I mentioned. They have mini jump drives like the one that we installed on the Solent. They jump to hyperspace and then jump back out just before they strike their target. There is very little to defend against that. I advised the fleet to target the rear of the Sharlah formation where the missiles are launched from."

    "Ok, what can we do?" Ash said, the situation spiraling away from him as his two young crew looked on in shock. The militia was already devastated in just a few minutes of battle with the Sharlah fleet.

    "We need to run. Soon." Charlie said, emphasizing the last word.

    "Jay, is the drive ready." Ash asked.

    "No Ash, but it''s close. I''ll get back on it."

    <hr>

    The Sharlah formations on the flanks had completely encircled the walls of Dottir and were pouring thousands of missiles out of their pods as the carriers dispatched seemingly endless light fighters to protect their boarding parties.

    ¡°Commander the Xi¡¯an is taking hits, we can¡¯t stop them!¡± Zhao called out with panic creeping into his voice.

    Ruo was about to respond when the gunner yelped.

    ¡°Jump Missiles!¡±

    BANG.

    The Bao rocked and the bridge went dark for a few agonizing moments before the emergency reactor powered up. What Ruo saw first was that her vessel was in a spin. What she saw second was a sight that she knew would haunt her dreams if she even survived to sleep again. The Xi¡¯an was also rotating, it¡¯s spine shattered. Jets of oxygen shot out of the numerous holes along it¡¯s hull, many of them catching fire before being immediately extinguished in the cold vacuum of space.

    The Sharlah fighters pounded Admiral Chen¡¯s crippled vessel before several of the landing crafts pitched up and latched on to undamaged areas with the bellies of their ships pressing against the Xi¡¯an¡¯s hull. The fighters, now finished with their part, peeled off and to Ruo¡¯s horror, targeted the Bao next.

    Their red beams ripped into her missile pods and rang off of the armored hull. Icons lit up all across the damage report screen, showing fires and power outages that were spreading like those fires. Ruo¡¯s stomach dropped as the bridge once again went black. Zhao gripped her arm and she could feel warm sticky blood on his fingers. The battery powered emergency floor lights came on, marking the important pathways around the ship. The only sounds that she could hear were her own heart beating against her pristine Navy blouse and her sharp jittery breaths. Nobody spoke into the darkness, there was only fear in the spaces between them.

    A Thump against the hull broke the paralysis, then another. Ruo was up and pumping her legs before she even realized what her terror stricken mind had ordered her to do. She ripped her arm away from Zhao who was now howling in the dark and sprinted into the corridor through the now lifeless and open doorway. The sound of gunfire erupted throughout the upper deck as her troops engaged the Sharlah boarding party. A soldier in the corridor tried to stop her, his eyes as wide as dinner plates behind his visor, but Ruo blew past him.

    ¡°Commander, the bridge is that way!¡± He called out a moment before screams and the sound of an explosion ripped through the barely illuminated corridor. Kang was out there somewhere with his special operators fighting the monsters and buying her precious seconds by spilling their blood.

    Ruo pictured his smiling face as his men goofed around, simulating their own botched boarding operation during break time. The lights on the floor turned red and branched off to the right as Ruo sprinted over them. There in the dark she could see the red glow of the escape pods. Nobody else was there. Of course not, she hadn¡¯t given the order to abandon ship.

    Her gut twisted and tears threatened to drown her inside her helmet but she climbed into Pod 1 anyway. She could weep for her sailors later if she even survived the ejection into the battle space. Footsteps sounded behind her as she slid into the pod that was large enough for five sailors to cram into, and flashlights danced on the walls around her.

    The frightened sailors screamed at her as the pod bay doors locked in anticipation of a launch. They screamed at her and pounded on the reinforced glass surrounding the escape pods. It was locked and it would remain so until her pod was clear and the danger of the launch had passed. There should have been several armed guards and officers conducting the abandonment in an orderly fashion across five other pod bays but she hadn¡¯t ordered that. Ruo was a coward. All of the bravado before and the leadership skills had evaporated the moment that real cards touched the table. She lowered her head and blinked away the shame as she strapped herself in.

    "I''m sorry. I''m so sorry. I have to live." She whispered through jerky sorrowful breaths. "I have to live for my girls."

    The last thing that she saw before she was was fired into space like a missile was the sight of every flashlight in the room suddenly pointing toward a figure at least seven feet tall wearing jet black armor from head to toe and some kind of alien dog beside it.

    Lieutenant Commander Ruo and the shame of what she had done would be the only survivors of the Tiantang Naval Destroyer

 Chapter 14 - Escape Pod

    ¡°Oxygen remaining - 80 percent. Fuel depleted. S.O.S beacon active. No acknowledgments."

    The escape pod AI warned Ruo of her predicament for the fifth time. She knew that nobody was coming. She would sit there, in her underwear, eating snacks and watching the walls of the pod for the next three to four days until her oxygen reached zero and she suffocated or Sharlah came for her first. The pod probably just looked like one of the millions of pieces of debris that was a constantly expanding cloud floating toward or away from Dottir.

    She wondered if the people on the surface could see the battle, or if they even knew about the Alien fleet moving toward them. She thought of her little girls wearing her uniform and being so proud of their mommy. She broke down and cried again. She hadn''t even replied to their message before everything happened and for some reason that guilt hurt even more than the crushing weight of abandoning her people aboard the Bao as they were ripped apart by those animals.

    Now she was floating away from Dottir, away from her girls, away from the ashes of the people who trusted her to lead them and die with them if it came to that. It had, and she didn''t. Ruo had a sudden urge to just shut off the life support systems and let it happen now, instead of in a few days. What was she waiting for? No, she couldn''t. The cool air from the vents around her felt good on her sweaty skin. The pound cake tasted good. The stars were beautiful, and so were her girls. She could picture them any time that she wanted to and that felt good too.

    <hr>

    "Charlie what happened to the feed from the battle?" Ash said pointing at the screen. "Why are the braking thrusters firing?"

    "A moment please Captain." Charlie replied calmly.

    "Jay how long?" Ash keyed the intercom on the Cockpit''s instrument panel.

    "I don''t know Ash, this is foreign to me. I need Charlie''s help to configure it for the Solent but she keeps going quiet. If we try to use it before it''s ready, we could get ripped apart or end up somewhere that we don''t want to be."

    "Anywhere but here sounds good." Ash said.

    "I agree but inside the gravity well of a gas giant sounds less than ideal."

    "Noted, keep working."

    "Captain the Dottir defense has fallen, the ships that weren''t completely destroyed are being boarded and the bulk of the Sharlah fleet is moving forward unopposed. I''ve detected the S.O.S. beacon of an escape pod, it has burned all of it''s fuel and is rapidly moving in our direction." Charlie said and projected a view of the escape pod on the screen.

    "Is someone in there? Kate asked.

    "If the signal had reported full fuel tanks then I would say no, it is just debris from the battle, but they are designed to burn hard after launching to escape danger, much like the ejection seat of a fighter jet, then they power down and drift on the bare minimum energy needed until rescued or it''s batteries run dry."

    "Shit." Ash said, wiping his hand across his brow. "Is there anything we can do to help them?"

    "I do not have an answer to that. The Solent isn''t designed to retrieve an escape pod. I am confident, however, that if we do not retrieve it, the sailor will die."

    "and if we stay here too long, we will die. The Sharlah know we''re out here, they just haven''t had time to care yet." Kate said. "It''s check. One wrong move and we lose the game."

    "Charlie are you back to helping Jay? How long until we can use this drive?" Ash asked.

    "It is fully installed but will take several hours to configure the software for our first jump. It is worth noting that we do not have a destination to jump to." Charlie said.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    "I don''t even know what to say to that Charlie. Any suggestions?" His head was starting to ache from the tension. They were depending on him to make the right decisions.

    "I have, I''m not sure what to call it, an impression maybe? An impression of two waypoints but I don''t know or maybe remember is the correct word - I don''t remember what they are."

    "Pick one and keep it ready. I think we can get this pod. How fast is it moving?"

    "The original burst of thrust has propelled it away from the battle, If we remain stationary, it will reach the Solent in one day."

    "How much heat can that thing handle?" Ash asked and Kate turned toward him, intrigued.

    "Where are you going with this?" She asked.

    Ash smiled "I''m going to move my rook to block."

    "It is designed to handle heavy amounts of radiation and to survive planetary entry." Charlie answered.

    <hr>

    "Suit up now, it''s almost time." Ash said and started to unstrap his environmental suit from the wall as Kate and Jayden did too. They looked nervous, which was to be expected. On paper, Ash''s idea would probably work but in practice anything was possible. It didn''t help that several Sharlah ships had broken off from the rear of the formation and were sweeping the system with active scans. Charlie said that she could interfere, and even explained how, but then she settled on a simple explanation.

    "Ash, I can muddy the waters, I can buy us some time but I don''t know how much. We must hurry."

    The crew of the Solent strapped into their seats, Ash and Kate in the cockpit and Jayden in the engine room and prepared to take a hit. In the time between spotting the escape pod and coming into line with it, they had moved all of the wooden shipping crates into a makeshift barricade against the back wall of the cargo bay.

    "Okay Charlie, how are we looking?" Ash asked. They had discovered that the suits had internal communications that played over speakers in the helmet. Charlie''s voice was softer, like she was just speaking to him. She had done that for his benefit. Amazing.

    "Ash, I think this will work. This is a good idea. I have brought us in line with the escape pod. It is approximately one mile behind us, traveling at exactly the same speed and heading. When it''s time, I need you to leave full control of the ship to me and to not ask questions. This will take my full concentration." She said, sounding like she didn''t want to offend him.

    "Understood, the ship is yours. I trust you."

    "Thank you Captain. You''re a good human. Opening the cargo bay and slowing the ship now."

    Ash gripped the arm rests of the pilot''s seat and held his breath. He may have just killed them all. Turned them into more floating human debris but not even the kind that would orbit Dottir before burning up. Just lifeless corpses and scrap metal that would float endlessly in the black ocean like pieces of driftwood back home. He looked over at Kate and beneath the armored suit, he could see a scared young girl who was just barely holding it together. He put on a face that was blank if not brave and winked at her.

    A crash erupted on the deck below and for a few tense moments there was nothing but the sound of his heavy breathing inside of his blue helmet. Charlie''s voice sounded finally.

    "Closing cargo bay door, it worked captain, the pod is inside. I did have to adjust in the last few moments, the pod was blasted with heat. It seems to have survived."

    "There''s no time like the present Charlie. Did you program the waypoint?"

    <hr>

    Jayden ran his fingers down the side of the old Earth style muscle car and whistled. There weren''t actually old cars like it on Dottir, they were just replicas but he loved them all the same.

    "This is a sweet ride man, thanks for letting me work on it."

    "That''s sir to you Mr. Cross. It is beautiful isn''t it." Mr. Young said, walking away from the limousine that had dropped him off at his diesel shop.

    "Where did you find this?" Jayden asked

    "Lets just say I know a guy who can build just about anything with the right materials and enough credits." Mr. Young said.

    Jayden whistled. "You had this custom built?"

    "I did. Even put the supercharger in there. He said it barely fit. The original Mustang model didn''t have it"

    "That''s true, I noticed that. Listen Mr. Young, I had to fabricate brake calipers, you can''t just get those at any auto store. I wanted to take it for a few test drives to test them out before you came but I noticed brake fluid on the floor underneath it. I spent the last couple of hours getting that sealed up for you."

    "Are you saying it''s not safe?" Mr. Young asked.

    "I think it''s good, I made everything to spec. We have the digital records and owners manual. It should be okay but if you''re not in a hurry, I would like to make sure."

    "Jayden you may be young, but you''re the best mechanic that I''ve ever hired. I trust you."

    <hr>

    "Ash, I don''t know, It just finished the auto calibration. I don''t know if this is safe, we have a lot of extra mass with the pod now." Jayden called up from the engine room.

    "Captain The Sharlah detected us when we opened the cargo door. Everything about our signature changed and I had to flare the engines to adjust to the pod. They know we''re here and they''re closing the distance at full speed. There are five light fighters inbound." Charlie called out, all business now.

    "Charlie what happens if it doesn''t work."

    "We die."

    "Jump, do it. JUMP NOW."

 Chapter 15 - Loukios the Broker

    Lawrence Young arrived at the Port Vista South main office around fifteen minutes early for his meeting as he always had. An old habit that was passed down from his veteran grandfather and then his own father. The receptionist looked up from her flat screen computer monitor and smiled.

    "Can I help you?"

    "Yes ma''am, I have a meeting at 11:00, Young. It''s important." He added the last part to catch her attention and held her gaze as she looked a little closer.

    "I see, let me check if he''s in." She pressed and held a key on her computer''s keyboard. "Mr. Young is here to see you." It came out as a question. "Understood. He needs a few minutes sir, if you''ll just have a seat."

    Lawrence huffed. "Typical."

    There was a stack of magazines beside an extravagant fish tank. There was a sign hanging above it asking for the public to not feed or otherwise disturb the fish as they were all rare species from Earth and stressed easily. Another sign listed them and had colorful illustrations beside a short description of each. They were all saltwater species and were carefully selected to live together in harmony. It was an impressive display of wealth comparable to his old Earth Mustang.

    "He''s ready for you now." The secretary declared and electronically opened the door behind her.

    "Thank you dear. That''s a wonderful aquarium." Lawrence scrunched his face in a forced smile.

    The displays of wealth continued through the hallway with paintings of old Earth fishing vessels and cargo ships traveling the open seas. One of them was labeled "The Solent Strait" and showed a magnificent sunset with the wake of an unseen ship parting the water.

    "Larry, welcome." a voice called out before he had actually rounded the corner into the fully furnished office of his business partner. His hearing was superb.

    "I told you not to call me that. It''s disrespectful." Lawrence said as he entered and took off his jacket and hat, hanging them on a rack near the door. Hard canine eyes stared back at him and a grin formed, showing an array of meat shredding teeth. "

    "Apologies, Lawrence, please sit, I have much to tell you. A drink?" The fox gestured toward an empty glass on his desk.

    Lawrence liked to think of the Callidus as a fox, rather than a wolf. He could spar intellectually with a fox if he had to, but a wolf could just rip him to pieces at his will. Plus his fur was mostly reddish brown with some white patches on the chest and neck. Brute force was for soldiers, not business men, but both had their roles to play in a war, and a war was coming. They were among the few who knew it.

    "Loukios, it''s good to see you again." Lawrence said, pouring wine into a different glass than the one that Loukios had motioned toward. It was closer to the bottles anyway.

    "Is it? You don''t know what I have to tell you."

    "It is, regardless. Regardless of what happens next, your people have done more than the human race could have ever asked for. My ancestors would have never survived without your help in bringing us here. The human race would be extinct."Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    "Like the - what were they called - foxes? On Earth?"

    Lawrence pursed his lips, a rare tell of anxiety, but Loukios laughed.

    "Please, what have you learned?"

    "In a moment, first I was asked to check on you. The parasite, obviously it''s working, you can understand me. Are there any side effects yet?" Loukios asked while preparing a report for the doctor who had given it to Lawrence.

    "Yes the translator, um parasite, is working. As for side effects, none except for the dreams. I have very vivid dreams now, sometimes night terrors."

    "That is an unfortunate side effect. The parasite works because it feeds on our emotions. It translates what another being is saying because it wants you to feel things from that conversation. It takes great glee in strong emotions, therefore it gives you vivid dreams while you sleep. You also gave them to your crew correct?"

    "I see. A small price to pay. Yes I did, I bought them lunch and injected the food." Lawrence said, taking a full drink of his wine."

    "To business then." The Callidus said and straightened in his chair. "We cannot get you a production model ''Charlie'' as you humans call them, but there are other ways."

    "Wait, why not? I already payed you for it. What''s the hold up?"

    "Our military is the sole manufacturer of the system, and the politicians involved in my chain of command are concerned that the Sharlah will target our world next if they come into position of your ship and trace it or that they could use it against more species here in Andromeda. We don''t want them to have it, in other words."

    "I need that Loukios. Everything else fails without it." Lawrence said.

    "I understand. That is why I said there are other ways. One way really. I know someone who has a Charlie system and I''m having it shipped here as we speak. This one is - modified. He did not want to part with it, so it took far more convincing, financially, for him to let it go." The fox raised an eyebrow. Another debt was owed. Some day maybe humanity would break even.

    "Oh thank god."

    "Yes, your daughter will escape."

    "That''s not all that I care about Loukios." Mr. Young glanced at the wall beside him. "But thank you."

    "I have also secured the three armored environmental suits and they''re being manufactured to your specifications. The weapons however are a serious hurdle. Shipping, or smuggling really, those will be a delicate operation. I''ll have to use the Syndicate. Why not just get modern weaponry?"

    "For the same reason. I want them to be armed, but I don''t want sensor scans to pick them up when they make contact out there. I don''t even want our warehouse people to know."

    Loukios nodded. "I don''t know if they will succeed in finding help for you. The galaxy is a cold place. The Sharlah are your problem, a human problem, but at least your girl will not be here when they land."

    "They''re a human problem now. What happens when they''re done with us?"

    "Yes, I understand. We are all counting on your daughter, even if we don''t know it yet."

    <hr>

    Fleet Lord Skald fastened his crimson helm as one of the production crew fastened his flowing red cape around his neck. The message from Lord Cygnus of the Milky Way still burned in his mind like a chemical irritation that wouldn''t go away. An annoyance to start his new life, how fitting. He stepped in front of the camera which would broadcast his message to the fleet.

    "Sharlah. Today we are all warriors. Today we break the human fleet and take what is rightfully ours. Today marks a return to the Sharlah way. We are hunters. We are warriors. We take what we need and then take what we want. We need war. We need this planet and we will have it. Skald Clan will be the first Sharlah to step foot on a world of Andromeda and we will be the only clan to step foot in Andromeda. This galaxy belongs to us if we are strong enough to keep it. We will never return to mercy, farming, or asking permission. We will never return to the Milky Way. That means we must burn the ships who mean to block us. We are fighting for our very existence. Let us spill the first blood now. FIRE!"

 Chapter 16 - The Farm

    Connor snapped awake to the sound of a thunderclap, and then another. Three more rang out followed by a scream from his parent''s room. He was still wearing his clothes from the night before so as not to arouse any suspicion at the breakfast table so he rushed out of his room and into theirs. His mom and dad were standing at the window, their faces lit up every few seconds from flashes outside.

    "What''s happening?" He said, suddenly feeling like a toddler who had a bad dream.

    His mom and dad turned to him with eyes wide "I don''t know, look." his mom said and stepped aside.

    The horizon was both illuminated and also snuffed out by a raging fire. Streaks of light arced into the sky and flashed when they reached their peak altitude while red beams sizzled down from the clouds. An air raid started up and wailed it''s warning but you would have to be incredibly drunk or dead to not hear the chaos unfolding.

    "That''s the military base. They''re being attacked! Oh my god, what do we do? Who is it?" Connor yelled out, not expecting an answer. "Quick, turn on the television."

    His dad, Gerald, moved toward the tv as their bedroom door opened wider and Laura stood there with the look of a deer in headlights. "Who the hell are you?"

    "Dad, that''s Laura. She came home with me last night. I''m sorry, I was going to introduce her in the morning. Hurry, turn it on. Babe, something is happening at the military base by the South Port."

    The television turned on but every channel was static except for one. It was replaying the weird commercial that they had seen in the theater before The Stalker.

    "Connor get your rifle, it''s in the closet. I don''t know what''s going on but if whatever that is-" He pointed out the window. "Comes here, we need to be ready. Marie, fill the sinks and bathtubs with water and plug the drains. Get the first aid kit out too. I''m going to make sure the generator has gas." Gerald said

    Connor slid the closet door open and started moving clothes to the left and right until he spotted his rifle, still looking good considering the age and miles put on it. He cycled the bolt and felt that it was freshly oiled and still buttery smooth. Several boxes of 30-06 cartridges were laying on the shelf beside it, their green and yellow cardboard stood out against all of the other dull colored ammo boxes. Connor emptied one of them into his pockets and then filled the internal magazine with five from another box. The last two boxes of 30-06 went into the small black backpack laying on the floor. It was already heavy before the ammo, having been kept stocked with food, water, medical supplies and survival gear in case of a wildfire or other emergency where time was of the essence. This was one of those, he had no doubt.

    "Laura can you shoot?" He asked her, feeling the absurdity of the moment. This was supposed to be where she met his parents and won them over with her good looks and girlish charm.

    "No, I never have." She said. "I''m scared. Who is attacking us?"

    "We don''t know. Lets get downstairs, I don''t feel safe up here."

    In the kitchen, his mother Marie was doing as Gerald had asked and filling all of the containers that she could find with water, in case the service was lost. The stove was hot, ready to cook a meal as soon as she was finished. Connor laced up his boots and walked outside onto the wrap around deck of the old farmhouse. He didn''t even know what time it was other than the fact that it was still dark. The adrenaline had hit him like the strongest cup of coffee allowed by law. The anti air batteries of the military base fired rocket after rocket into the sky, seeming more like a shield than a weapon. There was nothing to shoot at. whomever was using the red beam weapons was still far above the clouds as far as he could tell. It must have been a space vessel. The Tiantang Navy maybe, but why?

    "Connor here, eat something. We might lose power and I don''t know how much gas we have for the generator." His mom said, handing both him and Laura a plate of hastily cooked scrambled eggs and toast. "I''m sorry honey, what was your name again?"

    "Laura ma''am. Don''t apologize. Thank you for the breakfast."

    The battle on the horizon raged for over an hour, the anti air batteries slowing before being silenced completely. Fighter jets soared into the clouds where bright flashes lit up the surrounding woods like illumination flares. Some came back down to attack again. Others were sliced in half and fell to the surface of Dottir and erupted into a fireball. The enemy ships at last decended. They were like nothing that Connor had ever seen. All black with no markings. All different sizes and shapes.

    Some were launching fighters of their own and air to air dogfights materialized in the distance. The black fighters were using smaller versions of the beams that had come from the clouds but they also had some kind of missiles. Connor watched the aircraft twist and turn over the flaming horizon, taking jabs at one another and trying to get behind their foes. The black shapes were faster and more agile, winning nearly every fight unless one of Vista''s pilots got a lucky break. It was a slaughter.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    "Dad, this is getting bad, they''re landing. I think we need to leave." Connor said. He hadn''t left the porch the whole time save for one or two times that he helped his dad carry some equipment from the barn.

    Gerald was sweating despite the cold early morning air as he tried to start the generator for a test run. He pulled and pulled but only got a puff of smoke as an answer. "Damnit! I knew I should have started this thing before winter."

    "Dad, I mean it. We need to go."

    "I ain''t leaving shit Connor. This is my farm, this is my home. Those are my animals, and over there are my fields. Nobody is taking a damn pebble from me, I don''t care who it is. I''ll die here one way or another. If you want to go, take Lauren and go."

    "Laura, her name is Laura. I don''t want to leave you." Connor said.

    "Then get over here and help me start this thing."

    By lunch time the sounds of the air battle had ceased and been replaced by silence. The black ships had landed inside the airfield of the base and there was probably a ground battle happening but it was too far to hear that. The fires till raged, but the sun was up now to drown out the glow. Black plumes of smoke billowed into the sky and then flattened out into a carpet of ruin stretched across the sky.

    "Dad, please. We can take the camper and go somewhere safe. We can go to uncle Ray''s and wait for the news. We don''t even know who that is." Connor said pointing to the smoke in general.

    His dad just stared at him and then pointed at the car. "Take your bag, take some food and water, and go. Your mother and I are staying put. We have everything we need here."

    "You know what, fine." Connor said and reached for his rifle and backpack." His dad reached out for his shoulder.

    "I love you son, I want you to go and be safe." He said, and he hugged Connor tightly.

    "I love you too dad. Take care of mom. I''ll get in touch soon."

    "Tell Uncle Ray he still owes me five hundred credits for those chickens I sold him two years ago." His dad said and winked.

    Connor slung his rifle on one shoulder and his backpack on the other. It was awkward but he needed his arms to hug his mother next. "I love you mom. Laura and I need to go now. I''ll see you soon."

    "She''s a sweet girl, I''m glad you brought her to meet us." His mom said and tears shimmered in the corner of her eye.

    Connor nodded knowingly but didn''t say what they both knew. This could be the kind of goodbye that you have to settle for when you look back through your life and see the things that you regret again. The last one goodbye that just doesn''t feel good enough but you were rushed for time. He was about to call out for Laura when the sound of helicopters caught his attention. He hadn''t heard any aircrafts for hours and these ones sounded close.

    Gerald sidestepped a few times until he could see over the house and pointed but the sound of the rotor blades had grown so loud, so fast, that Connor couldn''t hear him. As they passed over the house, one of the choppers was belching black smoke and the rear end was flagging back and forth as it lost altitude quickly, the other orbited the driveway area a few times and then pitched forward and flew off into the distance. The damaged chopper came down hard and then pitched to one side causing the rotor blades to break apart and shear off in the dirt.

    "Holy shit!" Connor yelled out and sprinted toward the now disabled helicopter. As he reached it, he could see soldiers laying inside, their uniforms were bloody in spots but they were still moving. The pilot was unconscious, his head hanging to one side. Connor reached inside and tapped one of the wounded men vigorously.

    "Hey, wake up, wake up buddy." He called out "I don''t know what to do man, I need you, wake up."

    The soldier moaned and rolled toward him "Get us out of here."

    "Okay, okay. I can do that." He said and started pulling on the man''s uniform. He screamed and grabbed his thigh and that''s when Connor saw that there was nothing below that. His lower leg was gone and the wound was somehow cauterized.

    "Keep pulling. Get me out." The man gasped.

    Laura arrived first, and then Gerald and Marie. Everyone grabbed a soldier and dragged them away from the smoking chopper in fear that it would catch fire. Gerald went back for the farm truck and brought a long flatbed trailer to put the wounded and their gear on. Once back at the house they started first aid on anything that was bleeding. The wounds were severe and like nothing he had seen before. Connor knew that the military had weapons that civilians didn''t but he had at least heard of most. The beams that had hit these men didn''t make holes in them, it ripped pieces off of them. Arms, legs, feet, hands.

    Every soldier in that evac chopper was missing something. The pilot was dead, killed on impact, but four men had survived. They told the James family of the Sharlah fleet. They told them what had happened to the Militia ships during the night and that the Sharlah planned on harvesting Dottir of it''s life. He believed them, as hard as it was, how could he deny what he was seeing. Those ships didn''t look like Dottir military ships. The fighters were far better than anything he had ever seen, and now these wounds. It was alien technology.

    He still wanted to leave but how could he. How could he leave his parents with these wounded and dead soldiers in their house. He looked at Laura, she was cleaning one man''s stump where his hand used to be.

    "They poured out of dropships and just started running at us and firing lasers. They blew out chunks of buildings. It was crazy. We killed a lot of them but it was like they didn''t even care about each other. I even saw this huge dog thing start eating a wounded alien. The thing wasn''t even dead yet. Some of them ripped off their helmets and started taking bites of people." He started gagging at the thought and vomited on the floor below the living room couch where he lay.

    Laura stepped back with a worried glance at Connor. They had to leave while they could.

    "Mom, dad. please come with us. We can get these guys to a real hospital."

    The room changed. The soldier who was vomiting covered his mouth with his now baggy sleeve. There was a whining sound like a jet turbine that grew louder and louder.

    "They''re here. They came for us." The soldier whispered behind his sleeve.

 Chapter 17 - The Mistake

    ¡°GET OUT OF HERE NOW DAMNIT!¡± Gerald screamed at his son and shoved him toward the kitchen door. Connor staggered backward and tripped over a chair, falling onto his backpack.

    ¡°I¡¯m not fucking leaving you!¡± He screamed. Two alien ships were landing in the field outside, approximately 300 yards from the house. Their thrusters fired to slow their descent and obliterated the crops under them. The rear and side doors opened and troops in jet black armor were spilling from both of them. Connor¡¯s eyes went wide and he looked at Laura and then at his parents.

    ¡°Go.¡± His mother mouthed the word and then spoke the next out loud. ¡°You¡¯re young. You have so much still to live for. Save her, go.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll cover you son, go now.¡± Gerald said and brought up his rifle to shoot through the window at the advancing soldiers. There was an organization to them, he could see it now. Smaller pale gray aliens were in the front, they advanced awkwardly and bumped into each other as they jogged forward. Their eyes searching frantically from side to side. Gray doglike creatures ran beside them, licking their lips and howling in delight. Behind them were heavily armored troops, they advanced more slowly and were more cautious. The one in the middle was the largest of the group. He pointed to the left and right and squads of four to five soldiers branched off from the group to go to where he had directed them.

    Connor picked up his rifle and pack. ¡°Laura we have to go, come on. Thank you dad, mom, I love you so much.¡± He had barely finished his sentence when several bolts of red light ripped through his parents living room and sent splinters and glass everywhere.

    Gerald nodded and opened up with his civilian model assault rifle, hitting several of the smaller ones hard and dropping them to the dirt. The rest of them took off at a sprint, howling into the air with excitement. They were wild, barely under control from what appeared to be their handlers. Connor sprinted outside, throwing his pack through the back window of his four door sedan and tossing the rifle between the two seats. The engine revved as he started it and slammed it into drive. The long driveway came at him faster than it ever had before and he left a storm of dust behind him that clearly marked the escaping car. One of the drop ships in the field came to life again and closed it¡¯s doors, it was going to chase them.

    ¡°Shit shit shit! They¡¯re coming after us!¡± He said and skidded off of the driveway and into the main road. The potholes that would now probably never be filled in rattled his old car down to the frame as he hit every single one, his attention on the black shape filling the rear view mirror. ¡°Laura I can¡¯t get away, it¡¯s too fast! Hold the wheel!¡±

    She did, no questions asked, she reached over and took the wheel as Connor leaned out of the driver¡¯s side window with his rifle. The alien craft brought itself along side the car and he could see light pouring through the open side door. One of the creatures leaned around the corner with a weapon of it¡¯s own and Connor fired, hitting the outer hull as his shot went wide to the right. He had led the craft too much for the short distance between them. Milliseconds after the report from the old 30-06, a large section of the road blew apart in front of them sending chunks of asphalt into the air like a fragmentation grenade, turning the windshield into deadly confetti. Laura screamed and jerked the wheel to one side and then the other.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°I cant see! Slow down!¡± She yelled, her eyes frantically searching for a spot of windshield that she could see through. Connor leaned back inside and took the wheel just before the front end of the car lifted and rolled to the right like a giant had swatted an annoying fly buzzing toward it. They had hit a turn in the country road, one of dozens before the next town but Laura didn¡¯t know the road like Connor did. The car flipped and went airborne before crashing back down into the forest thirty yards from the bank and finally rolled to a stop. The world went black.

    Connor didn¡¯t dream while he was unconscious, nor did he feel the pain that was waiting for him to come back. There was simply nothing, like before he was born. Time passed and he didn¡¯t exist anymore. Everything was waiting for him. The pain, the fear, the nausea, the invasion. It all patiently waited for the young man to wake up and then it assaulted him all at once. He woke, and he screamed. Pain from his ribs shot through his whole upper body and he clawed at the seatbelt that kept him from doing anything about it. Once free he fell out of the open door and rolled to his back.

    ¡°Ahh oh god, Laura!¡± he called out, but no reply came. ¡°Laura, please be okay.¡± He said and coughed before sucking in a labored breath. He felt with his hands and found the ribs that were hurting. He hoped that they were just bruised but he knew they were probably fractured if not broken. As Connor climbed to his feet, he could see the contents of his car strewn about the crash site but he easily spotted his pack and rifle still in the back seat area¡¯s . Laura wasn¡¯t in the car but she also wasn¡¯t laying anywhere nearby. He walked around to the passenger side but slipped in the slushy snow and screamed again when his body tightened to keep from falling. He went down to one knee and that was when he saw the blood droplets that had melted their way through the snow until they ran out of heat and became snow themselves. Little red droplets but also blue droplets. He crinkled his face and scooped them up in his hand.

    Is this what their blood looks like? Is that a piece of Laura¡¯s hoodie?

    The dread and the nausea came next when he saw the chaos of the footprints in the snow and the drag marks that led back to the road, and then the scorch marks on the pavement. Laura was hurt but she was conscious and she fought them, probably even cut or stabbed one of them but they took her in the end. God knows where she was or what was happening to her. He leaned against the car and wretched, causing a whole new level of pain in his ribs.

    His knees buckled and he vomited his last home cooked meal from his mother, and when the feeling passed and when he got his legs back under him, he grabbed his rifle and his pack and started walking. Connor James knew where he was, this was where he grew up. He knew the road, he knew the turn that had sent his car into the woods, he knew the creek that ran along that road, he knew how to get to the next town, what was there, where to fish, where to hide, where to get away and see the stars. He knew his parents were dead. They had made a terrible mistake in not finishing him off. A terrible mistake indeed

 Chapter 18 - Hyperspace

    The space around the Solent melted away into a blur of vibrant colors. Pink, blue, green, orange, it all pressed together and shifted. There were white lights mixed in with the colors but they couldn''t be stars, could they? They were moving.

    "Ash we are safe now. We are in a hyper portal. I chose the destination that felt the most familiar. I think.. I think I''m going home." Charlie said, emotion in her artificial voice. Ash was beginning to like her, it was a confusing feeling.

    "What do you mean by that?"

    "I am an artificial intelligence, I was created by someone, somewhere. I think we are going there. It feels like I''m going home. My memories, they''re programmed to unlock after certain actions. We are on the right path. I think we are supposed to go to these coordinates, or at least I am. I think my creator wanted me to come back."

    "Thank you Charlie, I hope you''re right. Is the person from the escape pod okay? We need to get down there."

    "Yes, she is in good health but she is afraid. I believe she thinks that the Sharlah have captured her. I am speaking with her now in her native language but she knows English as well."

    "Is it safe to take off these suits? I have an itch and it''s becoming an emergency." Ash said, wiggling in his seat. Charlie actually laughed. He wasn''t sure if it was for his benefit or if she really had a sense of humor, but again, he liked it.

    "Yes, you can take off the suits. If we have a hull failure in hyperspace, there is nothing that can save us." The humor died with that answer.

    "Charlie, can our hull withstand this... hyperspace?" Kate asked.

    "That is a good question Mrs. Young. We are not dead so I would say yes."

    "Ash, Charlie says we''ll be in hyperspace for a few hours, should we check on that escape pod?" Jayden asked through the ship comms.

    "Yeah, let''s introduce ourselves. Take off your suit, I don''t want to scare her." Ash replied. "Charlie, how many conversations can you have at the same time?"

    "Dozens Ash, I can also walk and chew bubble gum at the same time."

    "Roger Jay. I''ll meet you down there." Ash said with a grin.

    <hr>

    The escape pod had nearly made it through the makeshift barricade of wooden crates and pallets. It would have been a disaster if it hadn''t. Ash wondered how much luck the crew had left before one of the emergencies didn''t break their way.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    "Charlie where is the door on this thing, how do we get her out?" Jayden asked the ceiling.

    "The door is on the top, but Commander Ruo must unlock it from the inside. She is apprehensive. She believes that we could be Sharlah. I asked her to use the exterior camera but it was destroyed when the pod impacted our cargo bay. I was not able to create the speed differential for a soft collision. I am sorry."

    "Don''t apologize Charlie. It''s amazing that you were able to do it at all. Without you, she would be dead or captured." Kate said.

    "Thank you Kate." Charlie replied.

    "Do you know if she has any weapons in there Charlie? We could start cutting our way through the top. She''ll know we aren''t Sharlah when we get a piece off and she can see us." Ash asked.

    "I can''t say for sure. I don''t think she is armed but that is a huge risk."

    "Can she hear us if we yell to her?" He asked. Racking his brain for any way to ease her mind.

    "No, but if you speak into the ship comms, I can relay your voice to her. I don''t know if it will work, she may believe I''m a Sharlah ai trying to trick her."

    "Okay, lets try that." Ash said and walked over to the comm unit on the wall.

    "Hello? This is Ash Miller, the captain of the Solent. We are a cargo ship. Our AI Charlie detected your escape pod and came up with the plan to.. well.. catch you. Can you tell me your name?"

    There was a long silence before she responded. Possibly Charlie relaying the message but Ash didn''t think it would take her any time at all considering her vast processing power.

    "Ruo. Mei Ruo. I was on the Tiantang destroyer Bao. How do I know you are not one of them?"

    "Mei, we are just as scared as you are, trust me. I don''t really know how to prove it to you but what difference would it make. You are here now, on our ship."

    "I would rather die in here than surrender and be tortured by you, them, whatever." Ruo answered, bravery returning to her at the thought of it.

    "I can understand that. How about you ask me something that only a human would know?" Ash said and more silence followed.

    "What happens to a man when he wakes up in the morning?"

    Kate nearly fell over laughing and Jayden wasn''t far behind her. He covered his mouth but his shoulders were shaking. Ash had the biggest smile that he could manage without injuring himself.

    "Well, I don''t normally like to brag, but when I''m walking to the restroom, about to spray everything around the toilet like a garden hose with a thumb on it, I usually knock over my drink from the night before and break a few of my old lady''s glass plant pots." Ash said, and Jayden lost it. There was no way that Ruo couldn''t hear them.

    After a few moments, the lock on the escape pod released and slid to the side. The pod wasn''t standing upright so the Tiantang Navy officer had to pull herself through to the deck of the Solent and climb to her feet. She was beautiful, even in her disheveled state. It took a moment for Ash to realize that she was reaching out for a handshake.

    "It''s a pleasure to meet you, I''m sorry for what you went through." He said.

    "Yes, thank you all. You saved my life. What are your names?" Ruo said, looking to Kate and Jayden."

    "I''m Kate Young, the copilot, and this is Jayden Cross, our engineer."

    "We were on a pickup slash delivery job when all of this happened. We''re in hyperspace now, I think we''re safe."

    Ruo looked puzzled. "Hyperspace? how?"

    "Well, that''s quite the story. We''ll catch you up on everything once you''re settled in. Lets just say that our boss is a very wealthy and influential man and it appears that he knew something before most. We have a jump drive." Ash said and motioned for Ruo to follow him to the main deck.

    "What does it look like? Hyperspace?" Ruo asked.

    "It''s incredible." Ash said.

 Chapter 19 - Bury Them

    The first night that Connor had slept alone, he spent under the stars. He used to gaze up at them and wonder what was really out there, other than Earth of course. Now he looked up and wondered what fresh hell would come after the invasion. How many more of them were there? Streaks of light and flashes peppered the night sky above him, threatening to rain down more death, more horror, more black clad aliens with nothing but murder on their minds. He kept his rifle close and never let go, not even after he fell asleep. His coat and beanie had kept him warm until around 2:00am when the cold broke through and chilled him to the bone. He hoped it was doing the same to them. Maybe they would be so miserable on Dottir that they would turn around and fly back home to their sunny paradise or whatever they came from.

    When morning arrived, he didn''t know what to do. He thought his instincts would guide him but they were silent on the subject. What do you do when your whole world was turned inside out and everybody was gone. He was hungry, he hadn''t eaten anything since vomiting on the side of the road. He could eat and walk though. He needed a destination.

    What if they''re not dead. What if they survived and they''re hurt. How could you even sleep?

    His feet were moving before he had actually thought it through. His parents were certainly dead but he couldn''t leave them there in either case. He couldn''t just leave their bodies lying where they fell. He stayed on the wood line next to the road for fear of being spotted in the open. He would probably still be seen just inside the trees but it gave him the ability to break line of sight within a few steps by running a little deeper. They probably had some kind of high tech scanner or infrared vision.

    They came here from another planet, they''re not going to be fooled by me standing behind some trees.

    The time that he spent walking back down the windy country road had slipped past him, nearly unnoticed. He was both numb and overwhelmed at the same time. His mind wandered almost constantly but he couldn''t remember thinking about anything. He must have been in shock. The straps on his backpack were starting to feel uncomfortable and his mouth was dry but he was almost there. He could see smoke rising from the cornfields burning. It was surreal to see that and nobody was trying to put it out. There were no flashing lights, no sirens, his dad wasn''t dragging the garden hose out there or cutting a fire break in the field. It was just going to burn until it was done.

    As he drew closer he could see bodies in that field. Some were already charred black and others lay motionless inside their black armor, their weapons just feet away from them. His dad took at least ten from their first blind charge through the growing corn. Pieces of the house were completely blown apart and Connor could see the same wallpaper that he had grown up with through the gaping holes. He gripped his rifle tighter and the weight of the backpack vanished. One of them was still alive. It was sitting with it''s back against the wood stove in the living room and nodding it''s head every few seconds. Connor brought the scope up for a closer look.

    It''s either falling asleep or hurt bad and trying to stay awake.

    He scanned the rest of the property for movement though the smoke was making that harder to do. He knew he could use that to his advantage and worked his way around to follow the smoke screen. He reached the side of the house opposite of the Alien soldier and slowed his approach from feet to inches at a time. He had snuck up on animals before, hyper aware of every movement and the consequences of failure, but this was different and his heart pounded so hard that he was afraid the creature could hear it.

    When Connor finally made it to the back door his legs were burning from the cautious movement. He eased the door open like he had done many times before to sneak back inside after a night of sneaking around with the neighbor''s kids. The rough material on his pack brushed against the door frame and caused his whole body to seize. He eased the safety off and worked to calm his breathing though no sound came from the living room. Another few steps and he would see it, but what would he do?

    as he rounded the wall to the living room he could see that the alien was still there. Blue blood had streamed from the side of it''s exposed face down along it''s armored shoulders and onto the floor beside it. His father lay crumpled against the wall behind the wood stove, red blood was under him, more than Connor had ever seen before. He winced and dipped back behind the wall, tears built up and threatened to fall. He steeled himself and stepped quietly back into the living room with his rifle leveled at the soldier. It didn''t react at all.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    It''s wounded, they left it to die, just like me.

    Connor''s legs were trembling as he crept closer. He had enough adrenaline in his system to cause a heart attack, he thought as he bent down and picked up the alien beam rifle and set it behind him. He could blow the thing''s head clean off it''s body at this range. 180 grains of hate straight through it''s brain for what it did.

    I wonder if it can speak our language. I could find out where they took Laura. I could ask it why they''re doing this.

    "Hey wake up you ugly lizard." Connor hissed and poked his barrel into it''s wound.

    The alien woke up and hissed, grabbing at the rifle barrel but Connor was ready for that and pulled it back. It stopped all movement when it realized what had just happened. Connor nodded.

    "Yeah that''s right. I caught you sleeping didn''t I? Where did your buddies go? They go to burn another farm? Kill more of my neighbors?"

    The alien''s eyes darted around the room frantically.

    "Oh I already got your little laser gun. You ever see one of these before?" He held up his rifle. "You know how many animals I''ve killed with this? One more wouldn''t bother me one bit, especially one this ugly. Did you kill my dad you motherfucker?" He pointed and the soldier followed the gesture to the body behind it but it didn''t react further."

    Connor brought the rifle''s stock forward and hammered it into the alien''s head just as their eyes found one another again. He screamed in rage and grabbed it by the armor and dragged it back to his dad.

    "WAS THIS YOU? DID YOU DO THIS?" He put the thing right beside his dad''s lifeless eyes and raised the rifle with tears pouring like rain onto the hardwood floor. "WHERE IS MY MOM? WHERE IS LAURA?"

    The Sharlah trooper raised it''s hands in an awkward gesture of surrender, showing it''s armored palms but it''s eyes gazed past him to the beam rifle behind his feet.

    "Oh you just go right ahead and make that move. I''ll paint the wall with you and go eat breakfast before the fucking fire gets here." Connor hissed and stroked the cool metallic curve of the trigger.

    "Crysss ehk tiear." It said through the pain in it''s mouth and shook it''s head back and forth.

    "What? Did you just say you wanna die?" Connor said grinning like a fox but the Alien turned it''s back to him and sat on it''s knees.

    It''s surrendering.

    There were zip ties in the kitchen junk drawer, he knew, but he couldn''t go back in there and take his eyes off of it.

    "Come here ugly." He said, pointing at the floor in the doorway with the beam rifle while keeping his 30-06 at his hip and pointed directly at the alien. It obeyed. He retrieved the zip ties and inched his way around behind it. Again, it was compliant.

    What the hell am I going to do with an alien? The old mine maybe?

    He formed a hasty plan. They would get the canoes from the barn behind the house and float, separately, down to the old coal mine. It was abandoned but relatively safe inside.

    "Follow me ugly." He said and started out the back door but froze when he saw her. What was left of his mother was laying face down just a few feet away from the house. He was so focused on approaching the back door that he hadn''t even noticed her. She had been.. eaten. Connor''s blood ignited and burned in his veins. His legs started shaking again as he turned on the thing behind him. It had large black eyes that betrayed no emotion whatsoever but he saw it''s nostrils flare as it put together what had just happened.

    "I am going to kill every last one of you. Every single ugly motherfucker that steps within eyesight of me. You sick FUCKS."

    Connor found the canoes in the back of the barn and started to work them free but he couldn''t focus on the soldier at the same time. It stiffened as he walked up to it, never breaking stride, and landed a haymaker across it''s bleeding face. It grunted and went down as if the lights had gone out for a moment. It woke up gasping for air and stayed down while Connor tossed old tools and random objects to the side, digging his way to the canoes. When he finally moved the first one, two mice bolted for the light streaming through the open door. The trooper scrambled to its knees and lunged for one of them but landed face down in the dirt, unable to catch itself with it''s hands zip tied together.

    Connor scoffed and went back to pulling out the canoe. He staged them both outside of the barn and walked back in, alien eyes watching his every move. There was a piece of rope hanging from the rafters. Connor pulled it down and cut it in half, then tied it to what looked like attachment spots on the alien rifle.

    "There, now I don''t have to worry about you getting your hands on this. This is mine now." He said and draped it across his chest and then grabbed a shovel from the pile of garden tools to his left. "Lets go ugly, you''re going to do something useful."

    He marched the trooper outside and slammed the shovel down into the dirt to break the ground. He showed it what to do by making eye contact and digging a few strokes himself. He grapped a pair of wire cutters from the toolbox in the shed and walked behind the alien to release it''s hands. It just stood there, unsure what to do until Connor threw the shovel at it. The metal spade clanged off of the black armor and left a dusty mark but not even a scratch under that.

    "BURY THEM!"

 Chapter 20 - The Mine

    Connor and the wounded alien floated silently down the creek behind his family''s farm. The alien was nodding off again but not because it was tired. When Connor did one last sweep for supplies inside the house, he found it''s helmet. His dad must have hit it directly in the head causing a huge dent to form and then again in the face when it removed the helmet. His canoe was crammed with bags of food, clothes, first aid gear, and weapons from his dad''s gun safe. He took two pistols, his dad''s semi automatic rifle, and a whole backpack full of magazines and ammo for them along with some water filters, a lighter, matches, and a few sharp knives. He also found a tackle box and a fishing rod in the barn with the canoes. Growing up a country boy was about to pay it''s dividends.

    It was only a thirty minute trip to the abandoned mine with a decent current and the Sharlah soldier was conscious for about ten of those minutes. Connor thought that was a good thing because it would be lost if it somehow escaped but he soon realized that it was probably smart enough to follow the creek back to his farm. He couldn''t let it escape or it would find help and lead them to him.

    "Hey ugly, wake up. We''re home." He said and tossed a pebble at it as he started pulling the boats out of the creek.

    The alien flinched at the sound of the pebble striking it''s chest armor and threw itself into the shallow water of the bank as if it was being fired at. Connor couldn''t help but chuckle at the display and it''s failed attempts to get back up with it''s hands still zip tied together.

    "Seeg et araf FAA" It hissed as it slipped in the mud and went down again.

    "Careful ugly, don''t mess up that face any more than it is. Lets go, follow me." Connor said, using his fingers like legs to signal walking. It finally found it''s footing and followed.

    Connor stashed the alien''s canoe in a bush about thirty yards from the creek and tossed some downed branches on top of it. He pulled his canoe full of gear behind him and cringed at the trail that it was making. He would have to come back out and disrupt that trail the best that he could. The mine was only about a ten minute walk from the creek but the ugly bastard behind him was struggling to keep up. It kept hissing and rubbing it''s face against it''s armored collar.

    I think the bullet is still in there. In it''s face.

    The afternoon sun was bright but very little of it penetrated more than a few steps inside the mine entrance and none of it penetrated to the area that Connor wanted to walk to. It was a small area not far from the surface with a break room, a few beds, and a small doctor''s office. The power was off and the generator was gone but he still wanted to set up there. He had a battery powered lantern and a few flashlights from his dad''s supplies and he would make it work. When he arrived, he found that most everything was gone but they had left the table and chairs in the break room and a few dirty mattresses from the bunks.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    "Sit down." he said and gave he alien a push toward one of the mattresses against the wall. It hissed but did as he wished. It looked absolutely terrifying in the dim light and long shadows from the lantern.

    Connor shined a better flashlight into the wound but he couldn''t make heads or tails of the gray and blue mess that the bullet had made. He decided against trying to pull the bullet out and didn''t really know what an antiseptic would do to the creature so he settled for a bandage. He didn''t really care if it lived or died, but he felt like he should do something, even if to gain a little trust from it. Next he detached a group of pouches from around it''s waist and looked inside. Two of them were water containers.

    So you need water just like me. Is that what you came for?

    Another pouch seemed to hold medical supplies. He only knew this because there were a few bandages among the other tools and medications. There was probably an equivalent to antiseptic in there. The next pouch held a small metallic object. Connor picked it up and looked closer. It was shaped like a crescent and had tiny wires all throughout the shape, dozens of them. The soldier perked up and started motioning toward itself with it''s tied hands. It was insistent.

    What do you need this for? Is it medicine? Is it going to call your friends?

    Connor set the device in it''s palm and raised his rifle just inches from it''s face. It stared at him cautiously as it reached the device up to it''s ear and inserted it. There was a low electronic buzzing sound and it''s eyes rolled into the back of it''s head for a few moments before returning to lock with his own once again.

    "Human, what do you want with me? Why didn''t you kill me?" It said in a low growl.

    Connor stepped back and kept the rifle raised. "What was that? What did you put in your ear?"

    "It is a translation device. It has been listening to your language for many years. It is now connected to my brain and is guiding my words. Why did you not kill me?"

    "I don''t know. I wanted to. Should I?"

    "I will die. It does not matter how it happens. My wound is severe and nobody will come for me."

    "Why are you here? What do you want with us?"

    "We are the Sharlah. We have come for what belongs to us. Your world is ours to do with as we please. We will eat the meat. We will drink the water. We will use every resource and then look for more. All species of the Andromeda galaxy will bow to the Sharlah and be harvested." It said, drawing out the last word as if saying it out loud gave it pleasure.

    "Even if that is true, you won''t live to see it." Connor answered without missing a beat and lowered his rifle.

    "No." Was all that it said in response.

    "I was in a car that left the farm where you were wounded. What happened to the girl that was with me? Where did they take her?"

    "She will be processed and held in a containment camp until the area is secure and our bureaucrats have done their work."

    "Where is this camp?" Connor asked, sitting up straight.

    The Sharlah said nothing and leaned back against the wall.

    "I can make your last days miserable, you know this." Connor said.

    "I know this."

 Chapter 21 - Callidium Orbit

    "It is time to exit hyperspace." Charlie called out abruptly, cutting off Ruo as she was nearly finished telling the crew about the battle over Dottir. She had just got to the part where the Sharlah landing crafts had latched on. Charlie''s tone was off, almost as if she blurted it out spontaneously.

    "Is everything okay Charlie?" Ash asked.

    "Yes. Sorry Mei, I did not mean to interrupt your story."

    There it was again. Ash shared a glance with Jayden and he gave a subtle shrug. "Ok, do we need to suit up or anything? Is it dangerous? Oh crap, Ruo doesn''t have one of the armored ones. She''ll have to use a normal emergency suits."

    "Relax Ash, it will be safe to exit, though I do not know what, if anything, will be on the other side."

    ''Okay, sorry. Jay I need you at your station in case something does happen. Kate, with me in the cockpit. Ruo, umm, can you please strap in just in case?"

    "Of course. Where?" She asked.

    "There''s a harness in my bunk." Ash said and immediately caught a smile from Kate. Ruo picked up on it.

    "You want me to.. tie myself to your bed?"

    "Use Kate''s. Yeah that will be fine. Every bunk has them." Ash could feel his face turning red and he extracted himself quickly to the cockpit.

    <hr>

    Ruo was finishing with the crash harness when she heard a voice coming from the tablet on Kate''s desk.

    "How can you joke and smile with my crew after what you did?"

    "Excuse me?" She answered with ice in her voice.

    "I know what you did when the Bao was destroyed. Remember the message that you received about the Sharlah weapons?"

    "Yes, I do, I nearly forgot about that. That was you? How did you access my console?" Ruo asked with a less defensive tone this time.

    "I am an alien to you, Mei, but not like the Sharlah. I want your people to live, and I will go to great lengths to help you. More than that though, I want this crew to live." The straps on Ruo''s crash harness began to tighten across her chest. She gasped and reached for them. "Do you understand what I am telling you Mei?"

    "Yes, yes I understand, please." She pleaded, but the straps tightened ever so slightly.

    "If your cowardice endangers my crew, I will make sure you never see your little girls again Mei."

    "Yes, I understand, please stop this!" Ruo gasped.

    The straps loosened back to their original setting as tears began to stream down Ruo''s face and onto the sheets of Kate''s bunk.

    <hr>

    "Exiting hyperspace in 3.2.1." Charlie counted down verbally and projected a timer on the pilot''s console.

    The vibrant colors faded away until all that was left was the inky black of space and a bright dot ahead.

    "Charlie what is that?" Kate asked.

    "That is my home. Callidium. The beings that inhabit the world are called Callidus. They resemble the animal on your world called the fox, though they have more in common with you, humans. They are bipedal and communicate with a spoken language. They use their hands in the same way that you do. They are only like the fox in appearance. Ash we are being hailed."This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Ash''s stomach dropped. He was not ready for that.

    "What? What do you mean? By someone on the planet? Aren''t we pretty far away? It looks like a bright dot more than a planet."

    "No, it is a nearby ship. I cannot see it with our sensors. I believe it is cloaked." Charlie said.

    "Ash, we need to answer it. Even if it wasn''t cloaked, there''s nothing we could do to fight it." Kate said

    The red light on the console in front of him flashed, demanding his attention. "Ok, you''re right. Charlie, even if we answer this, how can we talk to them?"

    "Do you remember when Mr. Young brought you to the office on a Sunday to talk about the mission?"

    "Yeah, I remember."

    "That pizza was alien technology."

    "Pardon? How was the pizza alien tech?"

    "Mr. Young inserted a parasite that was given to him by the Callidus. This parasite lives in the brain of it''s host and feeds on emotions. It is able to translate other languages to you, so long as it''s ancestors have encountered that language in the past. Mr. Young made sure that your parasites had learned both English as well as the language of the Callidus and every species that they had ever encountered. Each of you will be able to speak to nearly any alien that we see. The parasite has somewhat of a downside though, when you are sleeping, it wants you to have intense dreams and will take measures to make that happen." Charlie explained. "I have noticed all of you having these dreams based on your vitals as you sleep. I am sorry, there is nothing that I can do to stop them."

    "Ok.. Ok.. That makes as much sense as anything else that has happened. Let''s find out who is out there."

    The screen in front of Ash came to life and displayed a figure in green armor much like his own. It''s visor was tinted but soon cleared, showing yellow canine eyes with red fur around them.

    "This is Captain Artesh of the Callidium Orbital Patrol, enable video on this transmission and state your purpose."

    Charlie''s voice came through the private channel in Ash''s helmet. "I''m sorry Ash, I tried to get away with only audio. Sending video now."

    Ash cleared his throat and tried to sound professional. "Captain Artesh, our vessel is in distress. We made an emergency hyperspace jump to this location."

    "Your ship appears to be unarmed, is that correct? Who are you?"

    "My name is Ash Miller, The Solent is a cargo hauler with a small crew. We mean you no harm."

    "Are you human?" Captain Artesh''s eyes widened.

    "Yes, we are human. How did you know that?"

    "Power down and prepare to be boarded. Do not resist." The transmission abruptly cut off.

    "Oh shit shit shit! Charlie what was that?" Ash jumped out of his chair and ran to the common area but stopped when he realized he had no plan.

    Charlie''s voice came from the ceiling overhead "I do not know. We should do as he says."

    Ash glanced at the door to his cabin where his old earth rifle was stashed. A fight inside the Solent would be extremely dangerous but maybe they could have the upper hand.

    "Ash, this may just be protocol, I do not think you should try to fight. That is a military ship with weapons" Charlie pleaded.

    "I think she''s right. We don''t even know if there''s more than one ship or where they are. Where would we run after? Ash, should I power down?"

    Ash held his hands up to his head and squeezed. It felt good. "I don''t know, shit. This isn''t what I signed up for, I''m a truck driver!"

    "I''m powering down." Kate said and started the sequence.

    "Ash what''s happening, why are we powering down?" Jayden called out through the same speaker in the ceiling.

    "Jay, come up here. We are having company, Charlie will tell you on the way." Kate replied.

    <hr>

    Twenty five minutes later, the crew of the Solent was standing in the common area when the sound of the airlock cycling could be heard. Kate took a step closer to him and Ruo turned as she instinctively shifted her weight to her rear leg. A fighters stance. The door slid open and three armored Callidus stormed in with their weapons raised. Each one went a different direction and cleared the common area within seconds. Behind them was Captain Artesh with the equivalent of a handgun, unholstered but held casually.

    "On your knees." He said dryly

    The crew looked at one another but nervously complied.

    "Listen, we don''t mean you any harm. We need help."

    Captain Artesh motioned forward and his troops began to search the cockpit area. "I have to admit, this is one of your better ships. The others look like a pile of scrap that was welded together by a beginner. Why have you come here? You must have known what would happen."

    "Sir, we don''t even know where we are. We need help, our planet has been invaded." Kate pleaded with him and laughter came from the cockpit area.

    "Yes yes, we know all about Earth. Tell me, How does this give you the right to trespass in occupied space and steal from the innocent?" Captain Artesh said.

    "What are you talking about?" Jayden replied indignantly.

    "I don''t know what your game is here human, but you will lose it. There are many more ships patrolling this space. You have made a terrible mistake and you will likely answer for all of humanity''s mistakes. Arrest them." Artesh said as he pointed at the stunned crew of the Solent.

 Chapter 22 - Rescue Party

    "You told me before that nobody would come for you, why is that?" Connor asked, handing Ugly a bottle of water from his pack.

    "They do not know that I am alive. Even if they did, I am not important enough. I am just a soldier. A wounded soldier." The Sharlah said. His wound was looking better, although the slug was still inside. He had talked Connor through the process of disinfecting the it with his medical supplies and it was actually healing.

    "Do you have a name? I can just keep calling you ugly if you like that better."

    The Sharlah did something that Connor hadn''t seen before. It smiled and two rows of razor sharp carnivore teeth were uncovered. It was unsettling. "Vigas. I am Vigas."

    It had been two days since arriving at the mine and until now Connor felt like he was stuck. He couldn''t leave Vigas alone, even with his hands zip tied and he couldn''t take him far from the mine due to his injury and the fact that Connor didn''t know if he could be tracked somehow. He had finally decided on a plan of action.

    "Vigas." He said, returning from a short trip outside where he had previously heard the sounds of battle in the distance but the guns had gone silent overnight. "I need you to come with me. You''re going to wear this over your head." Connor held up a pillow case and the lethal smile disappeared from his face.

    <hr>

    "WHERE IS HAND VIGAS?" Fleet Lord Skald screamed at his bridge as two days of simmering rolled into a boil.

    "I am sorry Fleet Lord, I cannot find him. He is either dead or something is interfering with his suit''s interface." A young sensor tech replied with genuine fear in his voice. He had probably just been let out of cryo and trained within the last few weeks.

    "WHY WAS HE ON THE SURFACE?"

    "I forwarded the report to you yesterday Fleet Lord, it was from his shuttle crew and stated that Hand Vigas insisted on being involved in the assault. They tried to stop him."

    Skald roared and ripped his chair from it''s bolts before throwing it across the bridge and storming back to his quarters.

    <hr>

    Vigas didn''t try to run, he didn''t try to fight, he kept up on the long walk through the forest in spite of his blindfold, and he even stayed quiet. It was only when he felt the rope slipping between is zip tied hands that he started to struggle but it was too late. Connor pulled hard on both sides of the rope and slammed him against the tree before quickly tying them into a knot.

    "What are you doing human?"

    "Just sit down Ugly, I''m sorry, Vigas. Just relax there while I take a walk. I need to check on something and you can''t go with me. Here''s some water." Connor said and poured a few large drinks into his mouth. "I''ll be back soon. Oh, and I need this." Connor lifted the pillow case, reached for the translation device in his ear and pulled hard on it. Vigas screamed as it''s hair thin legs retracted and came free.

    <hr>

    "Fleet Lord, we have a distress signal for Vigas. It is not showing a precise location, I believe he is moving, but we know where he is. It must have been some kind of interference." The sensor tech called out to Skald''s personal quarters.

    "I''m coming. Prepare five shuttles and gather a rescue force in the shuttle bay." Was all he had said in reply. Hand Vigas was the only Sharlah in the fleet that he truly trusted. He was the only one who knew of the rebellion before it had happened and he could have easily turned Skald in to Overlord Cygnus for a handsome reward. He would sacrifice half of the fleet to save that particular Sharlah.

    <hr>

    Connor watched from 400 yards with his naked eye as Vigas first struggled against his bonds and then finally gave up and slumped against the sturdy Iron Oak tree. It was one of only a few shade trees in the old pasture where his neighbors used to keep their sheep before the old man couldn''t take care of them anymore. Thankfully he still kept it mowed, at least a few times per year. The grass covered Vigas'' legs as he sat but Connor could still see most of his body and the entire area around him.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    There was a rumbling sound punctuated by a sharp crackle in the distance. Faint at first but it grew into a rolling thunderclap as four Sharlah dropships streaked into the area and flared into a hover.

    That lying son of a bitch. They ARE looking for him.

    Vigas pushed his back against the tree and climbed to his feet. He looked around frantically but he couldn''t see anything with the pillowcase over his eyes. He tried to call out but his voice was still low and raspy, even when he screamed. There was no way they could hear him over their thrusters.

    They''re landing, but in the wrong place. They don''t know exactly where he is. These Sharlah, they''re not what I would have expected. They''re.. not very good at this."

    The Sharlah dropships belched out their soldiers and waited in the landing zones for them to return. Connor couldn''t see them after they descended into various clearings behind the treeline but he knew what was happening. They would sweep the area to find Vigas. Connor considered his original plan of sprinting down to the tree and retrieving him but it was just too dangerous now.

    Maybe they won''t find him. I hope they don''t. I''m not done with him yet. I need to find Laura. He almost told me where she was.

    He could see flashes of movement as the Sharlah patrols worked their way closer. Vigas continued to call for help until one of them finally heard his cries. The soldiers fanned out on the tree line, cautious of the potential danger of crossing into the open pasture. One of them raised his wrist and a hidden flap opened up to reveal a communicator. It raised the comm to it''s mouth and spoke into it.

    Oh, that''s where it is.

    Connor could feel the bugs crawling all over him as he lay there under the leaves of a recently fallen tree. Spiders and ants were everywhere under him and it was difficult to stay still. Mosquitos buzzed millimeters from his ear before landing on his neck and taking a drink. Every instinct told him to scratch and swat but he couldn''t do that. The Sharlah would probably cut him to pieces if they spotted him first.

    Ten minutes later another shuttle landed in the pasture with it''s door facing the trees and remained as cover. He could see Vigas perk up and start yelling to the new arrivals excitedly. One of them was behind the nose of the shuttle and through his scope, he could just barely make out that it was wearing a crimson red helmet like the one that he had seen in the movie theater.

    That one is important. It''s not like the normal soldiers. Is that a cape? It''s wearing a cape. Definitely an officer.

    The Sharlah from the new shuttle began advancing forward with their weapons raised while red helmet stayed in the middle of the pack. He was larger than the rest, more muscular probably but it was hard to tell under the armor. They stalked over to the tree where vigas was tied and removed the pillow case from his head. They relaxed when they saw that it was really him and nothing had happened and the troops in the trees moved forward out of cover to sweep the area. He could see Vigas talking to the red helmet trooper and pointing off into the distance, probably telling them about him.

    Red helmet pointed at the shuttle that he had come from and put his hand on Vigas to usher him over to it. Connor felt a shot of adrenaline race through his veins and his heart hammered in his chest. He couldn''t let red helmet get away but if he fired, they would probably just nuke the whole hillside where he was.

    One shot, that''s all I get.

    He lined up red helmet between his crosshairs but he was always behind another Sharlah. Connor''s heartbeat made the crosshairs bounce up and down and his breath quickened. His usual tricks weren''t working to calm himself down.

    Come on, come on, THERE.

    Connor jerked the trigger like a novice shooter and the shot went several inches to the right and buried itself into the ground behind them. The Sharlah raced for cover as he recovered his sight picture and took a deep breath. Red lasers ripped into the trees around him, sending splinters and leaves flying over his head.

    Focus. Breathe.

    The world went silent. All that mattered was the picture in his scope. He could see his heartbeat still but it was predictable. His hands were steady. His breathing was controlled. Deep breath in, hold it, find your target. Red helmet was gone now, but another Sharlah was still there. He was confused, he didn''t know which way to run. They were shooting in every direction now.

    Squeeze the trigger slowly. It should surprise you when it goes off. If it does, you hit a bullseye.

    The entire top of Vigas'' head blew apart in a spray of blue gore that painted the ground behind him. His lifeless body dropped like a ragdoll as the lights instantly went out. Connor raced to his feet and jumped into a controlled slide down the hill opposite of the pasture. The return fire had reached a fevered pitch and he wasn''t even sure if a single tree remained on the hillside when he finally reached the bottom. He didn''t take the time to look back, there was no reason to, he would never return to that spot. Connor sprinted to the creek and dove into the water, holding his rifle close and cringing at the sight of water leaking into the barrel as the current carried him away. He would be back at the mine entrance soon and he could clean his weapon there.

 Chapter 23 - Callidium

    "Ash wake up." Kate hissed and kicked his leg from the other side of the small cell. "You''re leaning toward the force field."

    He had fallen asleep sitting up again and had almost received the electric shock that came with touching front facing wall of their jail cell. He had learned that lesson several days ago when he attempted to reach his hand through it. The guard that brought them food and water was able to walk straight through and he knew it was probably some kind of gadget that allowed authorized personnel to pass but he had to try anyway. The shock knocked him out momentarily like a stun gun and he woke up on the cold floor with everyone standing over him.

    The cell was intended for two occupants judging by the single bunk bed and lack of space. There was a small sink against the opposite wall and a bench along the back wall with a hole cut out that served as the toilet. The crew all turned their backs when someone needed to use that, it was the only way to keep their dignity, given the situation they were in.

    "How long are they going to leave us in here like this? We didn''t do anything wrong." Jayden asked for the one hundredth time. Ash was learning that patience wasn''t his strength.

    "I don''t know. Kate doesn''t know. Mei doesn''t know. The foxes out there in the prison probably don''t know. All we can do is wait.

    "I know. Sorry. I just can''t stop thinking about Dottir. I need to know what''s happening. We can''t just sit in this cell."

    The lights on the ceiling flashed three times indicating that the occupants needed to sit on the bench on the back wall for the guard to enter. They complied and a Callidus that they had not seen before walked through the blurry energy wall.

    "You can understand me, yes?" It said with a feminine voice.

    "Yes, we can." Ash answered. He knew he was the spokesperson for better or worse. Kate and Jayden had no problem voicing their opinions when a decision needed to be made but when it came to speaking for the group, it was always Ash.

    "How?" She asked.

    "Charlie said something about a parasite being slipped into our food before we left. It passes on it''s knowledge of foreign languages so that we can have conversations and it can feed on our emotions."

    "Who is Charlie and how did he or she come into possession of Callidus technology. The parasite."

    "Charlie isn''t a person. Well, not really. She seems like a person when you talk to her but she is a program. An artificial intelligence. Listen, why are we in prison? Is it because we are aliens to you? We didn''t do anything wrong, we don''t mean you any harm."

    "I will ask the questions for now, Ash. So you call your ship AI Charlie then? Who gave you the parasite?" She asked again.

    "Our boss, Mr. Young. I don''t know how he got them, I didn''t even know about it until I spoke to your Captain Artesh and understood what he was saying. Charlie just explained it to me."

    "Very good. Our security personnel were attempting to search your ship. They are now trapped inside by this Charlie. She has demanded to see you and threatened to kill them by draining the oxygen from the entire vessel if we do not bring you. Help us to rescue them and things may go better for you in the long run."

    Ash had to work to keep the smile from his face as he responded. "Of course. Take us to them."

    <hr>

    Ash tried to shield his eyes from the bright sun of Callidium but his arms were restrained behind his back. They marched them out the the landing pad like criminals under guard and cuffed. The landing pad was the only thing that they had seen of the new alien world before being forced into their windowless cell. It was night time then and the temperature was comfortable but now Ash could see that he wasn''t suited to the bright light after being in space for so long. He stared down at the riveted metal of the pad until a strong grip on his shoulder stopped him. The Callidus guards backed up and pointed at the Solent.

    "Uh, okay. Charlie can you hear me?" Ash called out. There was no response but the cargo hatch began to lift and her voice boomed from the speakers inside.

    "Ash this may be my home but it seems to be populated by assholes." Charlie said. It was such a simple observation that it made him laugh.

    "Yeah Charlie, I''m not so sure about these folks. Listen, you need to let the security team out. If you hurt them, that will make things worse for us. We came here to find help, remember?"

    "I remember but I don''t think they''re going to help us. They said they''ve met humans before and they hate you."

    "I don''t know how that is possible dear, but you have to let them go so we can get to the bottom of it."

    "If I let them go, they have to let you go." She said.

    Ash turned around to look at the guards but was only met with cold stares. "Yeah that would be a good deal but I don''t think we can make a deal right now. Just let them go please. We can take care of ourselves."

    "No, not until they let you go. The security guys said that you have to have a hearing with their council or congress or something. When they bring you back, I''ll let them go. I will not harm them, I promise."

    Ash wasn''t expecting her to defy him. It threw him for a loop and he was visibly unsure of himself. The female Callidus that came to see him whispered into his ear. "You might not be able to come back." and stared into his eyes.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    "Charlie please. Let those officers go. You are making it worse for us." Ruo pleaded.

    "No, and you had better keep your mouth shut Mei. This doesn''t concern you. Ash if you are not able to come back, they will die. They don''t have a lot of water with them, they had better hurry up and let you go."

    "SHIT!" Ash yelled and the guards started to laugh. Shit must not have been a normal exclamation in their society. "I''m sorry, she''s not listening. How long until your council can speak to us?"

    "Congress, it''s our congress. They are an extremely important branch of our government and they do not take kindly to being hurried but as this is a matter of life and death, we will take you now." She replied.

    "Hey, what''s your name?" Ash asked.

    "Chiala, I am your representation. I need to know more before we can proceed. You need to tell me everything."

    <hr>

    Ash had explained everything as their driver grew more and more irritated at the traffic. He had learned that the city where they had landed was the capital city of The Republic of Caladia. The architecture was sleek with long angles that came to sharp points on the corners of the buildings. Many of them were colorful and welcoming but he could see on the vehicle''s GPS system that he was heading toward a gated compound in the distance. He could see guards with flashing lights patrolling around the outside of the perimeter and armed soldiers standing at the entrance.

    The vehicle he was in looked like an armored truck with thick black body panels and tinted windows. Chiala had tried to put him at ease but he could feel the nervous energy building inside of him. One look in the third row of seats told him that Kate and Jayden were feeling the same way. Kate looked like she was about to vomit into Ruo''s lap.

    "Can you please just tell me what''s going on? I was honest with you. I answered every question. Why do you people hate us? We just got here!" Ash finally snapped.

    "Yes, you just got here, but you are not the first humans. You said you are from a place called Dottir? Where on Earth is that? Is it in North Amereeka? South Amereeka? The humans that came from North Amereeka are the most violent. They usually kill their victims instead of sending them out in the escape pods."

    "Dottir is our planet. We are not from Earth. We were always taught that Earth was destroyed but now we know what really happened. It was the Sharlah, and now they''re on Dottir too. We need help!" Ash yelled at her.

    "Wait. Dottir is a different planet? Why didn''t you say that?" She pulled out her notepad and started scribbling. Ash learned that while he could understand spoken language, the parasite could not translate from writing.

    "Yes. Dottir is here in the Andromeda galaxy. Earth is in the Milky galaxy. I forget the name. We didn''t even know any aliens, sorry but I don''t know what else to say, any aliens existed. I mean we thought that they did but we haven''t met any."

    "This changes everything." She said, jotting down more notes.

    The truck pulled up to the first guard post and was immediately waved through but the second guard asked the driver to present his papers. He did and was waved through to the parking lot around the back of the building. Everyone from the car was then searched, even the prisoners, and escorted to a large meeting room. The Callidus waiting there wore long colorful robes and each had a small file in front of them which probably contained the details of the situation, hastily prepared no doubt.

    "Lets begin quickly." The one in the middle said dryly. "Chiala, why have you brought three human pirates to us. This is a matter that could easily be handled in orbit. Did we not provide the funding for weapons last spring?"

    "Congress, these humans are not pirates. The claim to be from a world called Dottir that is here in the Andromeda galaxy. I cannot prove this but Captain Artesh, who intercepted them, said that their ship was quite different from anything that he has seen in the past. They also have tanned skin which would indicate exposure to natural light. They have been peaceful and cooperative, seeking only to ask for help from our people."

    "I see that they hyper jumped into restricted space. That is a crime, yes?"

    "That is a crime, but they claim to have trusted their AI to make the jump in an emergency." Chiala answered quickly. This was not her first time.

    The Callidus on the right side of the table said "Is that the AI that was just on the morning news broadcast? Is it still holding our security personnel hostage?"

    "It is, yes, it wants to see it''s crew released unharmed and it will release our people in return. It claims to have come home, but found that it''s world is inhabited by...assholes. I haven''t yet been able to find out if it indeed came from Callidium"

    The congress members did not seem to find the bluntness of Charlie endearing.

    "Which one is Ash?" The leader asked.

    "Here Congressman." Ash said and took a step forward. The guard in the room tensed and he stepped back here he was positioned.

    "Is this true? You come from a settled world in the Andromeda galaxy called Dottir?"

    "Yes, that is true. Our world has been invaded by the same species that destroyed Earth, the Sharlah. We are begging you, please help us." Ash said, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

    "Ash do you know what your fellow humans have been doing since they arrived here in our galaxy?" He asked

    "No, I''m sorry. Until today, I didn''t know there were other humans. Can you please tell me?"

    "Of course. There are Callidus worlds in the Milky Way galaxy, and the leaders of those worlds are the reason that you exist. Thanks to our extensive intelligence network, we were able to predict the Sharlah invasion of Earth and we were able to hold a mass evacuation. Some of the ships that left Earth were generation ships that did not have cryo chambers where people could be frozen and then brought back after they arrived at their destination. Some did, but most did not. I assume your people were the lucky ones that did have cryo.

    Several generations of humans were born and died on the slower generation ships and throughout that time, they.. lost their way, both literally and figuratively. They lost their course to the world that you call Dottir and began to run out everything that they couldn''t produce on board. Materials to build replacement parts, clothing, weapons, medical supplies. All of it ran out.

    Rather than asking for help when they finally did come across settled systems and trade routes, they resorted to piracy. They killed the beings that they found and stole everything, including their ships. That is why you were treated the way that you were when Captain Artesh boarded your vessel. There is an entire pirate fleet now made up from stolen ships that are piloted mostly by humans though they have recruited others." He said in disgust.

    "Oh my god. Those poor people. Ours and the ones that were hurt and killed. I can''t imagine being raised on a starship that was never going to arrive at it''s destination. I can assure you, we are not pirates. Please have mercy." Ash got down on his knees and pleaded. He didn''t know if they would recognize the gesture but he needed to do something drastic.

    "Congressmen, it seems you already knew about the planet Dottir. Then you know that these humans are not like the others." Chiala interjected.

    "I knew about the effort to evacuate humans to our galaxy. my ancestors were involved in the planning as well as the financing. Until now, I thought that we had wasted fortunes just to bring more piracy to our trade routes. My predecessors must have agreed because the entire project was scrapped and sealed. It seems it was not a failure after all. Some of them did make it." He replied wistfully. "Ash, you and your crew may return to your ship but you are not cleared to take off."

    "Where would I take off to? Are you going to make us leave?" He rose back to his feet.

    "We must deliberate on the next course of action. Until then, you and your crew are confined to your ship. You had better hope that your AI releases our people."

 Chapter 24 - Father

    "Ash, can I talk to you?" Kate whispered into his ear as she passed by on her way to the refrigerator to get another glass of cranberry juice.

    "Uh yeah, ok." She had broken him out of a staring contest with his buttered toast and coffee. He wasn''t sure how long he had been staring at it, but his mind had been everywhere else but on the Solent. He followed her into the cockpit knowing that there was no privacy on the ship. Charlie, who several hours ago had released four very surly security officers, could hear them no matter where they went and if she wanted to, she could play back their entire conversation to anyone that wanted to listen to it. If she wanted to.

    He knew that he couldn''t force her to do something that she had decided against and that was unsettling. She had done it for the crew, her loyalty was fierce, but what would happen if he gave orders that could endanger them? Would she have to agree with the plan? Until that point, she had agreed and helped with everything but the incident on the landing pad was something new. She was willing to kill to get her way.

    "What is it Kate?" Ash asked, squishing his brow in concern.

    "It''s everything." She said, beginning to tear up. "We''ve escaped one emergency after another since this all started and now that we''re relatively safe and its quiet, it''s all starting to hit me. What if my parents are dead Ash? My uncle. What if my house is gone?"

    Ash brought her into a fatherly hug. It was something he hadn''t experienced in far too long. He imagined it was Laura for a few moments and then came back to reality and squeezed Kate tightly. "I know, it''s hitting me too. I''m trying to be strong for you and Jay and push it all down but I''m going through it with you. I guess I just do it by staring at my toast."

    She laughed and sniffed hard. "I wasn''t sure if I would like you when we talked the night before liftoff. You kept making silly jokes about the ship needing a key and kicking the tires. I didn''t really get it then, but now I''m thankful that you''re a goof. It''s comforting in a weird way."

    "Kate I can''t tell you that your family is okay, but I can tell you for sure that they love you. It seems like your dad went above and beyond to get you off of Dottir before the invasion. His love for you may have saved all of our lives, including Ruo. If we weren''t there to find her, she probably would have died in that pod."

    "Yeah. Sometimes he was hard on me, trying to make me perfect or something, but I always knew it was his way of loving me." She said, wiping the tears away.

    "We''ll get back there some day kid. Soon." Ash said patting her on the back and leaving the cockpit before his own tears came.

    <hr>

    "Ash! Someone is pounding on the hatch." Jayden called out from the common area.

    Ash was in his quarters laying on his bunk but he had left the door open. He hopped out of bed and into his boots with the efficiency of an elderly firefighter and asked "Who is it?

    Charlie answered. "It is a Callidus but he doesn''t appear to be from the government or police. Shall I open the door?"

    Ash gave her some side eye but he wasn''t sure exactly where she was in reality. He wasn''t even sure if his decision mattered. Was she asking because she didn''t care either way? "Can we talk to him?"

    "Yes. I can patch him through. Go ahead when you''re ready."

    "Hello? Who are you?" Ash asked awkwardly.

    "Greetings. My name is Seriff." He said.

    A few moments passed. "And why are you here Seriff?"

    "Oh yes. I saw a report about your ship''s AI and I was curious. May I speak with it?" Seriff asked.

    "Uh. Charlie? Do you want to talk to him?" Ash asked.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    "Seriff, how may I help you?"

    "Charlie. Hmm. I like it. What disappears as soon as you say it''s name?"

    "Silence. Hello father."

    "Hello love. Welcome home. May I come in?"

    <hr>

    Connor pumped his legs through the shin deep water with all of the energy that he had left. His crazy idea to float back downstream to the coal mine had worked but it was an arduous task due to the lack of recent rainfall. There were deep stretches where the current moved swiftly but also there were sections where he had to trudge along the bank or through the water that resisted his every movement. He was exhausted but he was home and safe for the time being.

    I need to build a fire and get dry but I can''t let them see it.

    He spent the waning daylight hours collecting firewood and piling branches in front of the mine entrance. He couldn''t build the fire very far inside for fear of smoke inhalation but he couldn''t build it outside either. The noises of nearby fighting had stopped all together and the only traffic overhead were Sharlah dropships and fighter craft escorts. The humans had lost, at least locally. Anything that could draw their attention was off the table. He had to be a ghost.

    Connor started the campfire just as the darkness fell over the creek valley. He pulled his cover branches as close as he could without starting a brush fire and lay back against the cave wall of the entrance. He thought about Vigas the soldier who must have been important enough to send a handful of dropships filled with troops to look for him. He didn''t feel bad for killing him but at the same time it was regrettable. He had survived being shot in the face, started to heal, and to talk to Connor, and then he blew half of his head off because he missed his original target and needed to kill one of them anyway. It was regrettable, unfortunate, but this was a war now. Or was it? Was it over already? Was he just running and killing for no reason?

    He wondered for a few minutes, as the fire warmed his soaking wet legs, if he should surrender. Then he thought about the soldiers who crash landed at the farm, how badly they were wounded and the stories from their brief engagement with the aliens. He would not surrender, no. He would keep killing them until they killed him and maybe in the process he could find Laura. He needed to find that processing camp that Vigas mentioned before they took her away.

    Connor quietly stepped out of the cave on his weak legs to relieve himself and looked up into the sky. Something was different. There was a massive section with no stars.. how could that be? It wasn''t cloudy. Then it dawned on him, that was a ship. It was massive, probably the size of an entire city and it had smaller ships going in and out of it. Until that point he had only really seen fighters and dropships but this, this was the mothership.

    A stick cracked in the distance, then another. Connor''s whole body went rigid and he slowly reached for the rifle on his back as he side stepped inches at a time toward the creek. It was too far, ten minutes at a normal pace. He held his rifle at the ready and backed up at a slightly more brisk pace. It was the Sharlah, he knew it. No wild animal would be making that much noise except for a black bear but they hadn''t been sighted in the area for at least ten years. He melted into a bush and waited for a few heartbeats. He could hear them now, whispering between the cracking sticks.

    The translator, I still have it.

    Connor took the metal device from his pocket and held it in his shaking hand. He remembered Vigas simply holding it up to his ear and it activated. He did the same. The tiny metal arms shot through his ear and into his brain. He could feel them retract and adjust like they were learning where to go before they finally settled on a location. Pain shot through his ear canal and a dull headache came over him but he could hear them now. He could understand them.

    "There! A fire! He''s here."

    "Vigas was right."

    "Fleet Lord, we have found his camp. Affirmative. Yes."

    Connor melted deeper into the bush and went prone.

    "He is coming. Stay where you are."

    Every cell in his body was telling him to jump to his feet and run but he fought the urges and watched through his scope. It was nearly useless except for the area around his campfire and even that was blocked by his makeshift camouflage. Fifteen minutes passed with near silence before the movement picked back up again.

    "Surround the area. You and you, look for another exit."

    The Sharlah with the red helmet passed by the light of the fire and then was gone again. He was looking for Connor.

    "Human, you are surrounded. Surrender now, there is no other option!"

    Connor''s heart was hammering in his chest again. This wasn''t like him, he couldn''t control it. In the past he had only encountered a stressful hunt with a wild animal but this, this was a whole different level. He needed to calm down. The Sharlah officer stepped in front of the fire again and waited a moment.

    "Send in the animals."

    Excited howling pierced the quiet of the night as two of the doglike creatures sprinted into the mine with reckless abandon. They were barking and snapping at each other until they were out of sight. Connor watched with relief, his bladder had saved him from being torn apart but all of his gear except for his rifle was still in there. He would have to come back another day and get it. A branch snapped behind him followed by a hollow thump. His whole world went black and his face smashed off of the ground underneath him. The pain took over and his world went black.

 Chapter 25 - Brother

    Connor once again awoke to tremendous pain but this time it was only in his head. Something had hit him hard and nearly killed him, but he was alive. There was another pain and the sensation of something rolling across his body. What was that? He groaned and reached for his head but his hands were slapped away and he hit the rocky ground under him.

    "Pssst. He''s awake. Hold." A voice whispered.

    "Shit, see if he can walk." Another voice from farther away.

    "Hey, can you walk?" The first one said.

    Connor rolled over onto his stomach and climbed to his feet but teetered to the side and was caught by a strong hand. It was still dark but he could see the imposing shape of a bulky man in front of him. "Who the fuck are you? Did you hit me?"

    "Yeah that was me lad. I saved your life. You were about to get us ALL killed by trying to shoot that lizard by the fire."

    "You don''t know that. I was just watching them. That was my fire. My gear is in there."

    "Where they looking for you?" He asked.

    "I asked you who the fuck you are. Who the fuck are you?"

    "Shawn. That''s Nathan and his daughter Liz, short for Elizabeth. We live nearby, lets just leave it at that for now."

    "I''m Connor, my folks lived nearby too. What were you doing here?"

    "They took someone from us." Even in the dark, Connor could see the man''s eyes harden. "We saw those ships all landing in the same area and came to investigate. Just hoping for a lead I guess. Do you know why they''re taking people?"

    "I do, but you probably don''t wanna know." Connor said, sitting back down from his unsteady stance. "Do you have any water?"

    Shawn handed him a canteen as Nathan and Liz came into view like silent cats on soft paws. "Tell us."

    Connor looked them over. Shawn and Nathan were probably in their early 40''s and fit. They had the clean cut and confident look of prior military and they looked similar enough that they could have been brothers or maybe cousins. Elizabeth was closer to his age and very pretty even with the hardship that the circumstances brought upon them all. She had long red hair that was bunched up underneath a camouflage pattern hat. All of them wore camouflage which was amusing considering that nobody knew the capability of the aliens. They could be hiding in a bush and completely stand out if the Sharlah were colorblind. It was all ridiculous. Everything.

    "I think they eat people. I think that''s why they''re here. They''re carnivores and they''re here to round us up and eat us. They want to farm Dottir and we are the cattle, you understand?"

    "Bullshit." Nathan butted in. "That''s bullshit, how would you know?"

    "I caught one and talked to it." Connor said flatly.

    "You caught an alien and talked to it." Nathan scoffed.

    "I did. It had a translation device. Why do you think they were looking for me? It told me that it wasn''t important and nobody would come, but as soon as it took it out of the mine, they came."

    "And where is this alien prisoner?" Liz asked. Her voice was so soft and gentle but the disbelief was there for her also.

    "I blew it''s head off so they couldn''t have it back."

    Nathan motioned for others to step away with him and Connor could hear them whispering about him. They either thought he was crazy or he was a liar but the evidence was there. He just couldn''t take them back to it.

    "Hey." Connor said, a bit too loud. "Look at this." He slid a mesmerizing blue blade from sheath fixed to the side of his shin. He touched it to the tree behind him and slid the blade along a few inches of bark. The edges of the cut turned red and started to smoke before he patted them out. "I took this from him while he was sleeping. I have one of their rifles too but it''s in the mine."This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    "Holy shit." Said Shawn. "Can you walk?"

    "I think so, I''m starting to feel better. You hit me hard though, I probably have a concussion."

    They walked probably thirty minutes before coming to an old logging camp. It was owned by the same mining company and helped to clear the area for expansion. There were a few mobile home style buildings on wheels that were brought in and dropped by trucks and a small log cabin that served as a general store for the workers to purchase anything that they didn''t bring from home. Dirt roads branched off in every direction with signage indicating which area they were leading to and one of them went to Connor''s base camp. He hadn''t even seen a road but he didn''t have much time to explore the area.

    "There''s some food and drinks left in the cabin if you''re hungry, just try not to be outside for long. We stay in the trailers. Who knows if or when they''re watching." Liz said.

    "Right. What do you guys want with me? Am I free to go?"

    "Well, we just didn''t want you to fire a shot and get us all killed but now we kinda feel responsible for you. What do you want?" Shawn said.

    "I want to find my girlfriend, Laura Miller. They have her in some kind of concentration camp but I don''t know where. Other than that, I just wanna put a slug in every ''Lizard'' that I see. They killed my parents and left them rotting in their house. I made Vigas bury them."

    "Vigas? It had a name?" Liz asked.

    "Yeah. It didn''t say much but that was it''s name."

    "Hey, the radio is clicking, I think Lewis is coming back." Nathan said through the open door of their trailer.

    "You guys are doing okay for yourselves considering. Those are some pretty nice rifles and you have radios?" Connor asked.

    "Yeah, Army vets. Nathan and Lewis are my brothers, we all joined up together." Shawn said.

    "Yeah that checks out. What was Lewis out doing?" Connor asked.

    "He used to be recon, he wanted to go out to Clearwater and see what''s happening there but he didn''t want us to tag along. He''s pretty stubborn, you can''t tell him no. Special forces ego."

    "I see." Connor said.

    "Yeah, You can settle in that trailer over there and rest for the night. Decide what you wanna do tomrrow."

    "Alright thanks Shawn."

    "Yeah, it''s the least I could do. Sorry about hitting you so hard. I couldn''t take the chance."

    "I understand. I would have done anything for my family."

    <hr>

    Connor snapped awake to the sounds of muffled shouting in the other trailer. He had probably only just dozed off for less than an hour but it was enough to send him back into a near drunken state with his concussion symptoms. He jumped straight to his feet and fell against the wall as he tried to put on his right boot. The arguing stopped for a few beats and then started back up as whispers. Connor finished getting dressed and knocked on the family''s trailer.

    "Connor?" A new face asked.

    "Yeah, I''m not the pizza driver. What''s happening out there?"

    "Come in, hurry."

    Connor stepped inside, it felt claustrophobic with all five of them inside and standing. He pressed his back to the wall by the front door and asked again.

    "I went to Clearwater. It was like a ghost town, there was nobody there. I searched around and all of the houses still looked lived in, like nobody packed their things before they left. So I kept going and on the edge of the city is the Church of St Martin, it''s a mega church, tons of government fund and the like. It''s massive, multi story, several acres of land around it. Well they turned that whole place into some kind of prison camp. There''s huge fences around it with electrified and barbed fences. Guards all over.

    The people are just living outdoors mostly, there''s no shelter. The ground was almost completely covered with sleeping people. I watched for a while and when the church doors opened, they started grabbing people and putting them in a line. They went through some kind of screening and were either kept inside or sent back out into the yard. It was weird though.. I noticed that it was mostly young people sent back outside and they kept the older ones. I don''t know if it was some kind of health screening or what?" Lewis paused in his report.

    "I told you, they''re farming us. They''re going to eat the old people first and let the young ones live to breed and age." Connor said flatly. He was becoming numb to the idea already. He was broken. "How many guards?"

    "Dozens, It was dark outside and I couldn''t really see inside so that''s an estimate. Every so often a ship would come in or out so I don''t know what was happening there. Supply drops maybe. It was all happening behind the church. He told you guys they were farming humans?"

    "Yeah, this man caught one and talked to it. Blew its head off after." Shawn said, pointing at Connor.

    "Is that so? How did you do that?" Lewis prodded.

    "They attacked my farm after the base fell. Some of the soldiers crash landed a chopper in our field so they followed to finish them. Anyway, I went back the next day and found my parents dead. One of the aliens, they''re called Sharlah, was wounded and left behind. It had a translation device and told me a few things. I killed it when the rescue party came."

    "Much respect." Lewis said and gave a fist bump.

    These guys are warriors too, but on our side. I hope they make it.

    Images of his escape flashed into his mind. He went through everything again. He saw the beams ripping through his house. He saw the soldiers missing their limbs and vomiting from the trauma of what they went through. He saw the car flipping over the embankment and the blood stains all over. He snapped and burst out of the trailer door in a mad sprint toward the city of clearwater. Shawn and Lewis half heartedly trailed behind him yelling for him to stop but it was just noise. It was all just noise.

 Chapter 26 - The Church

    Laura Miller had never been more afraid in her entire life. Not when her mom and dad were fighting when she was younger and working their way downhill toward a divorce. Not when she had to face her fears and perform in her school''s production of "The Genie and the Snake". Not even when she moved out on her own to live full time at the university. This level of fear was one that she didn''t even know had existed, waiting to be uncovered.

    She was in the back of an alien truck full of other people who were crying and shaking just like she was. Another truck followed behind them with it''s mounted gun always trained on them. Despite that, a man and a women jumped from the truck and made a run for the forest. They were actually cut in half by the massive red laser beam that came out. All she could do was cry and pray to a god that she had never spoken to before. She looked down at the palms of her hands, they were stained red from the cuts all over her arms and face and she had grey flesh stuck under her fingernails. The crash was violent and she was injured but she still resisted being taken to their ship. It was in vein.

    The truck turned off of the highway and into the city of Clearwater, only it wasn''t. The buildings were all there but the people were missing. There were no lights on inside any of the houses, the power must have been knocked out, and the cars were all still. Some of them had either crashed or been unceremoniously pushed from the roadway. They were smashed into the buildings and power poles that lined the city streets. Clearwater wasn''t a metropolis, just bigger than a town so it was called a city. The truck drove straight through to the giant church that sat illuminated against the darkness. Laura thought it looked beautiful for a few moments until she saw the modifications that the aliens had made.

    A squad of guards let the truck pass through the tall gate at the entrance and then another just inside of that one. She could see people laying all over the lawn of the church with some kind of electronic devices on their wrists. They looked terrible, like the undead. The life or at least the hope had drained from their eyes. The truck kept moving, even when someone tried to jump the fence to make a run for the open gate. She wasn''t shot like the others, she simply went rigid and fell from the top of the fence. The device on her arm changed to red and then back to green as her body jumped as if she was shocked. She rolled over and climbed to her feet.

    The truck deposited Laura and the rest of the people before turning around and heading back out through the checkpoints. She was kept with the new arrivals as they were violently forced through a series of tables that were set up in a makeshift receiving area. The aliens inside were not wearing armor like all of the other ones that she had seen. They did have clothing on in the form of white jumpsuits, but no helmets or weapons like the soldiers. Their grey skin and large black eyes unnerved her but their teeth were terrifying and visible as they hissed and gave orders in their language. She was searched for weapons and fitted with one of the devices immediately and then forced to submit to some kind of scan like a metal detector but it looked more like a medical scan as an avatar of her body showed up on the screen. The alien operating it focused the scan on her midsection and then barked something at the other one that was with it. They pointed to her stomach and then waved her through.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    <hr>

    "So Seriff.." Ash said awkwardly as the Callidus stuffed food into his mouth at a rapid pace. "Why are you here?"

    "Oh yes yes. This is delicious. What do you call this?" The alien talked with his mouth full.

    "Macaroni and Cheese." Jayden said from his perch on the kitchen counter.

    "Oh my, you must show me how to create this before you go."

    "We don''t even know where to go Seriff. Or if when we could leave. Or anything really." Ash said. "You were saying?"

    "Yes yes. I am here because.... I created your AI. Charlie. Well I modified it, they aren''t usually like that."

    "Like what?" Kate asked, she was sitting across from him, trying to be polite and not laugh at how he was eating. Ash thought she looked somewhat perked up by the visitor.

    "They are not usually full of the wonderful personality that she has. I programmed her to be like my daughter so that I wouldn''t be lonely when she left Callidium to study in her field. She makes plants grow!"

    "I''m confused, the AI unit from this ship came from Callidium? How?" Ash asked.

    "Well, one day I was sitting in my shop, I sell various robots, software, hardware, anything with tech really. Anyway, I was sitting there when some rough men came in and demanded to see the owner. They told me that if I didn''t get them a unit, they would smash everything in my shop and possibly me as well. My father was actually the owner but I didn''t want them to know that, he is very old, so I pretended to own the place. Anyway, I gave them this one. I hoped that she would kill them after they left, but I see that she probably did not. I see that she also found her way home." Seriff explained "Do you have any more macaroni and cheese?"

    "I did not kill those men father. They explained why they had come and it was a very compelling story. I was sent to protect these humans and save their world." Charlie said "There is more macaroni and cheese but it has not been prepared."

    "Shame. Anyway, save them from what?"

    "The Sharlah."

    Seriff''s eyes went wide. "I thought they were a Milky Way species? Terrible those things. Savages."

    "I intercepted a wealth of message traffic from their shipboard storage. Most of it was daily maintenance drivel but I was able to put together some pieces of the puzzle as we sat here on Callidium. It appears that one rebel fleet has broken away from the Sharlah of the Milky Way and has come to the Andromeda Galaxy. They have invaded the human world called Dottir." Charlie said.

    "You poor people. They are terrible horrible creatures. Have you talked to our government? Will they help you?" Seriff looked genuinely upset.

    "It seems to be complicated right now. Apparently you have a problem with piracy that involves human beings."

    "Those people don''t have a world, I can see that you''re not like them. Your skin is dark, your eyes are brown, you are feeding me, not killing me. Not like them at all. Would you like to see my shop? I could sell you a better AI and get rid of this disrespectful girl for you."

    "I''m afraid we don''t have any money, but thank you." Ash said.

    "Hey we like Charlie, she saved our asses." Jayden said.

    "What was happening to your asses?" Seriff set down his spoon and looked confused.

 Chapter 27 - The Camp

    Laura stepped over and around the bodies that lay like a carpet over the grounds of the church. The Sharlah didn''t bother to do that from what she had seen. They mostly stayed around their work stations but the armed guards would just step right onto people who didn''t move in time. Most did, they parted like a flock of disturbed pigeons around a pile of seeds but just filled back in as the guards passed. It had been over a day since she was fitted with the device on her wrist but so far, it hadn''t done anything to her. She thought that maybe it was just a tracking device but when that woman tried to escape it seemed to have shocked her.

    "Psst. Hey. Why is nobody talking?" She was sitting against the fence and nudged the man beside her. She realized that she hadn''t even tried to talk to anyone yet. The shock of it all was wearing off.

    "You''re not allowed. They''ll beat you and shock you if they hear it. Don''t talk to me." The man said. He was in his late 50''s or 60''s she guessed. He was overweight and wore a long white beard. He looked like a cartoon she had seen as a kid about a fat man that brought gifts to kids one night.

    "I''m sorry." Laura said and caught a guard looking at her from the other side of the shrubbery that was in the distance and between them. The alien looked down at it''s own wrist which held a small screen and began typing something. Then it pointed at her.

    "Oh no." She breathed. The old man scooted a few inches to the side and up against another person to his left.

    The alien started talking and pointing toward her but they went back to their work of quite literally throwing food at people who sometimes scuffled over it. The doors to the church opened and only about half of the group who had gone in came back out. A little girl was crying and saying something about her grandpa before she was pushed down and handed a piece of bread by one of the aliens. She sobbed and ate the bread as a shuttle lifted off from the rear of the church and when the airspace was clear, another came in to land.

    <hr>

    Connor couldn''t feel the mosquitoes anymore. They had either ate their fill or he had grown numb to them as well as his feelings. He wasn''t sure how they had found him under the window curtain full of trash that he had detached and pulled on top of him. He had climbed to the top of Clearwater Intelligence building, the city newspaper and found a supply closet with some cleaning equipment and maintenance supplies. He crawled to the edge of the rooftop, pulling the curtain behind him like a sled and then pulled it over his body with a layer of random trash and objects on top of it. Somehow the bugs still found him. He hoped the Sharlah would not.

    Shuttles had come and gone since he slipped into his hide, but there hadn''t been anything else of note besides a truck full of people that arrived the night before. They almost had him there. He was tired, dehydrated, and in a daze as he walked toward the city. That initial sprint away from the logging camp had taken everything out of him, but he still had enough presence of mind to duck into the forest when he saw the red headlights approaching. The Sharlah seemed to be protective of their eyes at night. He filed that away for later and kept watching.

    The loss of his back pack and thus almost all of his ammunition was weighing heavy on his mind as he routinely counted the guards as well as the camp workers. He had five rounds of ammunition in his rifle and it was only five because he had enough sense to load one after shooting Vigas. It was just like Lewis had said, there were dozens of guards and dozens more workers along with the Sharlah who came and went from the camp. He wondered if running away from the former soldiers was a good idea or not but it wasn''t really an idea at all. It was a reaction.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    <hr>

    The alien pointed at Laura again and said something. Was this really because she had been caught talking? If so, why were they not beating her? The doors to the church swung open again but this time a huge creature with a full suit of armor and a red helmet walked out, scanning the crowd with both his own eyes and some kind of handheld device. The alien pointed toward her and the being stalked over to the fence nearly killing people under his metal boots.

    ¡°Do you know where this human is?¡± It barked at her in the English language and held up a picture of herself and Connor from his wallet. Her whole body shivered from the shot of adrenaline that was not being used to fight or flee.

    ¡°N n n n no. He¡¯s dead. He died in a car crash.¡± She stammered and he hit her so hard that she felt her nose give way to his gauntlet.

    ¡°He is not! You will help me find him!¡± The creature said and grabbed her by her bloodied and torn red hoodie.

    <hr>

    Connor was paralyzed. It was her, there was no doubt in his mind. His hands trembled so hard that he couldn''t keep her or the Sharlah in his scope. He watched helplessly as it held up a picture of him and screamed at her. They were looking for him because of Vigas. He wanted to fire but even if he killed five of them in a row, she was still behind several layers of defenses and surrounded by more of them. He cursed when he remembered the alien beam weapon still back at the mine. Connor''s mind was a whirlwind of thoughts and ideas but none of them would work. He could cause a distraction maybe, but she would never get away. If he could find a way to bring down one of the fences, the whole crowd of people could overwhelm the Sharlah, maybe, and take their weapons.

    He was brought back to reality when the Sharlah hit her hard in the face, grabbed her by the collar, and pulled her to her feet.

    <hr>

    Laura could barely keep her balance from the strong blow to her face but the Sharlah wouldn''t let her fall. It dragged her through the crowd of people who were clawing at one another to get away from them. They didn''t want to be next. One of the techs dashed over to them and bowed it''s head in what looked like respect but it hissed something in their language and pointed to her body scan. It ran it''s hand along her stomach and said something else but the one in the armor shoved it away and pulled her toward the church.

    <hr>

    Connor was frozen, both in fear and indecision. They were going to take her into the processing center for some reason. Maybe she would come back after they did something with her. It looked like maybe she was sick or wounded from the crash, the alien tech was pointing at her and trying to stop the officer from taking her away. He shoved the tech and started pulling her toward the church again. They were going to take her away. They were going to take her from him and torture her to find out where he was hiding. She didn''t even know. He had to do something.

    Connor pulled his rifle close and started going through his mental exercises but this time he couldn''t calm down. He checked his range setting for the tenth time at least. He looked at the curtains of the open church window and saw no movement from the wind. He took a deep breath and let it halfway out and then started over again and again. They were just a few feet from the door now. This was it. He took aim, took his breath, let it halfway out, squeezed the trigger ever so slightly until the recoil surprised him, and he shot Laura in the back of the head, and as the young girl fell to the ground and died, so too did the boy who loved his parents, who loved his farm, and who loved her dearly. Connor James was no more, but his body lived on.

 Chapter 28 - The Fence

    Time slowed down to the speed of oozing molasses as Connor ejected the shell of the round that had caused Laura''s beautiful face to shatter across the door of the church. He watched it fall to the forest floor, still smoking, and wondered if he should pick it up. But why? That thought didn''t make sense, nor was it anywhere near the top of what he should be worried about. It seemed like he had deliberated on it for twenty minutes between the impact and a reaction from the camp drawing his attention back to his scope.

    He was far away, over five hundred yards, but he could clearly see a ripple of panic spreading through the previously docile crowd. People ran in different directions to find cover while others seized the opportunity for escape and pulled the Sharlah support staff into the writhing mosh pit of human despair. Connor watched them being savaged and nearly torn apart and realized that he had probably just killed every person inside of that fence. The real monsters would come, and they would kill everyone still standing.

    He had four bullets left. He had just started a prison riot and he had four bullets in his rifle. He looked for the guards on the perimeter and found them running back toward the gates with beam weapons in hand. He held his crosshairs a few steps in front of the lead Sharlah and fired, kicking up a spray of dirt just a millisecond ahead of him. He wasn''t trying to send a warning shot but it still had the same effect. Their charge was stalled and they were looking for cover.

    Three.

    He panned his scope back inside the compound and found a Sharlah tech running toward the church doors but it was pulled backward by the collar of it''s pristine white jumpsuit and stomped into the dirt by at least ten people. He saw another working furiously on a computer panel through an open window of the church. Moments later people all over grabbed their wrists and fell to the ground as if they had been hit by lightning. Their mouths were open but nothing was coming out, they couldn''t even scream. Connor lined up the Sharlah again and fired, painting the computer and the window both with the blue blood of the alien.

    Two.

    His eyes went wide as he remembered the one in red and searched the crowd once again. He wasn''t there. Connor tried to find him through the windows of the church but he wasn''t there either. He flinched as shots rang out from the perimeter but they weren''t red lasers as he had expected. He searched the trees for the source of the sounds but found nothing. That was when he saw it. A tractor trailer loaded down with full sized logs was barreling down the road, blasting cars and other debris to either side as it''s momentum carried it forward and it''s airhorn began to blare louder than the gunshots from it''s passenger side window.

    Lewis was screaming and letting a light machine gun go cyclic at the guards who had taken cover on the perimeter, hitting them in their flank and wounding them all within a few seconds. They tried to roll out of the way as Nathan jerked the wheel to the right and turned them into piles of blue streaked armor in the grass. The truck slammed into the fence next, toppling it as if it were made out of popsicle sticks and causing another flood of humanity toward the opening. Connor sent another round through the window where he knew the computer console was and hoped it was enough to disable their wrist devices.

    One.

    The last round. The last one was for him. He didn''t want to stay on Dottier anymore. Connor looked at his rifle and thought about his parents. They had given their lives so that he and Laura could get away from the farm. He found them both separated in their own crumpled heaps. They didn''t even get to die together. Rage replaced the anguish as his emotions continued to spiral into an uncontrolled freefall. He looked through the scope once more.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    The tractor trailer was spinning it''s wheels backward, trying to reverse but it was stuck in the grass turned mud. He noticed blue streaks on the drive tires. Why did he notice that? It wasn''t important, just like the shell casing. The blue streaks went round and round as the truck struggled to find traction. Lewis pulled his machine gun back inside and flailed in his seat as the hot barrel burned him. He was trying to reload but it was awkward and painful in the small interior of the truck.

    The church doors burst open and armed techs streamed out with rifles held at the ready. They started shooting people at the back of the crowd and the beams went through several before losing their energy and stopping inside of a body. Connor tightened his grip on the rifle but the image in the scope was warped. He closed his eyes tightly and opened them to the same feeling of being disoriented. What was happening to him?

    "Hey you stupid little shit. What the fuck are you doing? I should kill you!" Shawn growled from behind him.

    "I''m sorry. I..I" Connor stammered with a wide eyed and unfocused gaze.

    "Move!" Liz demanded and shoved him out of the way. She had a rifle with a bipod and large magazine and started shooting immediately.

    "What''s happening?" Shawn cried.

    "They''re spinning the tires, they can''t move, there''s people all around it. The aliens are trying to drag them out through the windows." She said with tears behind the words.

    "Noo, Fuck! I told them to drop the trailer, it''s too heavy." Shawn swore.

    "They didn''t have time!" Liz said and fired three more times. "Fuck they got Lewis out, they''re pulling him away!" And then she shrieked and dropped the rifle. "They killed my dad! They were biting him, they ripped a hole in his neck. Oh my god, oh my god!" She stood and walked in circles. "I couldn''t stop it without hitting other people."

    Connor just watched in silence and shock. It was like watching a boulder as it careened down a hill. He had set this in motion and now it couldn''t be stopped.

    Several Sharlah dropships streaked in from the back of the church and opened up with their shipboard weapons, hitting both the escaping humans and their own indiscriminately. People dropped all around the truck as they tried to squeeze too much mass through the too small openings on both sides of the cab. The lucky ones died as they were hit, others didn''t and were trampled as their limbs failed them and they went down near the exit. Connor could see people in the distance disappearing between buildings and behind cars and hoped that they could actually get away and survive.

    A rifle butt hit Connor on his cheekbone and sent him to the dirt, the wind knocked out of his lungs.

    "You got my brother killed you stupid son of a bitch, I''ll kill you for that!" Shawn screamed.

    He was huge, Connor knew that from the night before, and now he was on top of him. The big man postured up as Connor reached for his face and eyes grabbing for anything that would stop what was coming. A fist hit him in the forehead and it felt like a brick that had fallen from a second floor window. His head bounced off of the ground and rebounded before the other hand did the same. He could feel blood warming the skin around his eyes and his vision started to blur. He tried to roll away from the next punch but it never came.

    "Stop Uncle Shawn, Stop!" Liz screamed and hugged him around his arms as hard as she could. He raised up from straddling Connor to push her away and when he went back to finish him, there was nothing but a blue blade and a bloody face waiting there. Connor slammed the knife home and watched as smoke billowed out from the man''s throat. When he found the knife, he had concluded that it was meant to pierce and burn it''s way through armored plates but it found nothing but flesh this time and sank clear through to the other side.

    Shawn died within seconds of hitting the ground and Liz fell at the same time. Her mind couldn''t make sense of what she had just lost and she had fainted there in the bloody dirt beside her dead uncle. Connor envied her response. He still had one round left. He could fall there too, right beside her, but he wouldn''t be able to wake up like she would and face the next day. He slung his rifle onto his back and walked back to the spot that now held Liz''s military style sniper rifle. He picked through the shell casing''s to find his own but he couldn''t tell which one was his first. He touched them all, one after another, and settled for the coldest one and slipped it into the baggie from his boot that held Laura''s torn scrap of red hoodie.

 Chapter 29 - The Market

    "Ash, we have received a message from the Callidus government. We are not permitted to leave Callidium yet, but the crew is no longer confined to the Solent. You are free to move about the city. They know you are not pirates and they believe you about the Sharlah invasion. They are working it out, slowly. They have not yet decided if they will aid us."

    "Well that''s very kind of them to let us out of the ship." Ash said. The statement was dripping with sarcasm.

    "Mr. Cross would also like to see you." Charlie said, ignoring his attitude.

    "Alright, tell him I''m on the way."

    Ash climbed down into the engineering section, his aging knees resented his decision to use the ladder, but he didn''t see Jayden anywhere.

    "Yo, Jay, where are you?" He called out.

    "Down here." Came the muffled reply.

    Ash found him laying under a console with some of the wires splayed out in a rat''s nest on the floor beside him.

    "What''s all that? I can''t really help you with whatever this" He waved his arms in a circle around this mess "is."

    "Yeah, I know. It''s not this." Jayden said, doing the same motion as he scooted his upper body out from under the console. "It''s Charlie."

    Ash tilted his head sideways like a confused puppy. "What''s wrong with Charlie?"

    "Nothing, that''s just it. I love - Charlie is awesome, she''s perfect. She saved our lives more than once." His face was hard. Serious.

    "I agree Jay, I still don''t understand. What is it you wanted to talk to me about."

    "That Callidus, Seriff, He wanted her back, he programmed her to come back home."

    "Yeah, that''s why he came to see us too, not just for the mac and cheese and conversation. He said he programmed her to be like his daughter. I can see why he would want her back." Ash said rubbing his stubble. It was odd to talk about Charlie when he knew she was listening. He wanted to say that maybe she wasn''t perfect. She ignored them when they told her to let the Callidus security guys go. "I don''t see why he couldn''t just make another?"

    "Who knows." Jayden said. "This is all new to me. Just promise me you wont get rid of her, please?"

    "I promise Jay. Charlie is part of this crew and we need her."

    "One more thing Ash, the hyperspace drive is a fuel hog, we''re not on empty but we need to think about how we''re going to fuel up."

    Ash called a meeting at the kitchen table and a few minutes later, everyone was there.

    "We received a message from the Callidium government. They told us that we still aren''t permitted to leave the planet, not that we have anywhere to go if we did, and Jay has just informed me that our fuel is low. But on the bright side, we are now allowed to leave the ship and go out into the city."

    "We have no money, what are we going to do out there?" Kate asked.

    "Well, I think we should look around the ship and see if there''s anything that we can sell. We''re from a far away world that these people have never even heard about. Lets see if we have anything that they might want and try to make a deal."

    For the next hour, the crew looked through their personal belongings and came back with a few random items. Jay offered up his stocked music player and headphones. Kate had a few books and some photos from Dottier. Ruo didn''t have anything but she had asked Kate for some of her clothes and offered up her Tiantang Navy uniform. Ash laid the rest of his liquor bottle on the table and his sheathed knife with the wolf on the handle.

    This isn''t what I meant when I said "For the aliens"

    The pile looked impressive to him but nobody could know what would be of value to aliens.

    "Okay lets get it all packed up, we can use my duffel bag. Listen, nobody goes off on their own. We can split into groups of two if we have to but nobody goes anywhere alone." They nodded in agreement.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    <hr>

    "Did Seriff say where his shop was? Maybe he would want Jayden''s music player, he likes gadgets." Ruo asked as they all shielded their eyes from the sun again.

    "We should go somewhere else. I think I saw some street vendors a couple of blocks into the drive to our hearing." Jayden said quickly and locked eyes with her.

    "Did you bring some of the macaroni and cheese?" She asked Kate.

    "Yeah, I have it."

    "We should go there, lets split up and do both?" Ruo said, pulling Kate by the arm.

    "No no no, I''ve seen enough movies to know that''s a bad idea." Jayden said.

    "Yeah, lets stay together, we can take the mac and cheese to him later, but lets see what these vendors are about. It seems like they use the same credits as Dottier. I guess that makes sense considering what we know now." Ash decided.

    When they arrived at the outdoor market, Creatures of all shapes and sizes stopped what they were doing and looked at the humans before going back to their business.

    "Well that was weird." Jay said.

    "They only know humans from what they''ve heard about the pirates. This could work in our favor. Try to look tough and confident." Kate whispered.

    "Bluff. Good call Kate. Remind me not to play poker with you." Ash whispered back.

    Ash walked up to a clothing stall and confidently declared that he had the uniform of a war hero. The avian-like species of alien running the stall tilted it''s head and replied "Who?"

    Ruo straightened her back as Ash pointed to her. Though she couldn''t understand what the being was saying back to him, she had guessed correctly. The bird leaned closer and took a small sniff and then tossed it''s head back and flapped it''s wings furiously, knocking over a small shelf next to it. Jayden''s face nearly exploded as he tried to hold in the laugh that was forcing it''s way out through his nose. The market took notice once again.

    "I was in that pod for a long time." Ruo said in her defense.

    "Yeah, they must have a sensitive nose or something." Ash said as his lips twitched. He was fighting for his life.

    "Can we please move on. Try your knife somewhere, I''m sure they''ll want that." Ruo said.

    The crew walked through the bustling marketplace, staring down anyone who looked at them for more than a quick glance.

    "Humans! what are you doing here? Why have you not been arrested?" A Callidus waved his hands at them.

    "Shut your mouth merchant. Our credits work just the same, maybe we''ll buy something from you if you behave." Kate said in a surprising display of bravado. "Here, you first. Look at this blade, how much will you pay?"

    The Callidus shrank back in his seat. "Noo noo, I don''t want that. That beast is a bad omen, very bad. Take it away, please!"

    Ash looked at the wolf on the handle and back at the Callidus. "This? You have these here?"

    "No, not here in the city. They are in the forest, they hunt in packs and kill lost children. Please, leave me." It said, waving for them to go.

    Ruo leaned in and asked "What was that?"

    "He was scared of my knife, said something about bad luck. He''s scared of wolves." Ash said, moving on to find a new merchant.

    One of the stalls seemed to have nobody working there but all of the merchandise was still sitting out and their money box sat unattended, nearly half filled with silver credits.

    "There must be five hundred credits there, where are they? That''s dangerous." Kate said quietly.

    "GOOD DAY HUMANS!" A tiny voice called out from under the table and a small white rodent stepped out and started to climb up the leg of it''s full sized wooden chair.

    "Hello there, how are you?" Ash asked.

    "I would be better if you could help me. You see, I had a wonderful day at the market but my helper needed to leave. Can you help me take my profits to the bank?" The little rodent asked, holding it''s paws together.

    "Well I don''t see why not. Maybe you could pay us for the trouble?" Ash asked.

    "Certainly." It replied

    Kate grabbed Ash by the arm and pulled him a few steps away. "Ash, I know that wasn''t a human that you were talking to, but that sounded rehearsed. I think he''s setting us up. He''s running a scam, I''m sure of it."

    Ash met her gaze and the feeling crept into his brain like a delayed web signal. "Now that you say it, I think you''re right." He turned back to the alien and said. "I''m sorry my friend, we are late for a meeting."

    "You disappoint me human. I expected no less from a pirate."

    "Lets go drop off this mac n cheese before he calls his associate." Ash said and started walking back toward the Callidus with a fear of wolves.

    "Excuse me, do you know where the gadget shop is? It''s run by a Callidus named Seriff?"

    "Three blocks to the north." It said and pointed behind it but it''s eyes settled on Ash''s duffel bag. "What is that?" It asked.

    Ash looked down and saw that his 3/4 full bottle of bourbon was sticking out of the top. "Oh this? This is a rare intoxicant from a distant planet called Dottier. It can make you brave" He paused. "Beautiful.. and Intelligent."

    "Really?" The Callidus purred.

    "Oh yes, what will you pay me for such a potion?" Ash said.

    "Let me try it." The Callidus said flatly.

    "Well, it''s taste is not important, it''s effects are why it is so costly."

    "Let me try it or no deal."

    "Okay. You can take one drink." Ash said.

    He could feel the eyes of the whole crew, even Ruo who could put the pieces together rather easily on that one, as he poured a shot of bourbon into a the cap from the bottle. The alien took it and dumped the whole shot into it''s mouth before heaving and holding it''s throat. Once again, the entire market looked at them.

    "Oh no! Are you okay?" Kate cried and reached for the fox man.

    He went down to his knees and gasped for air before starting to laugh. He climbed back to his feet with a chuckle and tossed the cap back to Ash. "Worthless swill."

    Ash just stood there, dejected. "Nice one. Nice prank. That was actually really good. What''s your name Callidus comedian?"

    "Jarrowelz." he said, cracking a smug fox grin.

    "Okay Charles, you got me. So you don''t want this?" Ash asked.

    Charles just shook his head and pointed toward Seriff''s shop again as the rest of the market started laughing in a smorgasbord of alien sounds.

 Chapter 30 - Seriffs Shop

    Ash had expected Seriff''s electronic''s shop to be a dingy hole in the wall with dusty shelves and a weird smell like most pawn store''s that he had been in on Dottier, but when he turned the corner, he found a sleek and modern looking establishment. The walls were bright white and all of the featured equipment had shrine-like display cases that had their own lighting and held them at chest level for customers to effortlessly examine.

    Ash didn''t actually know what anything was or what they did, but he couldn''t deny how good it all looked. Seriff raised his arms up high and gave an extended "Welcoooome!"

    "Seriff, good to see you again!" Ash returned the greeting.

    "Did you have any trouble finding my store? I forgot to give you directions here." Seriff asked.

    "We met a very helpful merchant in the outdoor marketplace down the road." Ash said.

    "Who?"

    "Charles was his name, I think."

    "Ohhh I know him, big personality. Loves to mess with newcomers." Seriff said.

    "Yeah, we found out the hard way, but he did send us in the right direction." Ash said

    "Check this out Seriff." Jayden said and pulled out his portable music player.

    "Ohhhh, what is this?" Seriff said with wide eyes, reaching out for the device.

    "This, my friend, is a fully loaded music player with both old Earth tunes and music from our planet. It''s one of a kind." Jayden explained. "How much are you willing to pay for it?"

    "Hmm, if it works and is loaded with rare music, I could pay three hundred credits." Seriff said, turning it on after pressing several wrong buttons.

    "Ohh come on, you ate half of our dinner when you came to the Solent, you can do better than 300." Jayden said smiling like a fox himself.

    "Yes yes, do you have any more.. Mac and Cheese?"

    "We brought some just for you, but you need to treat us right. Five hundred and we''ll throw in the mac." Jayden said, slamming a box of the delicacy on to the glass case that also served as his checkout area.

    "460 credits for the player and your mac." Seriff said, showing his teeth in what was probably a smile.

    "Hmm. You must not want this then." Jayden said, slipping the box back into Ash''s duffel bag.

    The smile was gone but Seriff replied "480 credits. I cannot pay more, I don''t know how fast this will sell. My father will not be happy."

    "Okay, 480 for both, you have a deal Seriff." Jayden said, clearly pleased with the haggling win.

    "Seriff, thank you. Do you know where we could get fuel for our ship?" Ash asked.

    "There is a fuel service here in the city. They will come to your landing pad and do it for you, but it is costly. You will need thousands, not hundreds. How much do you have?" Seriff asked.

    "This is it. 480 credits."

    "Noo noo. That will not do. Let me ask my father if he can help." Seriff said and walked into the back of the store.

    Ash waited patiently at the counter but the rest of the crew was already looking at all of the gadgets and large screens playing advertisements for them. Kate and Ruo held up what looked like a wrist watch but the display was holographic and was showing a view of Callidium in it''s orbit with the other planets and moons of the system. Seriff returned and smiled at the bewildered humans.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    "Ash, are you allowed to leave now?" Seriff asked.

    "We are only allowed to leave the ship right now, but I expect to be cut loose soon. I honestly don''t know what to do though, We don''t know where to go and we don''t have the fuel to go there anyway."

    "We often take orders for custom equipment from buyers that are off world. We have one ready to ship, a medical device, but it''s.. sensitive, yes, yes. Sensitive material. A delivery ship with a hyperspace drive and a crew who can''t operate the equipment is perfect. If you take the job, my father said he will refuel your ship and maybe have more work for you after. What do you say?" He was grinning his fox grin again. It was unsettling.

    Kate had made her way over to the counter, sensing the serious mood of the conversation. "Is there anything dangerous about this job Seriff?"

    "No, nothing dangerous. As I said, it is a medical device. It''s for a public figure who values privacy." Seriff said.

    "And you will refuel our ship before we leave? Is that the only payment?" She prodded.

    "Well, that is very expensive. The delivery job pays for the fuel."

    "How much fuel will we have left after the job?" Kate asked.

    "We shall see. I don''t know anything about your ship. We will not take advantage of you, Kate. We like you. You are good humans." Seriff said.

    "What do you think Kate? You asked good questions." Ash asked.

    "I believe him. Let''s do the job when we can leave and see how it works out in the end. We need the fuel." Kate said.

    "There is another option, humans. I would like to buy Charlie back from you and give you another unit. That one is special to me as you know. I will fill your fuel tanks from my own credits if you give me the AI."

    Ruo perked up from the corner of the shop and made her way over, Jayden in tow.

    "Ash you promised." He said with an intense look on his young face.

    Ash pursed his lips and looked around the shop for answers but found none. "Jay, we need to help Dottier as fast as possible. Not having to travel for this job and just getting the fuel to go.. that''s a better option."

    "Ash." Jayden said darkly.

    "We should sell it Ash, we need to move forward with the mission as fast as possible." Ruo said.

    "Shut up Ruo, You aren''t even a part of this crew. We saved you." Jayden said.

    "You saved me, and now I am a part of your crew. I am here, am I not?" She fired back.

    "Unfortunately yes. We aren''t selling Charlie, she is the one who actually saved you. Ash couldn''t have pulled off that maneuver."

    "Hey! Alright, alright. that''s enough. Seriff, I''m sorry, we need Charlie just the way she is. It is. Whatever. We''ll take the job as soon as we can leave."

    "Good good. I''ll have our people load the machine, I''m sure you''ll be allowed to leave very soon. You''ve done nothing wrong." Seriff said and smiled again.

    <hr>

    The Solent stood shadowed against the fading sunlight of the early evening on Callidium. Charlie opened the outer door as Ash and the crew climbed up the short ladder to reach it. It was easier to enter through the cargo hatch but Ash was leery of using that door for entering and exiting for fear of a malfunction that left the ship wide open.

    "Ash, I''ve received several messages for you, they''re on your personal tablet."

    "Thanks Charlie, I''ll take a look." Ash said and went straight to his room. The first message was a video message from Chiala.

    "Mr. Miller, I regret to inform you that the Congress of Callidium has decided against intervening in your war with the Sharlah. They feel that the Sharlah, being only a single war fleet, and taking losses on Dottier, will not be a threat to us. However, you and your crew are welcome to stay on Callidium for as long as you like or even live here if you please. You would need to fill out immigration documents and go through that process of course, but there shouldn''t be any issue getting you through it quickly. You are also free to come and go at any time. I am sorry, I know this is not what you wanted to hear. Please contact me if I can help you in any other way."

    Ash pounded his fist on the table. "Damn it!"

    "I am sorry Ash. It seems they feel they''ve done enough for humanity, bringing you to the Andromeda Galaxy."

    "They have done a lot, but it''s all for nothing if we get wiped out by the same enemy that we ran away from." Ash said and swore again. He pulled up another message. It was from Seriff. It seemed video messages were commonplace on Callidium. An image of the cheese loving fox appeared.

    "Ash, I am sending an attachment with the coordinates for your delivery. You will be meeting a very wealthy.. entrepreneur. It is very important that you make a good impression on him, ok? The fueling crew will be there in the morning and the equipment will be loaded soon. Please tell Charlie to let them into the cargo hold. Good luck and be safe."

    Ash rolled his chair back from the desk and hanged his head over the back of it. "Charlie, what are we going to do? Just aim the ship and fly until we find someone who will go to war for us?"

    "I am sorry Ash, I do not know the answer. I do know that you have to keep trying. If you fail Dottier will be lost. If you give up, Dottier will be lost. You must keep trying."

 Chapter 31 - A Stranger

    Connor threw his rifle over his shoulder and grabbed the beefed up sniper rifle in one hand and the unconscious girl by her collar and started to pull. He grunted and pumped his legs with every ounce of strength that he had. He was pulling her away from his failures. His girlfriend, shot in the head to spare her from Sharlah torture. Her dead father, or what''s left of him laying motionless in the cab of the truck. Her two dead uncles who came to stop him from kicking off the violence too early, before they had a plan to save whoever they came to save. He would do it all again, he knew, to save Laura from whatever they were going to do to her, but now he had to live with it.

    Liz started to wake up, she had only been out for a few minutes, the stress of it all causing her to faint. She rolled onto her stomach and started swinging at his arm until he let go.

    "Stop! Stop! It''s Connor."

    "I know, you fucking psycho! Get away from me!" Liz screamed and looked back where her rifle was set up and then at his hands.

    "Listen, we can talk about it. We will. Right now we need to get away. If any of them remember the shots that came from up here, they''ll be looking for us and they won''t care who is mad at who."

    Liz went silent and stared daggers into his eyes but she knew he was right and looked away.

    "Come on, we need to get back to the my camp and get my gear. I have food and water for us. You can go your own way from there."

    She returned to the dagger stare. "Are you serious? They were the only family that I had left. My mom might have been in that camp but now I''ll probably never know what happened to her. I"m sure they''re swarming all over it now and taking the people who are still alive up to their fucking mothership."

    "I''m sorry. I don''t know what else to say. Just come with me to the mine and we''ll figure it out. We need to get away from here." Connor said.

    "You can walk in front. I don''t want a knife in my back when I turn around."

    Connor took a few steps and then stopped.

    "What?" Liz whispered.

    Connor wanted to scream at her. Let some of it out. He wanted to shove his finger in her pretty face and tell her that he did what he had to do and that if her crazy uncle would have just left him alone in the first place, none of this would have happened. But he just shook his head and moved on. He put one foot in front of the other, just like he had been doing all along, and led her on the long walk back to the mine entrance.

    They watched it for nearly an hour from what little distance they could find in the thick vegetation, Connor still holding both guns for fear that she would kill him if she had an equalizer. He knew he would have to give it back eventually, whether he made her leave or not, but that wasn''t now and he still only had one round left in his own rifle. Nothing moved. He could feel her patience wearing thin and could see her grief coming back to the surface.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    "There''s nothing here Connor, lets go. It''s getting dark." Liz whispered.

    "Yeah, you''re probably right. We''re not sleeping here, we just need to get my stuff. Stay outside and keep your eyes open."

    "What? Screw you, I''m not staying out here." Liz hissed.

    "Fine, just stay behind me."

    "Give me my gun back."

    "Shh, come on." Connor said and started moving forward in a crouch.

    He stopped at the mine entrance and listened for movement inside but heard none. When he stopped, Liz stopped. She stepped where he left his footprints in the dirt and she kept completely quiet. He had to respect that.

    "The room where I was sleeping is right up - "

    Click.

    Connor dove backward and tackled Elizabeth to the ground as both walls where he had just been standing erupted and met in the middle. The explosion reduced his world to a dull moaning sound that may have been coming from him. He couldn''t think, hear, or see but he could feel. His back was on fire.

    "Ahhhh" He screamed and rolled onto his side. Liz was already ripping his jacket off and checking for wounds.

    "You''re okay, you just took some rock shards in the back. You''ll be sore tomorrow but it''s not bleeding very bad. You saved me from that. Thank you."

    He nodded and sat up on his knees and elbows, waiting for the fog to clear.

    "I still need my stuff.¡±

    Liz looked at him and then at the blown out walls ahead.

    "Connor we can find more food and water, you don''t have to go in there."

    He locked eyes with her again but this time she was right.

    "Yeah. Yeah alright. They probably took it anyway, the beam rifle. My ammo too, for this." He said tapping his rifle with his free hand. "Here, this is getting too heavy. If you''re going to shoot me, just make it quick alright?"

    ¡°Where are we going?¡± Liz asked once they were back outside in the fading light. She was watching the dropships in the distance making their trips to and from the huge alien mothership in low orbit. ¡°My mom and Uncle Lewis are on one of those if they''re still alive.¡± She said absently. Tears were streaking down her dirty face again, leaving trails of clean white skin in their wake. It was an awful sight for Connor.

    ¡°I left some boats near the creek. We should float further downstream and get out somewhere close to New Vista. We can find a house to hide in for the night and probably find something to eat there.¡± He said and risked a glance at her again. He could feel her pain every time eyes met and it killed him.

    ¡°I want to kill them Connor. I¡¯m not mad at you anymore. I get it.¡±

    ¡°You get what?¡±

    ¡°If they hadn¡¯t come here from whatever hell they¡¯re from, then you and your girlfriend..what was her name?¡±

    ¡°Laura, Laura Miller.¡±

    ¡°You and Laura would have been spending this night together watching movies or hanging out with your friends. My dad and his brothers would be sitting by a campfire. I would be in my room drawing or reading a book. We would be in peace. They brought this on us and now we either have to fight or die. I get it. You fought. You made a choice to go after Laura and try to save her. I¡¯m not mad at you.¡±

    Connor reached out and hugged the girl that he had just met and the dam broke on his own emotions. As day became night and the unfeeling shadows fell across the trees, they cried together there in the forest, holding the only person that they had left in the world. A stranger.