by K. L. Wallen
“Don’t know,” Tyce replied. “But we’ll find out.” He and the other warriors quickly signed their names on pieces of paper, then excused themselves. They walked as quickly as they could to the entrance without giving up their Pzian speed. Tyce scooped up his transporter on the way out. Nolan and Sherry power-walked behind the warriors.
“Slow down, the MacKenna’s are struggling to keep pace,” Tyce murmured loud enough for only the other warriors to hear. He and the others slowed enough that the MacKenna’s soon caught up.
Ivanoff, recalling what he learned when Co-commander Traven Scorpak’s Honored Guest, Nica Archer was kidnapped, sped ahead once they passed through the exit, and managed to capture the license plate of the vehicle the female and her young brother were using. He quickly sped back to the group, before the MacKennas’ realized he was gone, and signed to Tyce that he could track them.
“Well, that was a bust,” Sherry exclaimed. She and Nolan had been looking forward, all week, to attending the psychic fair with the aliens. “We can’t go back there. They’ll remember you.”
Nolan took hold of his wife’s hand and did his best to assure his companions that not all is lost. “We’ll scan the internet and see where else psychic fairs are being held, and when. Maybe we’ll find one for next weekend. Perhaps Bridgett will be able to get her assistant to work the florist shop then.” He sounded as disappointed as his wife did.
*.*
Nolan and Sherry are Moira MacKenna-Scorpak’s parents. Although their daughter has traveled with her two husbands, the Scorpak twins, Breneem and Bolano, to Pzianian, the elder MacKennas’ vowed to continue to help the aliens with their mission. Their daughter was abducted when she was mistaken for their niece, Laurel MacKenna. Laurel was the first abducted and is now engaged to the Pzianian Fleet Commander. Her and Moira are living on the Pzianian home world. Laurel’s parents, Bridgett and Conall, and her siblings, have also vowed to help Commander Gharm with his mission.
Commander Dorn Gharm, of the Guardian Warship, has been handed the second part of the assignment by Fleet Commander Slotan Scorpak. Dorn is to gather more information for pending negotiations, and honored guests.
Dorn is to work with Department of Defense Director Cheng Lee, secure political database entries from Nica Archer, provide a tour of one of the warships stationed near Jupiter, as well as find honored guests in specific areas. The first honored guest, Dr. Stacy Randall, who specializes in stem cell research, was abducted by his healer, Favian Bax. Dr. Randall has agreed to stay and will be traveling to Pzianian with them when they return.
Commander Dorn Gharm now has to locate honored guests who have unique psychic talents. One such human, Gabriella Mendez-Powers, daughter of Kodiak, has been located but has yet to be approached. She, apparently, has the same psychic talents as her Navajo father. Commander Gharm is waiting on his Fleet Commander’s authorization to approach her. The situation with her is delicate since her father is an elite assassin. Kodiak already put Dorn on his ass once during a friendly round of sparring, while Kodiak was blindfolded!
*.*
Twelve-year-old, Dakota Shasta stepped off the city bus and ran across the fairground parking lot. As she pounded her feet on the hard gravel, she left a wake of loud crunch and screech sounds as pebbles ground against each other. Dakota was on a mission, and she was mere seconds from running out of time. A sense of panic fueled her to run faster. Twenty-five yards ahead was the alien who was going to take her and her mother to their new life. A wonderful life. A life where her mom would have a husband who loves her, and Dakota would finally have a dad who loves and accepts her too. If she could reach the alien in time. “Wait. Don’t go,” she puffed out.
Chapter 2
Dakota knew she was going to be in a load of trouble as soon as her mom caught up with her, and her mom always caught up with her. Didn’t matter. Dakota was determined. Regardless of their earlier argument, it was time for her mom to move on with her life, and Dakota wants a dad. Spending their lives on the run, hiding who they truly are, has taken a toll on the both of them. Dakota understands her mom moves them, often, out of love and protectiveness; still, a transient life is not what her mother deserves. She sometimes wishes she had as much control over her motor mouth, as does her mom, but she doesn’t. It’s this lack of control that has caused them to move repeatedly over the years. Sometimes more than once in a single year.
Soon, if she could only reach the giant alien before he disappears, their lives will change for the better. Only one more move. A big move, but only once more. At least, according to her deceased grandmother, Serena, and great-grandmother, Maude.
They told Dakota that there’s an alien warrior waiting on a different planet for the two of them, who would give them a life full of adventure, love, and security. Even as strange as it was, Serena and Maude had never lied to Dakota, so she had no reason to doubt their declaration this time.
A winded Dakota skidded to a stop in front of the large alien man and his friends. She bent over and put her hands on her knees. Dakota tried to hide the smile that tugged at the corner of her lips but wasn’t very successful. This was no time for smiles. Dakota was about to deliver a bit of shocking news.
“Mister,” Dakota tugged on the shirt of the very large alien man.
Commander Gharm looked down at the youngling. “Yes?”
“Your brother’s death wasn’t an accident. He wanted you to know.” Dakota held still while she waited to see how he would take this. She knew from past-experiences that he would either ask her questions or tell her to get lost. She hoped it would be the first.
Dakota started pivoting on her toes. She ignored the eruption of softly spoken whispers coming from the big alien’s companions. Dakota always found this part—the part where the person takes their sweet time processing her news—uncomfortable, since she wasn’t a very patient person.
She nervously whirled around to scan the parking lot. She needed to know how much time she had until her mom catches her. Dakota groaned when she spotted her mom’s white Land Rover two aisles over.
Dramatically, she announced, “Mister, my mom’s coming.” Dakota tugged rapidly on his shirt when he didn’t respond. “She’s not going to be happy with me.” She raised her eyebrows and gave him a pointed look.
Sherry looked at the hyper young girl and asked, “Sweetheart, where’s your mom?”
“She’s coming. She always comes,” Dakota replied nervously. “She’s parking.”
Sherry shot her husband a quick glance. “Sweetie, you shouldn’t be out here alone. Why don’t we wait with you until your mom gets here? Will that be okay?”
Dakota looked up at the kind lady. “Okay. She’s gonna be mad though. She told me not to come but I had to.”
“Why?” Sherry prompted. Her curiosity peaked.
“Because we’re supposed to go to his planet!” she pointed at the huge alien man. Dakota lifted her chin and looked up at the huge man. “Not for you. For Attilius,” Dakota explained.
Commander Dorn Gharm was still processing her statement about his brother and wondered if she meant to talk to him, at least until she mentioned the first name of their esteemed leader. “Attilius Thalmar?” Commander Gharm asked.
“Yes! For him. He will be my new dad. And he will fall in love with my mom.” She exaggeratedly blew out a breath. “But your brother wanted you to know he was killed.” Dakota spied her mom getting out of her SUV and winced.
Nolan recognized the stunned expression on the Commander’s face and intervened. He asked the young girl, “What is your name? I’m Nolan and this is my wife Sherry.” He gave her a gentle smile.
“I’m Dakota. Dakota Shasta.” She held out her hand to shake his hand as she was taught to do when meeting an adult for the first time. She smiled when he shook her hand. Dakota then held her smaller hand out to Sherry. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Both of you.”
Sherry shook Dakota’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you also,
Dakota. You have a very pretty name.”
“Thanks. Is he okay?” She lifted her thumb in the Commander’s direction. “He’s not asking me questions, or telling me to go away,” her voice drifted off.
A very stunned Commander Dorn Gharm dropped to his knees. “Dakota?” He waited until she held his eyes.
“Your eyes are all wrong,” Dakota softly remarked as she stepped up to the giant alien.
Dorn didn’t address her remark and was glad she addressed their eye color low enough that Sherry and Nolan appeared not to have heard her. The MacKennas’ are unaware of what Nica calls ‘their demon eyes’. The Pzian warriors put in contacts when dealing with humans. “Dakota. Can you tell me who killed my brother?” He watched as she sucked in her bottom lip and nodded her head.
*.*
“Dakota!” Christine Shasta yelled. She spotted her wayward daughter and ran to her. “There you are honey. It’s time to go,” she exclaimed.
Dakota rolled her eyes at hearing her mom’s panicked voice. “But mom,” Dakota didn’t get a chance to finish her plea.
“Please excuse us,” Christine said as she took Dakota’s forearm and turned her away. She stopped short when the ghostly figure, that only her and her daughter could see, blocked their way.
Christine closed her eyes and gave a little shake to her head before relenting. “Fine,” she whispered under her breath and turned back to the alien who was still on his knees. “I don’t want any trouble. I just want to take my daughter and leave. Promise me that you’ll let us leave and I’ll give you the message from your brother, Finis.” Christine waited until the alien nodded his head. “Finis says the senior mechanical technician sabotaged his ship after he discovered that he was trying to recover deleted cap information,” she paused. “Yes, it’s cap. So, the man, alien, he,”
Christine took a step back and started talking faster. “He was trying to take it from one of the ship’s databanks. Your brother was going to inform his commander as soon as he returned from his assignment and let him know. Only, he never survived the ‘accident’. He says to check the records, the senior technician signed off on the cause of the systems failure. That would be the same one who your brother caught red-handed. I’m so sorry for your loss.” She took her daughter’s wrist and tugged.
“I’m sorry, too. Your brother is here,” Dakota told him right before she let her mom pull her away. She didn’t go with a heavy heart because she knew that the big alien would find them and take them to his planet.
Dorn recovered quickly and leapt to his feet. Before they could get more than a few steps away, he was in front of the duo. “Finis is here?” He looked pleadingly from daughter to mother.
“Go ahead,” Christine softly told Dakota.
Dakota shook off her mom’s hand and took hold of the big alien’s hand. She could only wrap her smaller hand around his outer fingers. “He wanted you to know the truth and to ask you to watch over his youngling. Huh? Oh, his little girl.” She pulled in her bottom lip again before adding, “You don’t know.”
Dorn shook his head no. He was unaware that his younger brother had completed the breeding contract.
“Finis’ mother knows but he wants you to watch out for his little girl too. He says that she’ll need your protection when she’s older.” Dakota held his hand tightly. “You have a niece. Finis wants to know that you’ll watch out for her. He can’t go to the,” Dakota shifted her eyes to the side of Dorn and up, “to the land of the gods and goddesses until he knows that you’ll watch out for her. He has tears in his eyes. Like you do.” She stepped up and wrapped her arms around his waist, and laid the side of her head on the lower part of his chest.
Dakota briefly wondered if her new dad would be as big. She liked the thought that he would be as strong as this one is.
“I will protect her.” Dorn glanced at the spot he had seen Dakota look and assured his brother, “I swear to the gods and goddesses she will be protected.”
Dakota returned the ghost’s grin. She watched him look up to the sky and fade away. “He’s gone now. He had a smile on his face when he left,” Dakota softly spoke. She then stepped back and took her mother’s outstretched hand.
*.*
Adal Lucia looked sympathetically at her commander when he transported to and then walked off the bridge without a word. She’d been monitoring Dorn, Tyce, Ivanoff, Blaize, Maxon, Rort, and the MacKennas. “I’ve set coordinates. We’ll have you home in a few minutes,” she told Nolan and Sherry.
“Mother and daughter ghost whisperers.” Sherry shook her head, then responded to Adal, “Thanks.” She then went quiet. She wasn’t the only one who was shaken by the day’s events.
*.*
“Ivanoff, we’ll need your guidance,” Adal remarked as Ivanoff reappeared on the bridge after seeing Nolan and Sherry home.
“Of course. Here are the license plate numbers to both Tyce’s potential honored guests and to Dakota and her mother.” When he saw their confusion, he sent a photograph of the plates to the view screen and elaborated, “It’s a transport identification marker humans use. These letters and numbers will tell us who the transport belongs to, and the address. I’ll work with Varun and the other techs.” Ivanoff walked over to Varun’s workstation and demonstrated how to hack into Oregon’s Department of Motor Vehicles. After that, he provided instruction on vital records, school registration and records, and then social media. It was when they entered the perspective guests names into social media sites that the bridge was abuzz with activity.
Blaize joined the technicians to search for information. As head of security, this was information that he needed to learn how to obtain. “This planet is unlike any other that I’ve encountered,” he muttered. “Monitoring equipment is set up at the event. We can review events later. Right now, let’s focus on Dakota and her mother first. Dorn will be expecting a profile immediately. Transmit the information to him as you locate it. Varun and I will assemble the information in chronological order.”
“The humans are very sociable,” Ivanoff remarked. He came across a video from four years ago. “Look at this. This news feed is dated June 20th, 2013 and has to do with an airplane crash. It’s about Dakota and her mother.” He sent a copy to the data pads of the warriors currently on the bridge, Commander Gharm, and to the large view screen.
“Where is this Florida?” Adal asked after noticing a sign in the video feed. She turned to the view screen when Varun placed a map in the corner of the screen and highlighted the state of Florida. “Oh, so it’s part of the same continent. Did Dakota and her mother, Christine, live there long?” She was thinking how nice it would have been for Dakota to grow up surrounded by so much water.
The Pzian warriors on the bridge froze when a tear-filled, eight-year-old, Dakota exclaimed between sobs, “I told my teacher. And my mommy told my teacher, not to get on that plane. He wouldn’t listen to us.”
Bylt, one of four technicians assigned to this mission, replied, “They moved the day after this was published. They’ve moved four more times since then, until they ended up here in St. Helens, Oregon.”
“I suspect Christine Shasta is moving them again right now,” Ivanoff stated and then explained his reasoning. “Adal, Commander Gharm has completed his video call. We’ll have a fairly complete portfolio on Dakota and Christine Shasta within the hour.” He paused only momentarily as Adal left to go speak with the Commander.
Chapter 3
Carlie and Justin Longwood reentered the psychic event at the county fairgrounds much later that same afternoon. They stood at the entrance and scanned the interior to make sure the aliens had indeed left.
“They’re not here, let’s go,” Justin declared. “You take that side of the room and I’ll take this side.”
“I see why you want this side of the room. She’s cute. Don’t get into trouble,” Carlie teased as she turned towards her side of the room and walked off. After brushing up against several people, Carlie settled on a midd
le-aged woman with a fretful face. Carlie stood there for a moment considering whether she should help the woman or not. The woman’s trouble was dark, and would give Carlie a vision that she would rather not have. The brief contact was enough to tell Carlie that she couldn’t walk away from this one. The woman was in a deep depression and needed her specific kind of help.
Besides the needs of the woman, thoughts of the upcoming court date and their barely there bank account, convinced Carlie to risk the vision. “Miss?” Carlie questioned hesitantly and waited. When the woman gave her a quizzical look, she ran her hand through her hair and continued, “You brought along your sister’s necklace and want to know what happened to her. Is that correct?”
“Yes. How did you,” the woman cleared her throat as her eyes misted. “Can you help me?”
“I believe so,” Carlie assured her. “I can try.” After seeing the look of desperation on this woman’s face, Carlie knew she had made a right choice.
“I can pay you.” She pulled a necklace out of her purse and extended it, “Here.”
Carlie looked at the necklace but didn’t accept it. She quickly scanned for security guards and suggested, “Let’s go over there and sit down.” Carlie knew, from a prior experience, that security would chase her and Justin out as soon as they realized she was not a paid vendor.
This wasn’t the first time the pair of them attended such an event in order to earn a few extra dollars. Carlie once fancied opening up an agency to locate missing persons or items, but lacked the funds and business knowledge.
She led the woman to a cluster of tables and chairs on the outer ring of the floor. Carlie knew she wasn’t the only one wincing at the filthy tables.
“That one doesn’t look too bad,” the woman pointed to a table. She pulled Kleenex out of her purse and dusted off the seats.
