Last Chance: A Science Fiction Novel

By Kelly W. Carpenter

A colony ship that left Earth two hundred years previously developed serious problems and entered the nearest solar system to make repairs. Although no aliens were encountered during their trip, an alien vessel orbiting the planet opened fire on them immediately without provocation. The alien ship was destroyed, and two types of aliens were discovered. The Humans learned that the planet was not colonized but only contained a few individuals. The Humans decided to colonize the planet and call it Last Chance. Thus, a war started with the Sickgaar that lasts for many years until the end of the novel.

The first battle takes place on Last Chance when the Sickgaar sends a large relief force to wipe out the Human invaders. The Humans and Toli form an Allied Federation and fight together. The Toli are given a second planet, called New Hope, of their own in the Last Chance system as their numbers increase. The third major character, Jojotazzi, a Toli, appears at this point. She starts as a young Toli orphan discovered by Maria Lopez and progresses to create a vast empire of businesses and space freighters. The Sickgaar are defeated, and all their planets are taken for the Allied Federation after several years of war. Numerous space and ground battles occur in the novel. At the end, the Humans worry that the Sickgaar may not have all been eliminated because a strange ship similar to a Sickgaar ship was seen close to an empty Sickgaar planet months after the war is over.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9781546262398

Kelly W. Carpenter

The author is a seventy six year old male retired chemical plant worker. It took him several years to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature in 1983 by going to school nights and weekends at the University of Houston/CLC He enjoys the outdoors and spends as much time as possible hunting, fishing, camping or just taking walks through remote wooded areas. Much of his time currently is spent on creative writing, but he still takes time to read. Reading has been a passion of his since his teenage years and is something he never tires of doing. He haunts the local libraries hoping to find a new science fiction book that may have just been released.

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© 2018 Kelly W. Carpenter. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse   12/04/2018

ISBN: 978-1-5462-6240-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-6241-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-6239-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018911633

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Last Chance: Character List

Last Chance Terms

CHAPTER 1

C APTAIN TINA CLARK WAS ready to give the order to initiate transfer to normal space. This was not what she wanted, but there was no choice. The ship’s life support was severely damaged and they could not continue with immediate repairs or everyone would die.

Lieutenant Siles, snapped the Captain, initiate entry to normal space on my count…..10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1….now!

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Captain, Hekmitozzi carefully approached Girtmurittma.

One never knew what foul mode the Sickgaak Captain would be in whenever he was encountered.

Go away, can’t you see I am busy eating. He was tearing out large pieces from a large slab of raw meat and drinking some foul looking drink. Slaves don’t interrupt there betters when they are eating. Since Hekmitozzi did not run away like he normally would have done, the Captain grunted and put down his meat.

This better be good or you will be my next meal, snarled an annoyed Captain.

Hekmitozzi was frightened and nervous because he had seen the Sickgaak do the very thing the Captain threw at him. The Sickgaak were true carnivores and never learned to eat civilized food. They never stopped their wild brutish, animalistic ways after they had over-run the Toli civilization and made it’s people slaves to their brutish ways.

A strange ship appeared approximately 200 miles above the planet. It’s design is completely alien. Hekmitozzi remained calm on the outside. A slave did not show fear in front of the Sickgaak. He would die slowly and painfully for such behavior.

Shall I call and see what they want?

Idiot, just blow them out of space. Everything not Sickgaak is an enemy and must be destroyed immediately. The Captain’s temper got worse every second. The Captain called Slave Master Limmiritta and ordered him to watch the stupid slaves and make sure they destroyed the enemy ship.

Hekmitozzi knew better than to say anymore. The alien ship had done nothing and was likely friendly. He also knew that this was a freighter and therefore very lightly armed. Our only chance was to fire before the other ship became aware of us if it had not done so already. He backed away without saying another word. That was the wisest thing to do with a Sickgaak. As he left the Captain was calling Slave Master Limmirittga. He hurried to the missile bay area but did not fail to sound the alarm.

The other Toli technicians were already in the missile bay by the time he arrived. There is an alien ship above the planet. Do you have it on your screens yet? he asked the station technician

Yes Tozzi. Although the Toli slaves were not allowed to have titles, the other Toli referred to anyone placed in a position to direct them as Tozzi. The Sickgaak did not notice this. They did not want any Toli regarded by a leader’s title.

Launch all six missiles. Then re-arm the launcher’s and fire five more volleys. The Captain wants that ship destroyed. He knew that the missiles were very old and might not work. Even if the missiles did work, he knew that they were not suited for this type of combat. This ship only carried enough armaments to put up a weak defense, if they were attacked, at best. The Sickgaak never allowed new arms to be made, even if there were anyone left alive that knew how to manufacture them. It took the Toli worker’s nearly five minutes to re-arm and fire another volley, but they continued on until all five were fired. The attack would be weak, but the only hope was that they had surprise on their side. That, however, probably would not be enough to destroy and save his ship once the aliens detected the missiles.

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The human ship emerged from hyper-space very near a planet and within range of an alien ship. Since the ship had not encounter another life form in over 200 years of searching, they were taken totally by surprise. Even worse, the alien craft immediately fired on them without any reason. Of course, our ship was intruding in their territory. Even so, most intelligent life forms (or so goes the thinking of our species) would at least check out our intentions before becoming hostile and opening fire on our ship. Either they were on a war footing and everyone not their kind was an enemy, or they were just a pure evil and hostile species.

Captain Clark was just as stunned as everyone else on the bridge at what they saw after they entered normal space. It was a magnificent sight. After searching for over 200 years and finding nothing but one disappointment after another, finally a beautiful earth-like planet filled the screens. The precious few seconds of astonishment almost cost the humans everything.

Ensign Sheahan was as fascinated as everyone else, but his station jerked him back to reality as several alarms went off simultaneously. Captain, there is an alien ship in orbit and within range. Mam, it has launched six missiles and is preparing more, shouted the bewildered Ensign as he automatically sounded the red alert and battle station alarms without waiting for his Captain’s order.

Good work, Ensign! Activate shields and power up weapons. Captain Clark was as riveted as everyone else on the bridge, but years of training made her actions and commands automatic. How long do we have before their missiles arrive, Lieutenant Siles?

Ten minutes and 40 seconds before impact, Mam, snapped the nervous young Lieutenant. He had never been in combat, but never-the-less remained calm if a little nervous. There is at least two dozen missiles incoming with five minutes between each six.

Mr. Siles, when will the shields be ready and the weapons ready for action? Although the Captain knew before asking, she wanted the crew to hear and be ready to respond to orders. They were good people. None of them, however, had any real combat experience. Ten minutes and fifty seconds for the shields and nine minutes and forty-five seconds for the weapons power up Mam, Lieutenant Siles snapped out almost immediately.

That is going to be too close, make it happen sooner, Lieutenant. The Captain knew that every second counted if they were going to survive the attack.

Working on it, Mam! snapped the worried young Lieutenant.

Jenny, make sure all battle station’s have the aliens location and all data on the incoming missiles on thier station computers, Captain Clark ordered another young Ensign. Ensign Sorino was one of the best looking women in the crew, but she never let that interfere with her duty or job. While she was intelligent and serious while on duty, it was quite different when she was off duty. Somehow, she managed to keep the two totally isolated. Then patch me through to Chief Seabolt.

Done, Mam! exclaimed the tense Ensign.

Chief Seabolt, I need those engines ten minutes ago. The Captain was worried that it might take too long since they had just emerged from Subspace only minutes ago. If anyone could get them ready, the Chief could. He was a veteran that had been there before. If we every needed one of your miracles we need it now.

This crew won’t let you down, Mam, assured the Chief.\

The Captain switched channels. Major Goree, what is your weapons status?

A few more minutes, Mam. Major Katrina Goree was another veteran and would not let the Captain down. She had worked with her for ten years in the Earth Space Navy before they left Earth. We have our lasers targeting the incoming missiles already and are ready to launch the missiles as soon as the banks are at full power.

I want you to take those bastards out, but first deal with the incoming missiles. Send out the cluster busters first. A cluster buster would open up half way to the target and release a dozen smaller missiles making them almost impossible to stop because of their size. They were hard to defend against and would add a distraction so the main missiles would have a better chance of getting through. The Captain was worried and knew it would be close if they survived the incoming missiles. She was caught off guard and she knew it. So did the entire crew, but they were over their initial shock and responding like a perfectly oiled machine.

With just seconds left before the shields were ready, point defense opened fire on the first wave of incoming missiles. Five of the six were stopped, but unfortunately one managed to penetrate the heavy defensive firepower and struck the ship before the shields could be activated. Everyone felt the shock as the missile struck.

Mr. Siles, get a repair crew on the damage and send medical help in case of casualties, the Captain coolly ordered the Lieutenant. Jenny, how soon to full power?

Four minutes thirty seven seconds, Captain answered the busy Ensign as she worked her station without a pause.

The Captain stared fixedly at the main screen and mumbled what sounded like a curse to the crew. That’s going to be too close. We don’t need another hit, stated the Captain as she slammed her hand down on the chair arm in frustration. A second wave of enemy missiles was approaching and would soon be within point defense’s range. Everyone seemed to hold their breath as point defense finally opened fire and destroyed the six missiles with what seemed like only micro seconds to spare.

We have full power and our shields are coming up. Our missiles are on the way! shouted Ensign Sorino excitedly.

The Captain felt relief. Good work people. Any further missiles will be destroyed by point defense or the shields if they manage to get that far. Captain Clark noticed that her missiles were faster and she hoped good enough to take the enemy ship out. Half way to the target three of a dozen human missiles deployed their dozen smaller decoy missiles. Although these were small, they could still inflict damage where ever one hit.

As the Human crew tensely watched, the third wave of enemy missiles bore down on the Human ship. Point defense took out four and the other two were blow apart against the shields. Then the human missiles struck. All of the smaller cluster missiles hit and six of the large missiles struck and turned the enemy ship into scrap. Anyone on that ship should have been killed as it was literally ripped apart.

Captain Clark watched as the enemy ship was destroyed. It did not explode, but was literally ripped apart. Lieutenant Siles, take the ship around and put us into orbit behind the largest moon. Jenny, make arrangements to have Admiral Sawyer awakened. When he is ready, arrange for him to meet with me for a full briefing on our current situation.

CHAPTER 2

A FTER THE SHIP WAS safely behind the larger moon, Admiral Sawyer was awakened and completely briefed on the current situation and previous battle. He immediately called a meeting of all department heads and other top personnel. If they could not take the planet, they were all doomed. The Admiral would be damned if the would let that happen. They would and could survive as well as take that planet for humanity and colonize it to boot.

Captain Clark, The Admiral turned to the ship’s Captain who was currently on the bridge with the crew.

Yes Admiral, Captain Clark responded immediately.

There will be an emergency meeting of all staff, department heads, and Chiefs at 0900 on Tuesday in the large conference area. The Admiral continued, See that everyone is ready and informed. And Captain, the Admiral added, make arrangements to have the meeting broadcast throughout the entire ship so that everyone that is awake will know what is happening. The rest will be informed as they are awakened. Oh, by the way, send a shuttle with marines to inspect that alien ship. Bring back anything that might help us learn about the aliens. That includes any bodies.

The Captain left the bridge followed by her aide Major Kris Landers. Admiral Sawyer knew that with those two in charge there would be no problems. It would be done. He just wished their entire situation could go as smoothly as he knew those two would handle the upcoming meeting. Things would probably get worse before they got better.

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Hours later the human shuttle pulled along side the remains of the alien ship and attached itself next to a large hole in the hull. A dozen space suited forms boarded the wreck and begin a careful search. They split into three groups and made a complete inspection of every room.

Sergeant Andrew walked into a room with several alien bodies and immediately called his lieutenant. Sir, I think you need to get over here. This looks like the control room and has five dead aliens scattered around. Two different types.

On my way, Sergeant, the Lieutenant responded and immediately moved his group toward the area indicated by his Sergeant. After looking over scene in the control room, he contacted his other units and received their reports. He placed a call to his Commander and requested that he send extra shuttles and tow the damaged ship close to the Earth vessel. His request indicated that there were two kinds of alien with one being a huge beast at least ten foot tall with a mouth full of sharp teeth and a short stubby tail. The other type were slim with blue skin and only about five foot tall. He also found a shuttle bay with three shuttles in lock down, but the outside door was open and the lock down gear of a fourth shuttle was empty. Someone had escaped before the ship was totally destroyed.

The Lieutenant was told to bring one of each type of alien back and the others could be retrieved after they towed the alien ship back behind the Earth ship. Halfway back, they passed three large tug shuttles headed toward the destroyed alien ship. When they returned to home base, the Admiral and General Lucas Nolasco, head of Space Force military, were both waiting with the medical to see the strange aliens.

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A day later, Admiral Sawyer ordered a strike against the alien base on the planet. Several hours after his order, an Earth shuttle landed next to the thorn forest a thousand yards from the Alien Station on the opposite side from the target. This particular thorn forest was 100 miles long, 200 yards wide circling back around. The forest was definitely not natural, seemingly to have been created to contain giant plant eating animals. The land inside held a station that contained the Alien force. We did know what they looked like–two different kinds–but not why they were on the planet. The colonist needed to know who they were and what they were doing on this planet. But mainly why they were instantly hostile to everyone they encountered. Maria was only a corporal, but she realized that this mission was important and must not fail.

First Squad jumped from the shuttle and spread out around it in a defensive position that would be maintained until they departed. Second Squad pushed ahead and used lasers to cut a path through the thorn forest wide enough for them to move forward three abreast. Third Squad followed with the civilian next to Maria, who was supposed to protect him.

The lasers they used were noiseless and almost invisible. However, the sound of cut and broken branches seemed loud enough to alert whoever was on the other side that something was coming toward them. No alarm had been sounded so far and the squad pushed silently toward the other side, not knowing what they might encounter. The civilian stumbled but Maria caught him before he fell and pushed him forward. They were almost through, so they stopped to scout the other side before forging ahead. The Lieutenant signaled for Maria to bring the civilian forward, so she moved him close to the opening and told him to stay put until called.

As they watched, a door in the closest building opened and two aliens walked out into the open area. One was a short slender humanoid with light blue toned skin about five foot tall. The other one was huge and almost black in color. The second one walked on four legs with a short stubby tail dragging the ground. It had a large head with a mouth full of sharp looking teeth. The creature also carried some type of weapon he used to push the smaller alien along. They moved out in front of the building and stopped. The big alien was making loud noises at the little one and waved his weapon around in a threatening manner.

Suddenly the civilian next to Maria run out into the opening toward the aliens with his hands up before Maria could stop him. He called to them that he was from Earth and wanted to meet them. The big alien immediately made a loud noise as he turned toward the man and shot him. The civilian was thrown back hard and landed on his back. Maria could see a large hole in his chest that must have killed him instantly. The Lieutenant and Sergeant along with five soldiers rushed out and fired into the Aliens chest and head. Although hit numerous times, the big Alien calmly turned his weapon on the Earth soldiers and cut all of them down. Maria also opened fire on the big alien. She noticed none of the bullets had an effect on him and all of her companions were down. Something told her to aim lower, so she started firing into its lower body—just above the stubby tail. When her bullets hit this time, the creature let out a loud roar, jerked and fill over. The small Alien was just standing there watching her, so she ignored it and went to the downed one. Maria grabbed the weapon and noticed something around its neck. She removed this and put it around her neck because it was an easier way to carry it more than anything else.

By now several other soldiers had rushed out into the open area. Maria turned to them, Juan, Jim, cover this little Alien and take him back to the shuttle asap. The rest of you carry our wounded to the shuttle. Without hesitation the others obeyed Maria and headed to the waiting shuttle.

The shuttle took off in less than five minutes with everyone aboard safely. Ten minutes later, the pilot told them to buckle up that they were being chased. As they cleared the atmosphere, three armed fighter’s were waiting. The craft following them was immediately attacked and destroyed.

Since the Lieutenant and Sergeant were down, Maria was in charge. She unbuckled and went back to check on the wounded. A medic saw her and reported, Corporal Lopez, we have five dead and two badly wounded. The Lieutenant and four soldiers are dead and the Sergeant and one soldier are both badly hurt.

Thanks, Stan. I am sorry to hear that. Do what your can for the Sergeant and private until we can get they back. It’s going to be a few hours, so make them as comfortable as possible. The medic nodded and turned back to what he was doing with the wounded.

Maria moved toward her seat up front and was about to sit down when someone called to her. Corporal Lopez, we need to talk! Caught unaware, she turned back to the others and spoke too loudly, Who said that? What do you want? Everyone just looked at her without saying a word. Someone called my name and said they wanted to talk. Ok. Maria again spoke sharply.

One soldier raised his hand, Corporal, none of us said anything, but we did hear strange sounds coming from the Alien. He was pointed to the little alien as he said this. Maria knew the others respected her and would not play jokes on her, especially about something this serious.

She and everyone else stared at the Alien and saw it raise one hand. This is crazy, because I hear someone call my name and say they wanted to talk to me. Maria watched the alien as it spoke to her again, Yes, it was I who spoke to you, but you are the only one who can understand what I am saying.

How can this happen, it is speaking to me in English, Maria said. She turned to the private who had answered her earlier. Can any of you understand this Alien. All of them said no. Another private close to the alien spoke, We hear it making strange sound, but do not understand them.

Maria jerked around as the Alien spoke to her again. Corporal Lopez, it is quite simple. We both are wearing translation devices. He was holding he device around his neck." She slowly reached down and took hold of the device she had removed from the big Alien and put around her own neck because that was the easiest way to take it back.

Yes, that’s the one. It allows two beings to understand each other and communicate. As the alien spoke, Maria was slowly calming down enough from the episode to sit down across from the Alien.

Ok, we can talk. But first I will assure my troops that we will be talking and not to interrupt us. Maria turned to the others and ask if they could hear what she was saying. They all assured her they could hear her as she talked to the alien. I am going to talk to him, but watch him. She turned back to the alien, Now we talk.

Thank you, Corporal Lopez. First I will tell you I am from a race called Toli and my name is Bekhutozz. The big one you killed are called Sickgaar. Our people are slaves to this horrible race of monsters. By killing him, you saved my life for he was about to kill me. He stopped talking and looked at Maria. The Sickgaar are true carnivores and eat only meat, including the Toli slaves when we displease them.

Maria was shocked and said, That is hard to believe that intelligent beings could do such a thing.

Please let me continue and you will understand as I tell you our history. He watched her and she nodded for him to continue. "Six hundred years ago, the Toli had evolved to a high degree of technology and enjoyed a comfortable life style. We had developed a huge space force and traded with many other civilizations throughout our galaxy. We had a dozen planets of our own that had been colonized and settled.

There were also dozens more that were used, like this one, as farm producers of meat, fruits and vegetables to feed our people and others."

He stopped and watched Maria again.

During this time, a group of low intelligent beings were located on one of the planets. We brought the Sickgaar to our home planet and tried to civilize them, but they resisted. About that time, we were attacked by another race and needed an army since we were not good at fighting or war. The Sickgaar were, however, very good as fighters and were intelligent enough to learn how to use our power weapons. He stopped and could see Maria was paying attention.

They defeated our enemies but then turned on our people. Most of our leaders and intellects were murdered. Only the lower technicians nnd workers were left. You see, the Sickgaar did not know how to operate our ships and other equipment. So they enslaved our people and forced us to operate it for them. Any who refused or displease them were killed and eaten, usually in front of their families and friends. Toli were not allowed to have any type of weapons or manufacture any new equipment or weapons. Our people were forced to slavery. Our former trading pardoners were scared off by the Sickgaar until we are now isolated from all others. Now we are a dying race without hope for a better future. The Toli looked at Maria and said, Corporal Lopez, it might be wise for you to keep the secret of our communication between us. At least until I can be assured whoever learns will not take advantage of our plight. Do you agree.

Maria looked him in the eye and answered, Yes, I believe you are right. Only I will be able to understand you for now. Your story will be told only to our highest leader, but not to anyone else.

Thank you, Corporal Lopez. With that he settled back in his seat and was silent.

Eight hours later, all Earth craft were safely back at the Mother ship.

CHAPTER 3

A FTER THE SHUTTLE DOCKED, Maria had the troops briefly form up and made sure all her troops left the shuttle and the dead and wounded accounted for on the loading dock before she dismissed them. The alien along with two guards from her platoon waited for her to one side as she handled the other troopers. When she turned around to check on them, Captain Jon Aimes, her company commander, walked up and addressed her.

Corporal what’s going on here? Where are your Lieutenant and Sergeant and why are they not handling these troopers. He snapped angrily at her.

Maria controlled her anger at his unnecessary attitude and merely stated, Sir, it was necessary for me to take charge because both the Lieutenant along with five troopers were killed and the Sergeant was one of several wounded.

I see, the Captain still appeared angry. He turned toward the alien and asked, So, what is this creature doing here? The Captain was a twenty year veteran and did not like a mere Corporal to get all of the credit. He stared at her and thought, "There is no way I will let this stupid Corporal take all the glory. If I play this right, I might finally get a long deserved promotion."

Sir, we captured this alien after a fire fight with another much bigger alien of a different type. I thought he might give us information about the other aliens on the planet. I was able to talk with him on the way back. Maria was getting a bad feeling about the Captain and wondered what was going on here.

Indeed, so how did you accomplish this? We have experts that would take weeks if not longer to communicate with an enemy in a foreign language, let alone an alien. The Captain seemed even angrier now than before,

Maria could see this was not going well, so she ventured ahead, Sir, I request that I be allowed to speak with the Admiral concerning this situation and the alien. I feel it has information that he would want to know.

Really, Corporal, don’t you know that this needs to be handled through proper channels, which is me, to decide if that would even be necessary. He turned to the alien and two troopers. I will take charge of the prisoner now. Please follow me.

Maria knew she could not let this idiot force the alien away like this. Captain, I respectfully request I be allowed to see Admiral Sawyer immediately.

The Captain turned to her so angry his face was turning red. Why you little shaved tail Corporal, what gives you the idea you have the authority to order around you superior officer. You are out of order and dismissed. Go to your quarters and I will deal with you tomorrow.

Maria was standing at attention and did not move staring past him. Before the Captain could say or do anything else, a loud sharp voice made him freeze and turn a ghostly white. Captain Aimes! When he turned around, he was face to face with Admiral Sawyer who had walked up behind him without a sound. I have never seen such a disgraceful display and lack of leadership in my long career. You are the one who will go to your quarters and I will deal with you at 0900 tomorrow in my office, Dismissed!

The Captain was too horrified to do anything but salute and walk sharply away toward his quarters. The Admiral turned back toward Maria who was still standing stiffly at attention. Corporal, at ease. When Maria relaxed a little, the Admiral said, Corporal, please accept my apologies. I do not tolerate that type of behavior in my officers.

All Maria could think to say was, Yes, I understand.

Now, Corporal, dismiss your men so they can get some much needed rest after your mission. My aides will help with the alien. The Admiral called over two men that had been standing in the background unnoticed.

Thank you, sir. But Bekhutozz will be no trouble. I think after you hear his story and we talk with him further, you may not want to consider him a prisoner. The Admiral raised a questioning eyebrow at her use of the alien’s name and her statement."

Indeed! Well, this gets more interesting all the time. The Admiral moved on toward his office. Maria was pleased at his reaction. A few minutes later they reached his office. As they entered the office, the Admiral turned to a very attractive female Lieutenant sitting behind a desk just inside the door and ordered her to call Security and have two MP’s sent immediately.

He turned to Maria and said, Corporal, this is my personal aide, Lieutenant Shana Dean, If you need to get in touch with me, she will know where I am at all times. Maria nodded to the Lieutenant. Shana, tell the Security Chief that I will need two on duty at all times until further notice. I want them replaced every four hours around the clock. When they arrive, station them in corridor outside my office for the time being.

The Lieutenant had been eyeing the alien but only said, Yes, sir! She was on the phone before they reached and entered another door, which turned out to be a conference room and not an office. Admiral Sawyer walked over to a long conference table and took a seat at one end. Corporal, I believe I heard you say you could communicate with our alien friend here, is that right?

Yes, sir, that is correct. Maria answered.

Good, then please tell him to have a seat in that chair next to you. Then we can talk. stated Admiral Sawyer pointing to a couple of chairs next to him. Maria immediately told Bekhutozz what the Admiral wished him to do and also let him know that this was the leader of all the Earth people here. The alien nodded that he understood and