Chronicles of Jake 2: The Invasion Begins

by Peter Lewis Atkinson

  I said to Alenna, “Should we have an open day for others at the port to come and see for themselves how much better this ship is?’’

  Alenna replied, “I am not sure, it may be seen as showing off, but I will invite our mother’s house to come and view it and perhaps Hera’s house sometime in the future.’’ We had called up Lumi as soon as we exited star drive to find out if she had given birth. She had. We were now all dying to see Lumi and the twins. It is custom as the father that I will get a few minutes alone with Lumi before the rest of the family are let in to see her. We all arrived at our residence and I was shown into the room alone. Alenna’s and Lumi’s mother who had been sitting with her left the room to give me a little time alone with Lumi. As I closed the door I was greeted by an eager and excited, over the moon Lumi, along with the twin boys in their cribs. They had arrived just the day after we had left to go to Relnor. I peered into the cribs.

  Lumi was just a little concerned saying to me, “Look their eyes are not blue and their hair is so light in colour do you think they are ok.’’

  “My dear Lumi they are fine. What colour are my eyes?” I ask her.

  She replies, “Green.’’

  I shake my head and say to Lumi, “Don’t worry they have my eyes and as for their hair, if it goes the way that mine did then it will turn dark, I was born with light blondish hair so don’t worry they both seem fine. Oh by the way we have a new wife in the family, it’s Sabrina!’’

  Minty was shocked until I gave her the full details, to which she thought I had been very good to my sister.

  She then said, “You are such a romantic.’’

  “Strange,” I replied to her, “That is exactly what Alenna said about me, a romantic! I never considered myself a romantic. Perhaps I am by Alkarren standards.”

  Lumi now asked, “Back to our twins, you have not yet given me their names.” I stood there as in thought. Lumi continued with, “Well what are the boys names going to be?’’

  I came out with, “How about Fester and Drizzle,’’

  Lumi could at once see right through me and knew I was teasing her so she said, “Jake be serious, please give me their names!’’

  “Ok,” I said, “How about… Zack and Max?”

  Lumi thought for a second before saying, “Yes I do like those names, but which one is Zack.’’

  I just pointed at one and said, “He is,’’ They were identical twins so I continued with, “Try not to mix them up Lumi.’’ I always wondered whether mothers of identical twins did tend to get them mixed up and the pair ended up with the name given originally to their other sibling. Though later I found I could tell them apart quite easily.

  I moved on and told her about the marriage Party which I said should also be to celebrate the arrival of the twins, Lumi informed me that they had been mentioned on the news, ‘Twin boys born to the House of Albion.’ I could sense the rest of the family were getting restless outside the door and were all dying to see the twins.

  I said, “Is it time to let the horde in now? If you are ready to receive them Lumi I will open the door.”

  Minty took a deep breath and said, “Jake you can let them in now.’’

  Lumi was soon surrounded by all the family, Talk about being fussed over, I hope Lumi doesn’t get overwhelmed by all the attention. I moved to the back of the room, where I found it easy to sneak out without being seen. I now made my way to my man cave, I wanted to see if I had any replies on the forum for my request for plasma cannon. I was quite disappointed not a single one. On a different matter the authorities had located the owner of that shuttle we took from the pirates. It belonged to one of the previous owners of those cargo ships I repaired circling the Alkarren moon, the one with the noisy pod. As they did not have the shuttle at the time when the ship was sold as scrap, it still belonged to them. It was not my job to inform them, it was down to Alenna, who in turn would instruct Jenna to make an appointment for the owner to collect their shuttle. I opened the door of my man cave and to my horror one of Alenna’s other sisters from the house of Motok almost bumped into me as I exited the room. She had been helping Alenna’s mother out with looking after Lumi and the twins while we had been away. She had not known that we had returned. We both stared at each other in surprise and disbelief before looking around us in the hope that we were not alone, we were!

  Reality sunk in as she and I now realised the only outcome, tears filled her eyes. She knew that under Alkarren protocol that both of us being alone together meant she had just married me.

  I at once called up Alenna and said, “Alenna there’s been an unfortunate incident please come immediately to may man cave alone!’’

  “What has happened?’’ she asked alarmingly.

  I requested her presence in an urgent way, “Just come! I do not want to tell you over the communicator.’’

  Well I now had another wife, Apart from the initial shock I was surprisingly quite relaxed about it. As the girl in question was Emily! Fortunately I do like Emily; there is something about her that I find pleasing. Out of all Alenna’s unmarried sisters she would be my first choice if I had to pick one, which now fate has taken a hand in. Emily now started to smile as the reality set in, but before I could say anything in detail to her Alenna arrived.

  “Jake! Emily! What have you done? I would have expected better from you sister and as for you Jake I thought you did not want any more wives.” Alenna said in a very annoyed way.

  I at once replied, “Don’t say anything you might regret Alenna, the facts are that this encounter was purely by chance, I was in my man cave and as I exited Emily was passing by, I did not know she was at our residence.”

  Alenna now asked, “Emily what’s your story and why are you here?’’

  Emily started crying again before saying. “I have been helping your mother and Lumi out with the twins and had just returned with some items from the supermarket. Your mother asked me to get them for her, here look!” Emily opened her bag to show Alenna.

  Alenna looked in the bag and realised that we had not planned the encounter, Alenna’s mood changes to one of sorrow. Peering into Emily’s eyes she said, “Oh Emily I am so sorry,” she then put her arms around her and hugged her. Alenna now asked Emily, “How do you feel about Jake?” However she did not ask me how I felt about Emily, as apparently that was not important.

  Emily started smiling again and replied, “I find Jake very kind and considerate, I believe he would make a good husband for me, so I am not so upset now.’’

  I looked at them both and explained, “Well we can’t do anything about it now so welcome to the family Emily. I think you had better let you own mother know what’s happened. Invite her to come round right away and tell her in person. It’s not worth me introducing you to everyone as you already know my family.”

  I took her hand as we made our way back to the room where Lumi and the family were. I explained the reason for Sabrina joining our family to Emily on the way. I now had to inform all the others, I did not think it was going to be that difficult for me. Certainly it would draw attention away from the twins for a moment, but that would not last and soon the attention would return to them, so I said to myself let’s get it over with.

  We entered the room. I was still holding Emily’s hand. I raised my voice slightly and said, “Can I please have everyone’s attention for a moment.’’ As soon they were facing me I announced, “Emily and I had just bumped into each other and the result was… marriage as we both seemed to find ourselves alone.’’ I tried to pass the buck by saying, “Someone forgot to chaperon me.’’ It now seemed that a number of the family were blaming themselves. Alenna’s mother for not informing Emily that we had returned, most of my wives for not keeping an eye on m
e. Although I really blamed myself for sneaking off alone.

  “Alright,” I said, “don’t worry it’s not the end of the world.” I looked towards Emily then I said, “I like Emily so don’t blame yourselves, I am sure she will integrate well and be loved by us all.” As per custom Emily still had to go with me and announce the marriage to her family and as it was also Alenna’s, Jenna’s and Minty’s family they attended too.

  So the party was now to include Emily joining us in its celebration. I wondered how many were expected to attend; most of Alenna’s, Sabrina’ and Lumi’s family, that was going to be four houses including ours. On this occasion I would insist on two chaperones at all times as now enough is enough, definitely no more wives. Alenna was just going to have to make do with the family we have to run the cargo freighter. I was not afraid of hard work and all the other wives plus Yarkeli and Rachael did their fair share we also now had two new family members, I was sure we can manage. The next morning was spent preparing the party food in preparation of our guests arriving in the evening. We had to have the party at that time as Sabrina’s family run the local supermarket and would not be free until after it closed for the day. We were lucky in that all the House of Motok’s three cargo ships along with the House of Tinter’s single ship were on Alkarr and it looked like everyone was going to attend as Alkarrens love a party. Sabrina and Emily had spent the morning bringing their belonging to our residence. As for Emily she was never on the ship Alenna, Minty Jenna and I were on. Instead she and her mother were on the one controlled by Helena the prime wife of the House of Motok. Her mother was the navigator on that ship and had trained Emily so we now had an extra navigator which Jenna could now share her duty with. Minty was the closest sister to Emily as they had the same interests in that they were both extremely talented artists in their own right. Minty was going to reveal her latest drawing for our new ship to the others at the party that evening. Lumi had even given Emily a sneaky look. I knew this because she showed me first then went up to Emily to show her, probably to get her opinion.

  Minty said to me, “I know you have always liked Emily and I cannot believe that you did not have any input in getting married to her. Look into my eyes Jake, and tell me you didn’t.”

  I replied looking directly into her eyes, “Honestly Minty I will swear on my children’s life that it was totally down to chance.”

  Minty now said, “I believe you, you are so lucky getting her.’’

  I replied, “I am so lucky, so fortunate getting each and every one of my wives.’’

  Minty liked my answer and smiled at me before letting me into a secret, “Emily has been asked three times if she wished to be put forward for a marriage. Twice she refused because she did not like the male of the houses in question and once because she did not like the prime wife or the male of third house. She likes you, she told me so, a long time ago.”

  The party went down a treat, I had to entertain three fathers-in-law’s and as Tyrone and his wife also came along with them, a brother-in law as well. We had ten chaperons two for each male, who decided to sit close by, too close by for my liking as we had to whisper to each other if we did not wish to be overheard. The alcohol went down well though. Poor Tyron had to drink some swamp drizzle before he went home. It was the only time I have ever felt a little sorry for him. We had received our reward for capturing those pirates. Alenna would be taking personally the amount we had set aside for the home and would also be accompanied by her mother during which time she would visit her grandmother and Alenna her great grandmother. The rest was shared out between all of the family including our two new members Emily and Sabrina. As for Pooky’s share, I was going to hold on to it until we see her next.

  Chapter 7

  An Unforeseen Circumstance

  Time to finish delivering the frigates. I was eager to finish now as we had other items to deliver to Earth and Alenna wished to recommence delivering her regular cargo runs as soon as possible. I needed to transfer all my furniture and belongings from my new man cave. I would struggle moving them myself and I was going to need some assistance. Alenna had arranged for Helena, Rolf, Tyrone and his wife and a number of other mothers from the House of Motok to view our cargo freighter before we commenced our journey to Lusiana. I would take advantage of Rolf and Tyrone being there as they would not need to be chaperoned if my sister was not present. It was not difficult to persuade Rachael and Sabrina to go to the local café and not return until I requested. Rolf, Tyrone and I did not escape entirely. We were shadowed by Jenna and her mother. The pair just kept us in sight for their own peace of mind. It was thirsty work transferring my furniture and belongings to the new man cave. I invited Rolf and Tyrone into my new cave and they were then plied with alcoholic drinks as a reward for helping me. I explained about how I apprehended the pirates which held the pair in awe. Tyrone by the way had not learnt his lesson and had soon overindulged and ended up drunk, so again he had to drink that awful bitter swamp drizzle before going home. I did not feel that sorry for him this time. His father warned him not to drink too much, but did he listen? No!

  We only need to do five runs to Earth as now I could take two frigates at a time. The trip from Lusiana to Earth only takes five days as Lusiana is nearer, think of an unequal sided triangle with Earth at one point and Alkarr and Lusiana at the other two. But because it is uneven Alkarr is further from Earth than Lusiana by one day. On the other hand Alkarr and Lusiana are even closer together than Earth is with either them. We planned to do three trips before going back to Alkarr for the wives and my children to see their mothers, grandmothers and friends. Allowing for the time saved with the new ship we could do these journey in around a month. Perri was little miffed as we were unable to fit in her trip to the moon and she had to make do with talking to her mother by communicator. But I promised to take her when we next returned to Alkarr. We left for Lusiana. During our journey there I needed to read the regular maintenance list of things to do. In the hologram room, the walls and ceiling were covered in hologram emitters. These had to be shiny clean, if not, artefacts would appear. You might get things like some sand projected in the sky or a palm tree with no base or a hole in the sea, so it is of the utmost importance they are kept clean. We were issued with two cleaning brushes and the problem was, it was such a tedious job to clean all of them, around six hours with two people doing the job. Hopefully we would not need to clean them that often. We now had twelve cabins. The largest could only be described as a dormitory with twenty bunks, not small bunks in fact quite luxurious and very comfortable. Mine was the large double one in the alcove, which gave some privacy and was opposite the fake window. This dormitory size cabin also had three en suite facilities. There was a long dressing table with a mirror that stretched quite some length and had room for up to five chairs in front of it with some room to spare. It did not take very long for the top to be covered in hair maintenance items. I don’t know how the wives all knew what belonged to whom, but then again they do spend a lot of time at this dressing table doing their own and each other’s hair. There were four cabins for the children; Yarkeli had her own and the final one in use was taken by Rachael and Sabrina. This left five empty cabins which would only end up filled with junk if I had not locked them. Another advantage for locking them was that they would not now need to be cleaned regularly. As we had planned to arrive to coincide with a visiting day at the academy, we decided to leave to see Pooky before loading the frigates. I was looking forward to flying our new shuttle, which I had been dying to try out. So after landing the cargo freighter Alenna, Jenna, Luka, my three oldest daughters, myself and of course Yarkeli made our way to the Alliance training academy on Lusiana in the new shuttle.

  It was good to see Pooky, I handed her share of the reward money to her, “What’s this for?” she asked.

  I now explained what had happened to us and how I appreh
ended the pirates, she commented, “Oh I wish I could have been there to see what you did, I did not know you owned any weapons. Have you got any other secrets?”

  “Secrets, no, but we have our new cargo freighter and I have two more wives,” I replied with a smirk.

  In surprise Pooky answered, “Typical all the excitement happens without me being there. Who are your new wives? Do I know them?”

  Again I smirked and said, “Yes you know them both; Emily, she married me by accident, but with Sabrina it was different story. As you know Sabrina is Rachael’s friend. I married her so they could live together on our ship without shamming our house or Sabrina’s, and please do not say I am a romantic.”

  Puzzled Pooky replied, “Romantic! I wasn’t going to say that. Why would you think I would say romantic?”

  I sighed and said, “Never mind Pooky it’s not at all important.”

  This unfortunately would be the last time we would be visiting the academy. Yarkeli was very upset as she and the rest of us had no idea when we might see her next due to her being assigned to a battle cruiser. She could leave messages, though this could take more than a month to find its way to us. After the tearful goodbyes we flew back to our cargo freighter and hovered the two frigates aboard. There was also room for the remaining crates of spares. My daughters had been pestering me as they wished to have a go piloting the new ship, I had to give in and not be so greedy in keeping that duty to myself. Ellie being the oldest was given the first go. Although I had confidence in her, the ship was my new baby and I sat next to her for mainly my own peace of mind.