by Ron Francis
Ariel was beginning to find her voice as she said, “I went to visit you.”
“And that’s the last thing you remember?” Nina waited for Ariel to nod before she went on. “I’ll tell you everything I know from that point on.” Nina explained to her how she had been attacked and badly injured. She told her how Manny had saved her, and gotten her to the med-center. She was still there now, and she told her she would have to be out of work at least three months. She couldn’t work until she was fully healed, doctor’s orders.
Pictures began to flash through Ariel’s mind as some of the memories began to flood in. Blood dripped from her arm as she was running, she was fighting, being stabbed, being taunted, but by who? As she tried to figure it out, alarms began to wail all over the med-center. Manny ran in and said, “A bomb has been found in the basement of this wing, and there are snipers positioned all around the perimeter shooting at anyone that tries to leave. We need to get Ariel out of here, now.”
“She is too weak to be moved,” The doctor objected.
“She is probably also too weak to survive an explosion or a blaster to the head.” Serge added with an edge to his voice.
“She’s probably not the only target either,” Manny added with a nod as he pulled out his communicator. “Charlie, get all of the men into the four shuttles and line up the bay of the special shuttle with the window of Ariel’s room, I have an idea.”
Everyone watched as Manny took some micro charges out of his pack, and began planting them around the window and all the way down to the floor. They all figured out what he was going to do at the same time and the protests began. He waved them all off and said, “This is the only way we all get out safely. Don’t worry, Doc, we’ll give you more than enough money to pay for the damages. You’re coming with us by the way; we’ll pay you for that, too.”
The doctor began unhooking the necessary equipment and insured that there would be power generation on the shuttle that could handle the energy needed. Charlie let Manny know they were cloaked and in position. Nina had figured it was the cloak that made Manny refer to the shuttle as special. Manny had everyone stand back and blew the micro charges. The muffled explosion went off and the window along with the wall beneath it harmlessly crumpled to the floor. Two of the bodyguards took up position flanking the bay as the hatch lowered and they could see the inside of the shuttle. Manny and Serge gently wheeled Ariel’s bed into the shuttle, while the doctor and Nina made sure none of the equipment was pulled out of place. Two more guards carried the bigger machines in behind them, and they had their mobile med-bay. Charlie and Dane indicated no one had seen them yet. As the last two bodyguards boarded, they flew away undetected. Manny checked in with the other shuttles and all personnel were present and accounted for. Next stop was the Vanguard. Manny breathed a sigh of relief; he didn’t think any assassins could get aboard the SSE Flagship.
By the time they had successfully settled Ariel into the med-bay, she was asleep again. The doctor did a thorough check and happily let them know everything was fine. She had not experienced a setback during the unexpected move. Manny was worried by the boldness of the attack, so he contacted Zoe and told her to have her guards bring her aboard the Vanguard for safety. Nina called Admiral Bliney to let him know about everything that had happened. She then called Tara Tamanorra to urge her to come aboard with her daughter Sun. The Enclave was apparently declaring war on them and everyone they cared about was in danger. Serge had contacted his sister Irina and nephew Dmitri, and had them brought on board as well. After much pleading, Manny was finally able to convince Tara to bring Sun aboard for her own safety. He described in detail what had happened to Ariel, and the subsequent attempt at the hospital. Manny then sent a transmission to his ship Olympus to have his fleet group rendezvous with Vee Fleet at Telos. They were to travel together to Polisia and remain there until Ariel was better, and the Enclave had been dealt with. Nina also reached out to Josiah’s parents and brother Matthias, and had them brought to the Vanguard. She didn’t think they were in any real danger, but she didn’t want to take the chance. Even though it was Jesse that had grown up so close to Josiah, she knew them very well, and loved them just as much. She also convinced Collin’s parents and younger sister Sarah to join them. Jason brought his sister Raina, while Liam, Sanjay, Cartwright and Charlie had their families picked up as well. Captain Snyder also brought his family aboard. By the following morning, everyone that the Marcos family was close with was aboard the Vanguard, surrounded by eleven other ships, and Nina finally allowed herself to breath.
______
Lana Evans was on her way to soccer practice, hoping to try to forget, at least for a little while, what had happened this morning. She had walked in on her mom crying. Not just crying, but lying on the floor sobbing uncontrollably. As soon as her mother looked at her, it seemed the hysterics were taken up a notch. She tried to console her as best she could, but she couldn’t even get her mother to say what was wrong. Her mom had finally calmed down enough that she felt comfortable going to school, but she had already missed her first two classes. According to school policy, her mom had already been notified, which didn’t really matter because her mom already knew. For the rest of the day, she couldn’t concentrate at all. She felt like she was in a daze. She continued to think as she went through the motions of changing for practice and walking out to the field to stretch. What could possibly have mom so upset? Why did she get even more upset when she saw me? Is something wrong with me? Is something wrong with her? Are we going to lose the house? This has to somehow be dad’s fault. If he had supported me like he was supposed to, we might have the money to stay. Lana hated that she had never known her father and her mom never talked about him, which meant that he had probably done something truly awful to her. She shouldn’t dwell on it; this might have nothing to do with him at all, but she was willing to bet that it did.
She was vaguely aware of the smell of the freshly cut grass on the field as she finished stretching and ran over to take some practice kicks. Usually, she loved that smell; she found it comforting for some reason, but not today. She tried to motivate herself to get her head into it. Come on Lana, you’re the best player on the team. You’re one of the best in the whole city. If your teammates see you dogging it, they’ll think it’s okay for them to dog it, too. In spite of her best self-motivating efforts, her heart just wasn’t in it. The goalie was easily saving every shot she took and even stopped at one point to call out. “Lana, is everything okay? You’re not really into it today.”
“I’m sorry, Jill, I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
“Well, you better get your head into practice before coach sees you.”
“You’re right, thanks.” She shot her teammate a half-hearted smile and then her next shot placed perfectly into the upper left hand corner of the net, just out of Jill’s reach. After four or five straight goals, her mind started to drift back to her mother, sitting on the cold, bathroom floor in tears. What can I do about it, I’m only sixteen. Should I call someone? Maybe talk to my school councilor, what should I do? Her train of thought was disturbed by a soccer ball hitting her in the side of the head followed by an irritated shout from her coach.
“Evans, get over here.” When she stood before her coach, she knew she was in for it. “You’ve been dogging it all practice.”
“I’m sorry, Coach, I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
“Well, maybe I should give you some time to think.”
“Really, Coach?” She momentarily let her hope rise until she saw the look on her coach’s face and remembered who she was dealing with.
“Yeah, sure. You can have all the time you need to think while you’re giving me ten laps around the track.”
“But…” she began before he jumped back in.
“Does it need to be fifteen?”
“No, sir.” she put her head down and started running. At least she wouldn’t have to think about so
ccer while she ran. She knew the coach wasn’t mad, he just always expected a good effort, and she wasn’t giving one today. He didn’t go easy on her because she was his best player, he treated her exactly like the other girls, and she had always appreciated that. After a while, she started getting pretty tired. How many laps did I run? I lost count while I was thinking about mom? Coach is gonna kill me. Suddenly, another yell from her coach broke her train of thought.
“Evans, come on over here,” She slowly jogged over and her coach and all of her teammates were looking at her funny. “Lana,” he started with a note of concern in his voice. “Is everything alright? You had to have run close to twenty laps. I was calling to you for the last five and it was like there was no one else in the world.”
“I’m sorry, Coach.”
“No, it’s alright, Lana, what’s going on?” He gently guided her a little bit away from the other girls and waited for a reply.
Should I tell coach? She wondered as she fought to hold back her tears. I’m really worried, maybe he’ll know what to do. “It’s my mom, something is very wrong and she won’t tell me what it is. I found her lying on the bathroom floor sobbing uncontrollably this morning, and she wouldn’t tell me why. Then, when she saw me, she became even more despondent. I missed the first two classes today because I didn’t want to leave her until she had calmed down. Coach, I don’t know what to do.” A tear started to form in her eye and she knew she was only moments away from breaking down in front of the rest of the team.
“Why don’t you take the rest of practice off? Go check on your mom. Tomorrow, you should talk to a councilor, maybe they can help you out. I’m sorry, I don’t really know what to do here, kiddo, maybe you’ll get some answers soon.” He gently placed his hand on her shoulder and added, “Go on, get out of here. I’ll see you back at practice when you’ve worked it out.” She smiled and nodded her thanks and as she turned to go, she could hear him yell again. “What are you ladies staring at? Do you all want to run laps?”
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A spherical ship arrived on Jarlevia carrying the delegation for each of the four races in the alliance. The High Council had found out the alliance was called the Human Suppression Syndicate. Everything they had said about their hatred of humans had proven to be true. Dozens of human worlds in their sector were subjugate to their rule, and dozens more had been destroyed. Humanity in the Syndicate’s sector had only slavery or death to look forward to. It was surprising and troubling to the Jarlevians that there were so many human worlds in their ally’s sector that they hadn’t known about. It appeared as though the blight of humanity had spread even further than they had imagined. Knowing this made it even more important in their minds that Earth be dealt with swiftly and harshly. The last thing they needed was to spend decades fully subjugating their sectors only to face a powerful human threat from another sector with a score to settle. Decades from now, humans from Earth would be populating nearly a hundred worlds, and that could not be allowed to happen. As the treaty with the Syndicate was nearly finalized, the High Council felt they could not stress enough the importance of quick and decisive action against Earth. The delegations were to be given a day to see the grandeur of Jarlevia’s Capital before the meetings would begin to take place. During that time, the High Council would be in session. For now, the High Council was on hand to welcome their guests.
The first Delegation to disembark was the Barrafoss with their Leader, Dobar, flanked by two large warriors, and trailing fifteen servants followed by two more warriors. The Barrafoss were furred humanoids of multiple earth tone colors. Their four arms drew looks from the spaceport employees as none had ever seen a Barrafoss before. Their faces had several features similar to various canine species. The warriors wore sleeveless tunics draped with purple sashes over black trousers. They held energy weapons in the shape of a spear in their two left hands. One of their right hands hovered near a more conventional type of blaster. The rest of the delegation was draped in the traditional brown robes of their planet. Dobar had tan fur, while his warriors had dark brown fur, and the servants had a muted grey fur. The council wondered if the different color fur signified different classes among the Barrafoss.
The next delegation was the Rodajhan, and the High Council had an immediate dislike for the look of them. The Rodajhan were a squat species, resembling rodents standing almost five feet tall with long, whip-like tails. They possessed powerful legs and small arms and the entire delegation had dark grey fur. The delegation had the same make up and order as the Barrafoss delegation and the High Council noticed their warriors also wore sleeveless tunics draped with purple sashes over black trousers. The rest of the delegation wore black trousers with buttoned up collared shirts. The High Council understood that the Rodajhan were considered the best engineers in the Syndicate, so they would not dismiss them simply because of their unpleasant appearance. With one look, the council could tell their leader was as sharp as they come.
The third delegation to set foot on Jarlevia was the Ophion, a hybrid species that could live on land or at sea. They were tall, pale white humanoids with angular faces that came to a sharp point at the chin. They had two rows of small, sharp teeth and one inch round white brain stems extending almost five inches from their skull. The stems gave the illusion of thick hair, but they allowed the Ophion to communicate telepathically while they were under water. Their necks also had gills, which allowed them to breath under water. They had long arms with webbed hands, and long legs with webbed feet. The formation was the same and the warriors dressed the same as the previous delegations. The leader and his male servants wore only skintight shorts while the females had a skintight sleeveless half shirt as well.
The last delegation was the one the council found the most interesting. The Squiznazab had two powerful feet that attached directly to the torso. The torso was as wide as it was tall and attached to it was a flat head with no neck. The beings had six eyes, two each for nighttime, daytime and long distance. They also had wide mouths with large, sharp teeth. The skin, if you could call it that, was a light orange, thick, rubbery substance and instead of arms, it had five tendrils capable of holding almost anything a hand could hold. The first impression was that they were short, round, orange beings that couldn’t possibly help the Syndicate, but underestimating them would be a mistake. These beings were fierce. They disembarked in the same formation as the previous delegation, except none of the Squiznazab wore clothes. Their bodies were nowhere near humanoid in appearance, and clothes were not something they needed, or used. The only way to denote which ones were the warriors was by the weapons they held.
After the High Council had greeted each of the delegations, they sent them with servants to get settled in. The delegations were to spend a little time seeing Jarlevia. Meanwhile, the council had a meeting to discuss their first impression of their soon to be allies. They would also continue to try and come up with a plan to make Earth their next target. The meeting carried on until the evening with no solid plan, and the High Council decided to go into the morning meeting with the Syndicate delegates with the hope they could be persuaded.
Early the next morning, the delegation approached the Jarlevian meeting hall. As they looked at the building that lay before them, they decided they would like their new allies. The hall was majestic in its simplicity. Standing only eight stories high and containing only two floors, the building was a marvel. Gleaming white, two hundred meters long and one hundred meters wide, the building could support delegations of almost any size. Framed in an old world architectural style with hard lines, the building had one large window in the front, no windows on the side and one large window in the back. As they entered a small reception area, they approached a wide, white staircase containing eight steps leading to the meeting hall entrance. On each side of the staircase was a narrower staircase of eight steps, heading down. The bottom floor was for the servants to make their preparations, and the floor above was the meeting
hall. After exchanging pleasantries, the delegation from the Syndicate seated themselves, and the High Council followed suit as the meeting began.
Dobar looked directly at the head of the Jarlevian High Council and said, “Before we talk about the humans of Earth, I would like to acquaint you with an even more dire human threat; The Enclave.”
______
President Sandoval sat at the conference table in the conference room of the Presidential Palace in Prague for a meeting with the seven people he hoped could get the Coalition ready to defend itself against the two threats Admiral Bliney had outlined. The large, stained oak table had room for twenty to sit comfortably around it in the plush, brown leather chairs. The only other piece of furniture in the room was an antique wooden chair in the corner. Each of the three tan walls were adorned with famous paintings while the fourth wall showcased the French doors. Nina could barely contain her venom as she sat at the same table as Admiral Natora. She opted to focus on the palace garden past the window panes of the French doors. She could almost smell the famous palace rose bushes as she concentrated hard on not attacking Admiral Natora. Serge was holding her hand as much to keep her from leaping across the oversized conference table, as for comfort. She resented that Admiral Bliney had played the “for the good of the Coalition” card to get her and Serge here. As the final member of their meeting walked in, President Sandoval called the meeting to order. Admiral Bliney detailed the two threats, and gave his recommendation to triple military production. After that, the President opened the floor for discussion and that’s when things got interesting.
