by Kelvin Teo
"Okay," I said, "we need to take another flight and scout the area around the building. We need to see if there is a power substation nearby."
"Good," said Michelle, "I get to go this time."
I looked at her and said, "What is it with you?"
"I’ve never been in a plane before."
I looked at Deb and Vicki, hoping for some support.
"What’s the problem, sir?" asked Deb. "We’re not going to set down. We’re only going to look."
Chessi hugged Michelle’s arm a little tighter.
"Oh, and Chessi wants to go, too."
"Absolutely not!"
I heard Miarta laugh.
"She was just as big a problem in our world. Always wanting to go places and see things."
"You have no choice," said Michelle.
"Oh really? I have every choice in the world, including locking the two of you up in the cell until we’re gone."
Michelle just sat there with a stone cold look on her face. I just knew that my life would be miserable if I didn’t let her go.
"We leave here tomorrow right after breakfast. If you’re late, you stay here."
"We won’t be late," said Chessi.
I looked at Miarta and said, "I just know I’m going to regret this."
She smiled and nodded.
8
The rotors were turning at eight in the morning and there were two young ladies sitting in the seats on the Osprey. They were standing at the gates at seven, taking no chances that they would be left behind.
Dean and Steve had drawn guard duty over Jinzi and Miarta. They were placed in the cell, but the door was not locked. When it was explained to be more for their protection than anything, they didn’t argue at all. The people of the cavern were still a bit wary about having them inside.
As we lifted off, Chessi yelped and clung to Michelle’s arm. I smiled at her as I walked by, heading for the cockpit.
I heard Chessi say, "He isn’t scared to be way up in this craft?"
"No Chessi, he’s an astronaut."
"What’s that?"
"Before all this happened, he was flying around the Earth on a space station. He was about 250 miles above our heads."
"Really? There’s something out there?"
"Chessi, space goes on forever. This is just one tiny spot in the universe. As a matter of fact, you may be from another spot somewhere else in the universe."
"I don’t understand."
"I’ll show you what I know about space when we get back."
I moved into the cockpit and stood between the two ladies and looked out the front windscreen.
"Any idea on what we’ll do if we identify the power station, sir?" asked Deb.
"Right now, we’re just on a recon mission. The more we know about the place the better. Once we identify it, we can make better plans to take it out."
"Might as well sit down, sir. We have about an hour before we get there."
Moving back into the cargo area, I sat down in a seat across from the two girls.
"Were you really up there?" asked Chessi, pointing straight up.
"Yes, I was, Chessi."
"What can you see from up there?"
I smiled and said, "You can see everything."
"I wish I could see that," she said.
"Someday, maybe you will."
We came in high over the lab building and we could see some activity. There were about a dozen Korlani near the open bay door of the lab and we could see the portal through the door. It was still operative and we could see Korlani moving through the portal in both directions.
One thing I did notice was there were no humans anywhere near the building. If Miles Jordan had opened this portal, I would have expected him and his team to be in the area of the portal. They were nowhere to be seen.
Coming off the back side of the building were high tension power cables, running to the north and I had the ladies follow the wires.
It didn't take long to locate the nearest power substation to the lab building. Less than half a mile to the north and a large set of transmission wires leading to the lab. I looked for any kind of security around the substation, but didn't see any.
I told the ladies to put the substation off our ramp so Mike could get a look at it. They swung the Osprey around and that gave him a good, clear look at the facility.
"What do you think, Mike?"
He looked down a few more seconds and then said, "I think we could close that portal right here, right now."
I checked the substation one more time and asked the ladies what they thought. Michelle was standing at the open hatch on the side of the Osprey and Chessi was crowded in front of her, looking at it.
The ladies agreed with Mike, that closing the portal would be the best thing to do.
"Back to the lab. Let's take one more look before we blow this substation to hell."
We drifted back to the lab and hovered near the parking lot outside the open door. A couple dozen Korlani were gathered in a group in the middle of the parking lot and there were half a dozen that looked like they were standing guard over the larger group.
The large group was dressed in the usual dark robes we had been seeing with a handful of them wearing military style uniforms. The ones guarding the larger group were all dressed in military gear.
"Mike, can you see this?"
"Yes, boss. Looks to me like some rebels are being rounded up."
The Korlani looked up at us, but none of them made any threatening gestures toward us. We could still see into the lab and Korlani were still moving through the portal, but it became obvious, some of the Korlani were being led back through the portal at gun point.
As we hovered over the parking lot, a large Korlani male walked out of the lab toward the group.
Then, all hell broke loose behind me.
Chessi started screaming something I couldn't understand. I looked around the bulkhead and she was bouncing up and down on her feet, screaming at someone on the ground. Moving up behind Michelle, I looked over their shoulders and could see the large Korlani stop and stare up at us.
"Go down!" yelled Chessi. "Go down!"
I couldn't say why, but I went ahead and told the ladies to put us down about a hundred yards away from the group, but keep the rotors hot in case we needed to leave. Without me asking, they turned the bird around so that Mike was facing the group with his machine gun.
Before the Osprey touched the ground, Chessi bolted down the ramp before Mike or I could grab her and jumped the three or four feet to the ground. Without missing a step, she ran directly at the group, screaming something at the top of her lungs.
The large Korlani male I had seen come out of the building stepped through the group and stopped, watching this Korlani child run at him. Mike and I could do nothing, but watch. I felt Michelle's presence as she stepped next to me.
"Any idea what she's saying, Michelle?"
"Not a freakin' clue. She just saw him and went crazy."
We watched as the gap closed and the male began running at her and we were all surprised when she threw herself into his arms. He picked her up off the ground in a bear hug and it became obvious that this was probably her father.
I stepped down off the ramp and stood at the full extent of the comms cable to my helmet. Michelle stepped down next to me and pressed up against me.
"Are we sitting ducks or what?'" she asked.
"I don't think so."
After a few seconds, the Korlani male looked toward us and asked Chessi something. She whispered something in his ear and he looked at us, sizing us up. Then he started walking toward us, carrying Chessi sitting on one of his massive arms. A couple of the guards ran and took of positions behind him as he walked.
"Ladies, I think you can ease up on the rotors. Keep the engines running, but relax a bit."
I took off my helmet as I heard the engines throttle back. I handed the helmet to Michelle and started walking toward the group.
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"Oh to hell with this," said Michelle as she dropped the helmet on the ramp and hurried to catch up to me.
"I guess it would be pointless to ask you to stay near the plane."
"You got it, sir."
We covered the distance in just a few seconds and I could see I had greatly underestimated the male's size. He was easily seven and a half feet tall and as wide as Randy, though I think Randy would have a tough time with him.
Chessi squirmed her way out of his arms and stood between us.
"Sir, this is my father, Bregginzi, king of the Korlani. Papa, this is … I'm sorry. I don't know your name."
I smiled at her and then stepped forward and held out my hand to the king.
"Commander Trevor Donovan. Just call me Trevor."
He reached out and I wrapped my hand around his very large claws.
"My Chessi says you have been kind to her."
I nodded and looked down at her.
"She has been a great help in our understanding of what has happened here," I said as I pointed at the lab. "She has been a joy to have with us."
"Then I shall call you friend."
I heard a clearing of a throat next to me and Chessi smiled and stepped next to Michelle and wrapped her arms through hers.
"And father, this is my best friend, Michelle. She has fought and protected me since we met and taught me so much about this world."
Bregginzi reached out his hand and Michelle took it without hesitation.
"It is an honor to meet you, sir. Chessi has been telling me about what a great king you are."
He laughed and said, "She has misinformed you. My mate is the real ruler of the Korlani. I am just joined with her."
"Oh papa, you know mama thinks you are the king of our people."
The conversation came to a lull and I pointed to the group standing in the parking lot.
"So, what's going on here?"
"We have come to take the rebels back to our world and bring justice to them. We were unprepared when Jordan appeared to our people and a faction chose to rise up and follow him. Before I had time to mount a defense, my wife and I had been secreted away by our security forces. It has taken us this amount of time to regain control in our world and we are now here to capture those that have come here to do harm."
I was just about to ask him if he knew where Jordan was, but was interrupted by the sound of a helicopter. I couldn't see it, but I could tell it was coming in from behind the hills. I turned and looked back at the Osprey and could see Mike running toward us.
The ramp started closing on the Osprey and the rotors were winding up. Within seconds they lifted off the ground and started hovering about fifty feet up.
"We may have trouble, boss."
"I hear him, but what is it?"
"I think it's the other Cobra. It certainly sounds like one."
Just then the Osprey dipped and moved to the south and stopped just past the group of Korlani in the parking lot. They were trying to shield themselves from the rotor blast and weren't having an easy time of it.
I could see the ladies had their aircraft pointed to the south and they just hovered. As we looked to the south, we saw the Cobra come over the trees in a classic attack.
Deb was manning the guns and she fired a short burst ahead of the Cobra, leaving no room for misunderstanding they needed to stop any attack.
If Cobras could skid to a stop, they would have left a trail of black rubber across the sky.
Mike took off at a dead run to the spot where the Osprey was hovering and ran out in front of them. He was waving his hands over his head to get the Cobra crew to stand down.
"Is this going to be a problem?" asked Bregginzi.
"I hope not."
Just then Michelle took off toward Mike and despite my rather stern command for her to come back, she ignored me. Definitely won't be military material.
Then Chessi chased after her, again, despite her father yelling at her to stop. Then the king said something that would have brought a laugh from me, if the situation weren't so dire.
"Women," he said.
Both of them ran under the Osprey and up to where Mike was standing, waving the Cobra off. When they stepped in front of him, he tried to grab both of them and put them behind him, but they weren't having any of that. They wrestled themselves free of his grasp and stood there, staring down whoever was in the Cobra.
Mike just shook his head and pointed to the ground, indicating he wanted them to land. After a couple of seconds, the Cobra dropped to the pavement and settled. There were two men in the Cobra and they began unstrapping themselves and climbing out of the chopper.
Mike started walking to them, but stopped and told the two girls to go back to where the king and I were standing. This time he didn't take any back talk from them and they started back to us. Reluctantly.
As Mike walked to the two pilots, the ladies moved the Osprey back to their original spot and I could hear them shutting the engines down. As quiet began to take over, it was a pleasure to be able to talk without yelling.
"That was a pretty dumb thing to do," said to the two girls as they walked back up to us.
Chessi looked at me with defiance and then at her father.
"He speaks the truth. When I tell your mother what you did, she will not be happy."
"Oh papa, please don't tell her!"
"Are you going to listen to me from now on?"
"Yes papa."
He looked at me and smiled and said, "I'll believe that when I see it."
About that time, Mike and the two pilots walked up and Deb and Vicki joined us. The Cobra pilots looked at them and one of them asked, "You were ready to shoot us down?"
"If you had fired one shot," said Deb, "I would have blown you out of the sky."
He looked at Mike and said, "Tough ladies."
"The toughest."
Mike turned and said, "Boss, this is Deke Jackson and Morgan Taylor. I knew them from back in my Spec Ops days."
"Gentlemen, it's good to have you here and it's great this didn't turn out the way it could have. Let me introduce the two of you to Bregginzi, the king of the Korlani."
He stepped forward and held out his clawed hand and it was obvious they had never come this close to a Korlani that wasn't looking to kill them. After a few seconds hesitation, Deke reached out and shook hands and Morgan followed.
I heard a little foot stamp next to me.
"Oh, and this is Chessi, the king's daughter. She is looking to be the ambassador between our peoples."
Chessi started to smile and then frowned. She looked at Michelle.
"What's an ambassador?"
Michelle leaned down and said, "It's a person that will try to get our two peoples to live together as friends."
"Oh, I can do that."
She shook their hands and stood back, pressing herself back against Michelle, who put her hands on the girl's shoulders. An action that was not lost on the king.
I spoke up, looking Bregginzi, "We need to get out of this sun, because I can see it's making your eyes uncomfortable. I'd like to sit and talk for a little while."
The king agreed and we headed for the lab building. While all of this had been going on, the guards had already herded the rebels through the portal and the only ones left were the king and his guards.
When we walked into the building, the portal was still active and I could feel the electricity in the air. The hairs on my arm were standing up. A couple of guards came through the portal and relieved those that were guarding the king. He leaned over and said something to one of them and they walked back through the portal.
We found a couple of tables in an open space with a few chairs around them. After pushing the tables together we all sat down, ready to figure out how to get the fighting to stop.
"We can help with that," said Bregginzi. "The rebels from our world are going to be scattered all across yours and they will need to be found and taken back to ours."
"Well, like I said, I don’t speak for this land or the entire world. But, we do have a way to get in touch with people around the world and hopefully we can come up with a plan that works for both sides."
"The hardest part of this plan, whatever it may be, will be to reach out to the rest of your people and let them know of it."
"That is correct."
Bregginzi looked at me and said, "Nothing worth having comes easy."
Just then I caught some movement at the portal and looked up at it. I wasn’t the only one to see it. Chessi saw it and jumped up from her chair so fast it went flying backwards as she ran around the table.
"Mama!"
The queen of the Korlani had arrived with four of her own guards and Chessi made a beeline for her. The queen scooped her up in her arms and gave her a bear hug.
For the first time, I saw tears running down the face of a Korlani, as the queen wept over the safety of her child.
Bregginzi stood up and turned to her and bowed.
"My queen, we have friends here."
She went to say something in their own tongue, but realized her mate had spoken in our language for our benefit.
"We are in your debt," she said.
Chessi whispered something to her and she was put down. Then, the ambassador of the Korlani took her around the table and introduced her to each person there. She made sure to save Michelle for last.
"And mama, this is my best friend, Michelle. She has taken very good care of me and protected me. Michelle, this is my mother, Shawree."
Michelle held out her hand and said, "It is a pleasure to meet the mother of such a fine, young woman."
"The pleasure is mine, Michelle. Whoever protects my child is a great friend of the Korlani."
Then, Shawree turned to me and said, "We have brought something back to you and we must decide what to do with this."
I wasn’t quite sure what to say, but she motioned to one of the guards, who walked back to the portal and stepped about halfway through. Then he stepped back out, pulling a man who was tied at the wrists and looking like he wanted to be anywhere, but here.
I walked over to him and looked him in the eyes.
"Welcome home. We have a lot to catch up on, Dr. Jordan."
