Disclaimers: All characters are mine.
Master's of War
by
AJ Marks
Part 2
The commander waited as the door to the shuttle opened and the aliens appeared through the doorway. They were not what he was expecting them to look like, but so far no alien had.
The first couple of ones out the door were about the same size as a normal human. Their skin color was flesh and if it was not for the longer arms and shorter legs they could pass as human. Their torso area was larger and were the first aliens that he had seen that also had hair.
He stepped forward after seeing who he could consider the leader of the group. The aliens looked around a bit apprehensively. They could see the armed guards standing around and while they were not pointing their weapons at them they were on edge.
The commander powered up his translator and waited until he had their attention so he could properly greet them.
The alien that he assumed was the leader of the group noticed the commander's approach and made a sweeping motion with his hand. The guards around the room tensed, but the commander did not. He was expecting something of a greeting form the alien and he assumed that this was their way of greeting each other. He made a similar movement and was rewarded with what he could consider a look of acknowledgment in the eyes of the alien.
"Welcome to my space station." The commander said. "My name is Captain Chris Kowe." He waited as the translator made the adjustments. It would speak in a couple of different languages until they got a response.
It took a few minutes but the alien finally understood what Chris had said.
'Thank you Captain. We have been on the run for a long time now, can you help us?' The alien said through the translators. 'My name is Chilik'
"I've been ordered by my President to welcome you to our planet." Chris said extending his hand. "This is how we greet people."
'I receive your welcome in behalf of my people.' The alien said shaking Chris' hand.
They went inside the station so they could talk in a better environment and to sit down.
"I'm sorry that my commander is not here to greet you himself but we were not sure if you were peaceful or not and we did not want to take any chances." Chris told the alien as they made their way down the corridor.
'I understand your concerns, we too have learned that it is wise to be cautious of newcomers.' Chilik said. 'Unfortunately we learned that lesson too late.'
Chris noticed that the translators were beginning to speed up as more of the languages were used and it could go straight from one language to the other. There was still a small delay but nothing like the delay at the beginning. Both of their translators were building a database of the other's language.
They entered a room that had a long table and chairs around it. There was a large monitor on the wall that was used for meetings like the one they were about to undertake.
"Have a seat, please." Chris told the three aliens that had followed him into the room.
'Thank you captain!' Chilik replied.
"Your welcome. How did you hear about us ad our war against the Kalliki?" Chris asked wondering how they knew to ask for asylum.
'Our ships had been low on power nearby and we were recharging our batteries from your sun. When we first arrived we watched as you defeated the Kalliki forces and we knew that we could trust you.' Chilik said through the translator. 'We barely had enough energy for life support when we arrived at your system. We orbited around your farthest planet, the only problem was it took a long time to charge our batteries because of our distance from your sun.'
'That makes since.' Chris thought to himself. 'Because they were not putting out any energy there was nothing to detect until they started to move. We'll have to start sending out patrols.' He smiled to the alien diplomat to reassure the alien that he meant no harm.
"Pleas have a seat, our leaders will be joining us via conference call." Chris said and watched as they sat down. Chris also sat down and motioned an aide over. "Is there anything we can get for you, water or something to drink?" Chris asked making polite conversation to see how they would react.
'Yes, water would be fine, thank you.' Chilik replied and Chris sent the aide for a pitcher of water and several glasses.
Boris and Jeff appeared on the monitors and Chris knew that the meeting was underway.
"Sorry we could not be there in person, but we are quite busy and this way we can talk now and meet face to face at a less busy time." Jeff said as a way of an apology for now being on the station.
'I understand, it must not be easy to be at war with the Kalliki.' Chilik said accepting the apology.
"I'm President Boris and welcome to Earth." Boris said knowing that the talking had just begun.
Admiral Charlie Schuppe sat in his chair impatiently tapping his foot, so far they had not receive much in information except that the President and Jeff Cerial were in talks with the aliens. They had not received anything else since then. The Saratoga was still in contact with him, so Charlie knew that the aliens were probably peaceful, but he would be fully relaxed about the situation until he knew for sure.
"Any word from the Saratoga?" Charlie asked knowing that it was about the millionth time he asked the question in the past hour.
"No sir!" The operator replied.
"Okay, let me know if anything happens." Charlie said knowing that he had said that to him several times already.
Charlie paced around the bridge with nervous energy. The crew was wondering about him, usually he was very calm and in control. Charlie knew that he was worried because if something happened then he would be to far away to prevent it. He also was worried because his wife was there and he was not sure if she had been evacuated or not.
"Sir, we have an incoming call from the Saratoga."
"Put it through." Charlie said and watched as Admiral Conningham's face appeared on the screen.
"Admiral Schuppe, I have been told to tell you that we can stand down from our alert, the president has announced that our new visitors are indeed friendly and just want our protection."
"That's good news, any word on who they are?" Charlie asked.
"No, but they have been in our system for a couple of months. They've been hiding out near Pluto waiting for their batteries to charge. They saw us defeat a fleet of Kalliki invaders and they realized that we could protect them." Conningham said relating the facts he had been told.
"Hmm, we have an increasing problem." Charlie said and noticed that Conningham had a confused look. "We have more and more people who are going to be asking for our protection. This is increasing from just a simple recovery war to something far greater. The only way we can feel secure is to beat the Kalliki."
"So, you're talking about total war?" Conningham said in disbelief. Total war was something that had not happened in over three hundred years.
"Yep, we won't be able to live in peace unless we defeat the Kalliki." Charlie said. "I'm letting my soldiers interrogate the prisoners that we captured to see if we could somehow quickly defeat them, right now we have an advantage, we need to press it."
"I hate to admit it, but you're right." Conningham replied. "I'll let you know what happens."
"Okay." Charlie said as the screen went blank and Charlie could now concentrate on the interrogation of the prisoners.
He arrived at the prison cell a couple of minutes later to see what had happened with the interrogation. He quickly went to see the head of the department to see what the latest development was.
"Hello Rick, what's new with our prisoners?" Charlie asked him when Rick noticed that Charlie was standing there.
"Hello admiral, there's been nothing new at the moment, we are having some difficulty in communications, but a few of the former slaves from the planet's surface are helping. They understand their language better than we do." Rick replied knowing that the news was not what Charlie wanted to hear. Charlie just nodded his head in understanding, he would have like a bit more, but the first part was to establish communication, and let them know that you can understand them.
"Just don't let the prisoners intimidate our new friends, okay?" Charlie said waiting for Rick's nod that he understood.
"I've already thought about that, we've decided that they will not be in the same room. We'll keep our new friends behind a one-way mirror, and the interrogator will have a receiver. The only thing that they will have to do is translate." Rick said and Charlie was glad that he had thought about that. He was concerned not only for the safety of the interrogators, but their new allies as well.
"Let me know the moment you have anything." Charlie said and left the room.
Angie and Robert had made it to her friend's house just before it started to rain, and it had not stopped raining since. Angie was looking out the window at the storm that was still raging. The lightning and thunder had diminished a bit and they knew that the worst was behind them. Robert walked up behind her and gave her a hug.
"We'll find out what happened to them, I promise." Robert told her.
"I know, I just really really miss them." She said in a whisper so that only he could hear. Angie had talked to everyone she knew and no one had seen her parents. She still hoped that somehow they had survived the invasion, but she was losing hope fast now. She was reaching the stage of just wanting to know if they were dead or not. If they were at least it would bring some closure and she could move on.
"If their out there we will find them, and rescue them, my brother-in-law told me that himself." Robert said still not really believing that Charlie was the head of Earth's military forces. Then to find out that he was about to become an Uncle was even more a surprise. He knew that they had been trying for a while now, and that they were almost about to try artificial insemination if nothing happened before Christmas.
"I know, I'm just being a big baby." She replied.
"No your not, you have every right to feel sorrow and pain, but don't let it control you." He told her. He wondered if the newly freed aliens would know anything about the other humans who were taken. He would have to inquire about that with Charlie.
Sammie sat in her fighter on the launch bay wondering what was going on. So far she had been told nothing and the other pilots were also wondering what was going on, they were asking her but she could tell them nothing.
"This is the bridge, stand down from red alert, all crewmembers are now on yellow alert until further notice." The speaker said over the intercom.
"Okay squad, you heard the bridge, go get some rest, we're up in four hours." Sammie said to her squad. She walked back to her quarters alone, Kevin's squad was flying patrol for the next couple of hours. She arrived at her quarters and decided to e-mail her mother.
She sat down at her computer and noticed that she already had a message from her mother wondering how Angie was, and if there was any word about her parents. Sammie replied that there was no news about Angie's parents and that Angie herself was holding up fine despite the circumstances, and that her friend Robert was helping her out.
Knowing that she would be on duty for eight hours straight ad even though she was not tired, Sammie decided to at least try and rest for two to three hours and then eating something. She laid down on the bed and after setting the alarm fell asleep.
Jeff sat back in his chair and looked at Toncor waiting for his assessment of their new visitors.
"They appear to be telling the truth, ad it is a believable story having gone through an escape from the Kalliki myself." Toncor said about the aliens they had just talked to.
"I'm a bit more concerned about more aliens arriving wanting political asylum, our planet is already overcrowded and NewSol is still in development." Jeff said. "We can probably expect more of these types of encounters."
"I agree, but what else can you do?" Toncor said not realizing what he was asking.
"There's only one thing we can do, take back what does not belong to the Kalliki, take back you home worlds." Jeff said to a now shocked Toncor.
"But you're talking about waging actual war." Toncor said realizing that these humans continued to amaze him.
"Its the only way to have peace, I doubt that the Kalliki will leave us alone, and retaking your home worlds will give you back your pride and history, something you will not have as long as you remain here." Jeff said not knowing that he echoed Charlie's comments earlier to Admiral Conningham.
"Will your people go for that, fight for a race you do not know, a race that may not like you because of your violence?" Toncor asked.
"Getting your home worlds back is actually a side benefit Toncor." Jeff said and then explained when he saw Toncor's confused face. "We are doing this because until we feel secure, there can be no peace with the Kalliki."
"It's that simple?" Toncor asked in amazement.
"Yep, that simple." Jeff replied.
End of Part 2
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