He introduced himself and asked for her name. She said, “Oh, I know all about who you are, so if you would like to dance, I will fill you in on me.”
Terrell and Baeleigh were dancing a slow dance and even when the music stopped, they continued to dance. That was when Bart got the idea to make sure the music continued so the young couple continued dancing close to each other.
“Oh, my goodness Bart, I recognize the girl. She is the great-granddaughter of Edard and Baeleigh from Zhian,” Cynthia said.
“Yes, isn’t her name also Baeleigh and isn’t she full Zhian too?” Bart asked Cynthia.
“Yes, and all I know is I am staying out of this one and letting mother nature take its course. If there is any chance that man is ever going to find love, I will not be the one to interfere,” Cynthia exclaimed.
With the lights down low and the music soft and slow, the two got to know each other.
Once they embraced, she whispered, “Well my name is Baeleigh if you’re interested in knowing.”
“Well Baeleigh, you are such a great dancer,” Terrell said.
“Oh, my mother always danced, and she insisted I do it too for the exercise, of all things,” Baeleigh said softly in Terrell’s ear.
Terrell was the most sought-after bachelor because he not only came from a long line of educators, he was also one of the most handsome men to look at.
He had always loved to work out and took a great deal of pride in his body and looks. But what attracted him to Baeleigh was the fact that she just lived life one day at a time, and never worried much about such things.
Terrell knew that night he was falling in love, and at lightning speed. He tried several times to slow the feeling down and not rush things.
He knew nothing about Baeleigh and had completely forgotten to ask her anything other than what was her favorite color, song, food and just things to find out how much they had in common.
It was that night that Terrell no longer cared about genetics or education or anything else. He had fallen in love at last and just could not believe the velvety soft skin that Baeleigh had.
Terrell always ate healthy foods, exercised daily and the only thing he would allow into his body that many agreed was simply unhealthy was his bourbon.
Well, thanks to Bart, he thought. Yet Baeleigh loved risk and taking chances, which intrigued Terrell to no end.
Later that evening the two lovebirds spent it by the fireplace. It was the perfect time of year for romance and snuggling.
Terrell was never good at snuggling because he was an only child and his mother was not into that sort of thing. But Baeleigh loved it and clung to him like she was afraid to let him go and he loved it.
That evening it was getting late and tomorrow was a big day; after all, everyone was planning on having a huge cookout and gathering.
But somehow that was the last thing on Terrell or Baeleigh’s minds, and they continued to snuggle near the fireplace.
Terrell was amazed at Baeleigh’s long black hair, her dark eyes and smooth skin that felt and looked like silk.
“Baeleigh, who on Earth II did you get your gorgeous looks from?” Terrell asked as he looked deep into Baeleigh’s dark and sultry eyes.
She laughed and said, “From my mother, don’t be silly.”
That was when Baeleigh decided that that was enough about their personal lives, and time spent together privately was in order and proper.
She then requested that they should retire to his private quarters so that they may get to know each other better and Terrell happily led the way.
“Oh, my goodness, are you with anyone else at the lodge or did you come alone? Should you be letting someone know where you are? Are you sure it is okay to spend the night with me?” Terrell asked.
“Terrell, you are asking a lot of questions,” Baeleigh replied.
That was when Baeleigh took charge and led Terrell into a world he was not familiar with. Neither were teenagers, they were grown adults, she thought.
But Terrell’s shyness was obviously what had hindered him in finding a long-term relationship. She decided she would fix that.
Terrell had one of the most sought-after suites at the retreat’s main lodge, but only top officials could reserve it. Syra and James had spent many days in that very suite because of the view.
The suite’s bar was fully stocked, music could be heard throughout the entire suite if one chose. The fireplace was the coziest area in the suit other than the main bedroom.
Baeleigh immediately went to the large window view to see the moon, the mountains, and waterfalls. But when she looked up, the stars were what caught her eyes as they filled the night sky.
With two drinks in his hands, he wrapped his arms around Baeleigh from behind. She reached to take the drink he had given her, and they sipped their drinks and watched the stars twinkle in the night skies.
Suddenly, Baeleigh needed to leave the room to make herself more presentable and sat her drink on the edge of the fireplace mantle and left the room.
Terrell continued to be mesmerized by the stars and the night view from the suite when he heard Baeleigh speak softly in his ear, “Catch me if you can, and you can have me.”
She tapped him on the shoulder and was gone in a flash. Never in his life had someone sprinted off the furniture. That was cheating, he thought.
Every time he thought he had her, she was loose again. Slipping out of every single hold he could think of.
Then just when Terrell was so out of breath, he nearly fainted so she allowed herself to trip over his feet and landed on the plush rug in front of the fireplace. That was where they spent half the night, and sometime before morning, Terrell woke up with Baeleigh snuggled up to his side in the bed.
The sun was just peeking through the bedroom windows when Terrell gave Baeleigh a kiss on the forehead and told her to remind him to request darker shades on that window.
He slipped out of the covers and went for a tray of breakfast snacks in the cooler box in the cooking area of the suite. That morning, they had breakfast in bed.
Terrell and Baeleigh spend the morning lying on the love seat by the fireplace and that is when Terrell told her he hoped their time together would never end.
Baeleigh replied, “Well it doesn’t have to end, I can simply move my things in here and we can share the same suit.”
Terrell called for her things and he had them moved to his suite right away.
Today was the big cookout outdoors, and everyone was excited. It was a chance to meet new people and sit by the large firepit outside the lodge.
The chefs had prepared the swine beast and he was being roasted and would be done by evening, everyone hoped.
The swine beast was much like the hogs on Earth, but when some were brought to Earth II they mated with the swine on Earth II and create the huge beast which usually weighed about 1,200 pounds and was everyone’s favorite for roasting.
Every evening there was always some fun thing to do and this kept Terrell and Baeleigh mesmerized in the festivities and each other.
When the last day at the retreat had finally come, both agreed they never wanted to be apart from each other and Baeleigh wanted to move to the City of Arteemus to live with Terrell.
Her family still lived in the old housing area, which was connected to the Central Command Center and when she told him that, he was curious why she lived there.
She finally had to explain who her parents and grandparents were; he was completely unaware.
Baeleigh finally had to admit she was at the lodge hoping to run into him and to celebrate her birthday; she had just turned 21. She had taken the monorail to the retreat and told her parents if she did not return, she was with Terrell.
“So, you had already set your sights on me, young lady,” Terrell said.
“Well, what girl hasn’t?” Baeleigh replied and added, “The difference is, we fell in love with each other and I’m never letting you go, my love.”
Meanwhile, Cynthia and Bart watched the two lovebirds board the travel pod and both looked at each other and agreed the retreat had its magic and it worked yet again.
While high in the sky and above the City of Arteemus, both registered their union from the console of the travel pod and received blessings from all who saw the message of their union.
When they arrived at Terrell’s place, the view was as beautiful as back at the retreat. Both agreed it would be their home until the next election and if Terrell chose not to run again as leader, they would move to the retreat and raise a family there. It was the place they both fell in love at.
The day finally came for the grand opening of the university and both Terrell and Baeleigh was so excited. It had only been a few months since they first met at the retreat, and they were at the biggest celebration either had ever attended.
There would be much work to do to help the university and Baeleigh would lend her ideas to the board as much as Terrell, and they played a significant role in how the university would eventually become the most famous of all of them on Earth II.
It was about a year later and Baeleigh discovered she was pregnant. This thrilled Terrell to no end. The university was running and the city of Arteemus elected a new leader since Terrell did not run in the current election.
Hannah Reese won the current election and continued to run the city of Allieah. Her husband Charles Cooper had now one of the largest law enforcement and security details on the planet.
But with the city of Allieah well cared for, it was then decided to move to the Chadwell Lawson Retreat where Terrell and Baeleigh would have their child and raise a family in the countryside.
It was their moving day, and everything was packed and ready for the moving shuttle to arrive and load their personal items.
Both Terrell and his wife Baeleigh boarded their private travel pod and headed to their new cabin built on the side of Waterfall Mountain Ridge right next door to the retreat.
It was a perfect home to raise a family and both had agreed it was where they wanted to be for the rest of their lives.
But darker days were ahead, and both knew it as they continued to monitor the news coming in from Central Command Center.
The latest word was the space junk sent out into space by Ellead had distracted many of the enemy ships that were well on their way to Earth II. But one great ship that was still approaching their space was not slowing down, and the Zhian Sphere had been monitoring its speed and approach.
All of Earth II was on full alert, and every shield was reinforced, and the entire Crawford Military Base was on the ready.
Every ship in the fleet was fully armed and manned. The Ark Royal was ready for battle and the new Zerk had been repaired and his new programming was working perfectly.
All the evil plans he had had of taking over Earth had been erased, all memory of his conspiracy was gone. He still understood there once was a Council of 12, but that that part of the program was accidentally damaged in his own flawed backup.
Zerk had been given a second chance to serve the Zhianites the way he was intended to do. But some had often wished he had at least have learned some lessons from all the things he had done in the past. Their consolation was that he would at least make up for it now.
Just a short time later everyone on Earth II got a visual of the Xnaethean ship now in their space.
It was obvious the Xnaethean’s were convinced that Earth II was far too early in its development to be able to stop them, and so they went after Earth II full force.
The one message everyone dreaded now came in on all consoles and the time had come.
This is Arzaitus, we are here to take your planet and when we have gotten what we are here for, and are done with you, we will leave you in peace. No one needs to die if you listen carefully to our demands.
You must lower your shields, or we will blast them until you do. You are no match for us and our Xnaethean technologies.
We are far more advanced than you. We have also seen that you have large quantities of the crystals we need, yet you chose not to use them?
We will await your response, but if we receive no reply by the time your planet does one full rotation, we will start firing upon your planet non-stop.
You inhabit one small area of such a large and beautiful world. Why not share some of its bounties? Why take the chance? You will be destroyed, so we urge you to respond now.
No reply was sent, and the red alert had sounded on every continent and continued until everyone out in the fields had returned.
The reason was that some expeditions were still out researching. They were studying the wildlife, plant life, and other projects vital to the observatory collecting samples.
When everyone had reported in, the Ark Royal sent out a fleet to scan all of Earth II for any intrusions and send back visuals for the Central Command Center.
The Zhian Sphere began searching the space around Earth II for any anomalies and that information was sent to the Ark Royal, all its fleet and to the command center.
Hannah Reese’s husband Charles Cooper, with the assistance of Bart Lawson, had made sure that all cities and the retreat and any other establishment on Earth II was reinforced in its individual shields.
All of this was done just in case there was a breach anywhere around the planet. Security was now at its highest level and everyone on full alert.
It had now been one full rotation of Earth II when the firing began.
BOOK THREE
Chapter six
Crawford knew the Ark Royal was ready for liftoff but decided to hold off to see how the shields were holding up. The general wanted the Xnaetheans to make the first move and the captain agreed.
They both needed to see what kind of firepower the enemy had, what kind of actions they would take, and how long they were willing to last with no action from Earth II.
There was no way the general was going to show his cards, so they decided to wait this one out for now.
The firing had begun from several smaller ships circling Earth II’s space. Hitting different parts of their shields and scanning the planet for secret bases and additional arsenal whose signature was not picked up on from space.
What the enemy did not know, was the new shrouding technology the Zhianites had was far beyond the scope of the Xnaethean’s knowledge and armament.
From all appearances, Earth II was an easy picking and would be theirs very soon with little to no losses on the Xnaethean’s end.
The Zhian Sphere could see the larger ship hiding out behind one of Earth II’s moons while they sent out a lot of smaller ships to start the attack.
The first wave retreated, and a second wave took its place firing a shot here and there to test the shields.
And then the third wave came and this time the shots came much closer together, and the Xnaetheans began firing over and over in several particular areas trying to break through the shields.
The first day had turned to night, and the skies were starting to light up and show the strikes which had sent most citizens into hiding in shelters in order to protect themselves should the shots break through the shields and hit the land around them.
The shields were still holding up, but Earth II was constantly being bombarded with strikes bursting across the skies, relentlessly and non-stop for days.
During the day it was not as noticeable, but as the skies darkened, the strikes became more visible and many began to fear the enemy would, in fact, a breakthrough.
It was now time for the Ark Royal and her fleet to pierce through its own shields and confront the enemy face to face and end this war once-and-for-all.
But more importantly, Captain Zee needed the enemy to be on the run so the battle could be taken further away from Earth II’s space.
Even though the general and Captain Zee knew the shields would hold up against the debris, it was best to take the battle further out, and the plan was to lure them outside the shields and as far
away as they could.
Syra had ordered the temporary closing of the wormhole to Earth some time ago to protect it since they were no longer visiting Earth.
They had been concentrating on using their newest Zhian technology and everything they had learned to defend themselves and were well-prepared.
Syra had exclaimed this would be the day that goes down in their history as a galactic showdown between the Xnaetheans and the Earthlings/Zhianites.
The Ark Royal was loaded with the weapons they had, and they were fully charged. Every station on that ship was at the ready and everyone was eager to hit the skies.
The Ark Royal’s fleet was also ready. These ships were about the size of Ellead’s ship but the maneuverability that they had was unbelievable according to anyone who had ever seen their practice in the sky.
Zerk’s old programming was still in the Central Command Center in the one research area to the east side of the dome-shaped building. He had been running on idle and was not active.
However, Zerk’s signature was still there and when it was realized, that obsolete version of Zerk was shut down permanently.
Extra precaution had been taken to keep his signature from space, but there were no guarantees.
The enemy had gone hiding behind several moons orbiting Earth II, and that was the captain's cue to jump through the shields.
Captain Zee opened the shield just long enough to pop through the opening. Then, in each area his fleet was, they did the same.
Earth II’s skies were filled with a fleet of 200 plus the Ark Royal, and even the Zhian Sphere was now armed and ready. Since no offices or labs were now being held inside the Sphere it had been armed as well and was waiting to be called to duty.
The Ark Royal had the fleet come in waves through the shields, and each time they opened and closed with no time for the enemy to even react.
The captain had been sending out messages in Xnaethean and Zhianite languages and there had been no responses, so he was left with only his firepower as a message and he began to send that message continuously.
The Chronicles of Syra Omnibus Page 46
