Chapter 1952 - A WAR FROM FAR AWAY STARS

Rick Thomas locked up the double doors on the old barn he used as a garage to run his automotive repair business. He had just finished putting four new tires on the car belonging to Karen Jansen, a girl whom he went to high school with. She is a single mom with one child, working as a nurse at the local health center in the small community they lived in. Rick as usual only charged her for the cost of the parts, he never charged anything for the labor.

He walked up the short dirt driveway to the front porch, tagging along with him is one golden retriever which he named Rommel and one black Labrador retriever he named Patton. Rick enjoyed history, mainly World War Two, mostly because of all the stories his late grandfather had told him about his experiences during the war. They enter the house which, along with the barn and the old farm land he inherited from his grandparents after his they both passed away.

He turned on the hot water at the kitchen sink washing all of the dirt and grime off his hands from a days work. Then he opened the refrigerator and pulled out everything he needed to make a quick supper for himself. Setting a jar of mayonnaise, a deli package of roast beef, a jar of polish dill pickles, some spicy horseradish flavored mustard, some lettuce and tomato slices kept fresh in a plastic container. While making his sandwich he tossed meat to the two dogs, then he placed the completed sandwich on a paper plate, a large pickle and he got a handful of chips out of a bag that was on the counter.

Rick grabbed a couple of beer bottles from the fridge and grabbed the plate from the counter, then the three companions head back outside onto the porch. Rick sits in an old rocking chair that used to belong to his grandfather, he sets the plate on his lap, sets the beers down on a small table next to the chair, also on the table is a small radio. He turns it on and it is already tuned into the New York Mets, his and his grandfather's a favorite baseball team. Even though he had cable, he enjoyed sitting in the cool night air and listening to the radio announcers paint a vivid picture of the action going on at the ballpark.

Rick had about half his sandwich gone and was starting on his second beer when he hears what he thinks at first is a rumble of thunder. Yet looking up at the night sky it is full of stars and perfectly clear, the rumbling continues to get louder and louder. Then he sees a bright orange glow falling from the sky toward one of the abandoned fields.

The two dogs begin to howl and bark as the sound reaches deafening proportions, even their master has to cover his ears as they watch whatever is falling from night sky. They hear the object crash with a loud thud and then nothing.

"Wow boys I wonder if that was a meteor of some kind?" Rick asked his two dogs. "Let's go for a ride and see if we can find it."

The two dogs followed their master off of the porch and he pulled the back lift gate down for them so they could get into the back. He put the lift gate back up and got into the truck, he drove it toward and opening he made in the fence years ago. As they drove into the field, they could see a small fire at the edge of the tree line of forest that bordered the property. As they get closer, Rick can now see now that this was no meteorite, the sleek metal design of something that looked to be about the size of a commercial jet liner.

Yet this looked like no jet liner he had ever saw, and he parked his truck at the edge of the crash site. He walked to the back of the truck and let the two dogs out, then he grabbed the fire extinguisher he kept back there. He put out several small fires as they approached the strange object, Rick stood by its side looking at the lettering, it did not look like any kind of writing he had ever seen.

An opening in the side of the object, provided enough curiosity and temptation for him to venture inside. The two dogs cautiously followed him in as well, they walked down a small corridor that led him to what looked to be a cockpit of some sorts. In the room were four people all of them injured, Rick noticed that they were definitely alien, instead of your normal blonde, brunette or red hair, the people in the cockpit had a light green hair. The hair matched the golden brown skin, and they wore uniforms with different insignias on them as well.

"Well boys they are alive, they need help." He said. "Let's go get the first aid kit out of the truck and see what we can do for them. I'm sure the military or the authorities will be along soon enough to take them away."

He went back out to get the first aid kit and then came back in, he stopped by the first alien he came to. The man was unconscious and had a good sized lump on his forehead. The blood at least was red like ours, thought Rick, then he checked for any other injuries. He found none so he dragged the man outside, figuring the cool night air would be better for him than the acid smokey interior of their spaceship. The next one he checked had a broken arm and several small lacerations on his face, Rick cleaned them up and then he splinted the arm. Carefully he got the man outside in fresh air, then he went in finding one of the aliens was now awake.

Rick stopped and stared into the dark eyes of the man now standing before him, the man slowly reached down toward what looked to be a weapon holstered on his belt. The alien man unsnapped the holster and put his hand on the grip to whatever kind of weapon he was wearing.

"Hey look buddy, I'm just trying to help you and your friends, you can see for yourself they are both outside resting comfortably." Rick said to hope the calm tone of his voice would calm the alien.

"We are a scouting party." The alien said in perfect English. "We mean you no harm, but our ship was sabotaged."

"Well I would feel a little better if you took your hand off of your weapon, I'm only trying to help." Explained Rick.

"I'm Commander Dern'ala of the Royal Teyven Empire, I command the royal fighter squadron and we are currently attached to Grand Admiral Kova'aval and his expeditionary force." He explained. "I will get a medical kit, would take my comrade outside?"

"Sure." Said Rick, he walked over to the last alien lying on the floor, this one was definitely female.

He scooped her up gently and carried her outside, a few moments after he did the man who identified himself as Commander Dern'ala arrived carrying a large pack. The pack was loaded with alien medical devices, he used some sort of scanner on all of his comrades and then the machine told him the best course of treatment.

"Anything I can do to help you Commander?" Rick asked.

"Actually you have done quite well in stabilizing their wounds and getting them out in the fresh air was a big help." Replied the Commander.

"I'm Rick Thomas, this is my land you guys crashed on, over there on the ground next to your friends are my dogs, the yellow one is named Rommel and the black one is named Patton." Rick said introducing himself and his two companions.

"What sort of animals do you call them?" Asked the commander as he bent over the female injecting her in the arm with a kind of shot.

"They are called dogs." He answered. "A common pets among those of us on our planet."

"Well my comrades are all members of my squadron, the first man you took out is Lieutenant Senior Grade Dela' ol, he is also my flight engineer when we take a scout ship. The other man is Sarla' ala, my brother and a junior lieutenant, he broke mothers' heart when he joined the service, she wanted him to be a doctor. The last member is pilot third class Iza'ell she is fresh out of our military academy, but this was her first mission." The commander explained.

"I'm surprised the authorities or the military are not here yet" Rick stated.

"They probably are not aware of us, and we jam all of your tracking technology rather easily." The Commander replied.

"Well you better get some rest, we'll look after you and your friends for the night, then we can figure out what to do in the morning." Said Rick

"Rick, thank you." Said the alien commander.

"No problem, I'm going to drive down to my house, I will bring back blankets and water." He said. "Do you want to come with me, make sure I don't turn you in or take off to get the police?"

"No, I trust you, in our culture first impressions tell us a lot about a person, despite the possible danger you helped us, when you could have called your authorities. I sense that you could be a good friend to the people of the Teyven Empire." The commander explained kneeling down to pet Rommel on the head.

"All right I will be back soon." Said Rick getting into his truck.

He drove back to the house he ran in and got all of the blankets out of the linen closet, then he filled a big plastic cooler with water, he loaded all of this in the truck. Then he went back in and got some cups for the water, some beef jerky and some dog treats. He drove back to the crash site quickly, once they got everyone situated for the night the Commander laid down and went fast asleep.

Rick stayed up most of the night eating jerky and giving treats to the dogs, and it was near dawn when he dozed off. The medical sensor started to emit a loud beeping sound, the Commander and Rick both responded to it. It was for the young female, her breathing became erratic and blood pressure was starting to drop.

"What's wrong with her?" Asked Rick.

"Internal bleeding." Said the Commander. "This device can tell you and show you how to treat someone, and her injuries are too difficult for someone with medical training to treat."

"You trust me Commander?" Rick asked.

"Yes Rick." The Commander said not looking up from his injured comrade.

"Then I will be back with someone I've known most of my life, who could possibly help her." He explained.

"If this is someone you trust, then we will trust them too." Said the Commander.

"Keep an eye on her I'll hurry back." Rick said running for his truck.

Rick sped out of the field and drove down the driveway to the main road, he sped quickly into town until he reached the house of Karen's parents. She and her young son lived there with them, they looked after her child while she worked.

Rick pounded on the door frantically, finally Karen came to the door, still in her pajamas, she pulled back the curtin to see it was Rick standing on the front porch.

"Ricks do, and you know what time it is." She said yawning as she opened the door.

"Karen, no time to explain I need your help." He said anxiously.

"Is someone hurt?" She asked.

"Yes and it's bad." He said.

"I'll go get dressed and grab my bag." She said to stretch her arms and then yawning.

"No time for that, we need to go now!" Rick said reaching down and running out with her bag.

"What the hell!" She said aloud. "Mom, Dad, I need to go with Rick, some kind of accident."

She ran out and got into the passenger side of his truck, she did not even get a chance to put her seatbelt on as he sped away. They drove down the main road and tore up Rick's driveway and through the field. Along the way Rick explained what happened last night and how this young female alien was hurt bad. When they pulled up to the crash site, they saw all three male aliens tending to the young female, the two dogs also anxiously watching them try to help her.

"She's awake now, so are the rest." Shouted the commander.

Karen pushed her way to the young woman side and opened up her tunic, they could see the discoloring of her skin where she was bleeding internally. Karen frowned as she looked over the injury, then took her stethoscope and listened to her.

"Rick this is not good she is bleeding badly inside, it is filling her lungs, she needs a surgeon, not a nurse." Karen explained.

"This device can guide an experienced medical person through any procedure." Said the Commander. "As her commanding officer, I give you permission to try, even if you fail we will be forever grateful if you try to help her."

"We can't do it here, get her into the back of the truck, let's get her down to the house, slow and careful guys, Rick drive us down there really slow too." She said

Karen rode in the back with the Commander and the alien device while the other two rode in the cab with Rick. The dogs ran alongside the truck following it to the house, when they got there they got the young woman out, Rick led them upstairs to his grandparents room. Karen washed up with soap and hot water, she went into the room. She stopped and read the device, what and amazing device she thought, and it was in English too.

"Do you speak the same language as us?" She asked.

"No we have been studying your planet for several years, and my flight engineer was able to reprogram it from our language banks on our ship." Explained the Commander.

"First we need to run a transfusion, are any of you the same blood type and she?" asked Karen.

"I'm." Said the man whom the Commander said was his brother, Sarla'ala.

"Good let's see your arm." Karen said. "Great veins."

She pulled a needle from her bag and pushed it into his vein, then took out a second needle and put it in the young woman arm. She ran a tube between the two and then opened the flow of blood. The scanner now showed her a diagram of the woman body, showing her the best place to make the incision. Karen pulled out a scalpel and began to cut, scanner pointed out bleeder after bleeder to her. Karen repaired the bleeding, then she found the small hole in the lung, the scanner told her how to fix that as well. Then the scanner told her everything was under control, and showed her the best way to stitch up the patient.

"You two help your friend to Rick's room so he can lie down." She ordered.

"Is she going to be all right?" asked Sarla'ala.

"She is stable, but she is not out of the woods yet. I will go back into town, I will take a few days off from work and come back out here to stay and take care all of your wounds. Commander can, but I take your scanning device with me, it apparently has all of your injuries recorded and necessary items I need to treat everyone properly." She explained going into the bathroom to wash again.

"Yes by all means." Said the Commander.

"I fixed your car last night, and I will walk you to the barn." Said Rick.

The two of them walked to the barn not saying anything to each other, Rick unlocked the door and turned on the lights. Karen followed him and went over to her car, she opened the door and popped the trunk. She had a gym bag in the back with some clothes she wore when she worked out at the gym.

"Turn around" She said.

Rick did as he was told and turned around, he blushed when he could still see her reflection in the mirror. He watched as she slowly unbuttoned her blood soaked pajama top, her grapefruit sized naked breasts standing firmly. She put on a tee shirt to cover them up, then she slid her pajama bottoms off. She was wearing a thong, and he admired her muscular shapely legs and the round curves of her ass.

"Okay you can turn around now." She was done pulling up her shorts.

"Thank you for all of your help." He said softly to her.

"I think we are in for a really exciting adventure with all that has happened last night and today." She said. "I can't believe I performed surgery on someone with the help of this thing."

"I believed in you, which is why I chose to come get you to help these people, trust seems to be a big thing with them. They seem to trust me, so they were willing to trust you." He explained.

"You such a brave, good, decent person Rick" She said to give him a big hug, then kissing him on the cheek. "You risked your life to help, to help aliens of all things, now what do we do?"

"Help them get better, either fix their ship or contact their fleet they said they had outside our solar system so they can be rescued. Are you all right with keeping this a secret?" He asked still hugging her not wanting to let her go.

"Yes, like I said this is going to be an exciting adventure, we don't get much of that in this old town." She said. "I will try to get back as soon as I can."

She broke the hug and Rick opened her car door for her, she got into the car and put her seatbelt on. Karen turned the engine over and she reached out to shut the door, but Rick held it open still.

"Uh, Karen I would just like to say." He said pausing.

"What." She answered looking up at him with her big green eyes.

Rick loved her, he loved the way her hair smelled when he just got that hug from her, the way her skin feels against his. He loved her beautiful face, her smile that lights up his entire soul, her beautiful green eyes. He had loved since high school, but he never acted on it, she left for school, moved to the city and ended up falling in love with some loser musician who left her to raise their son with no child support. He wanted to tell her loved her, that he needed her, he wanted her, yet once again he could not work up the courage to do so.

"Uh, thanks again and I will fix the spare room up for you." He said to close the door.

She rolled down the window. "Oh okay."

With that she drove out of the barn and down the driveway to the main road, even though she didn't show it, she was upset with him. She too loved him all through high school, she felt he was too immature to see that or he wasn't interested. So she moved away to become a nurse and then she moved to the city making the mistake of getting a loser boyfriend. Her young son was not a mistake of course, then she made the decision to move home.

Sure enough Rick Thomas was still here, still handsome and athletic, still with his friendly and sweet personality. Still here in the small town he was born in, the small town that is responsible for making him the good man he is today.

'I'm right here Rick, I need you, I wish you could see that' She thought

She put Rick out of her mind for while, she needed to think while driving home on some kind of excuse for why she will have to leave for a couple of days. She had a lot of vacation time at work she never used, so work would not be a problem, she had to find an excuse for her parents and her young son.Rick went back to the house after Karen had left to check on his new house guests, he arrived to find that the other men had gone to sleep and the Commander was watching over Iza'ell. She was resting comfortably in his grandparents bed, if they were still alive today they would never believe that aliens were on their old farm.

"Commander Dern'ala when the others are awake and strong enough, I would like to drive my tow truck up the crash see if we can get that ship of yours down to my garage. Maybe we will be able to get it fixed up enough to either get off the Earth or call your people." Rick explained in a low tone so not to disturb Iza'ell

"Thank you Rick, which sounds like a good idea, you can also call me Dern for now on the last part of the name is more formality than anything and calling me Commander when I do not command you are not right either." Explained Dern'ala

"Okay. So Dern you never did say what brings you and your people to our world, you don't plan on conquering us or anything?" Asked Rick nervously.

"No days of conquest ended a hundred years ago, in fact our empire was on the verge of becoming a republic before the war happened." Replied Dern. "I can show you, give me a moment to set the medical device to warn us if anything changes in Iza'ell."

Dern'ala set the medical device with a few pushes of the buttons on it and then went left the bedroom. Rick followed the alien man down the stairs and the two of them ended up in the kitchen where they sat down at the table. Dern'ala pulled another device similar to the medical device out of a large pocket on his pants. When he turned the device on a holographic image appeared several inches above it.

"The area in red represents the Teyven Empire, but my grandfather Emperor Dewar'ala fought the last great war against our enemies bringing the Empire to its current size. With our enemies subdued the Empire flourished and the people prospered. Our resources were going from war to research and exploration, then we found your world. My grandfather was fascinated by it, especially your United States, that is what gave him the idea to start seceding his power and giving it to the worlds of the empire. He wanted every world, every colony and every citizen in the empire to have a voice, a say in its future. Unfortunately there were several who opposed the idea, mainly my father Delag'ala, he went to our three former enemies and gave them military secrets and technology. Also, Admiral Dega'tal he too wanted the empire to go back to its former ways of being a military power. Then we were struck from three different sides, first came our ape like enemies the Goronites, our fleets were taken by surprise when they attacked. Then the insectoid race the Zentoids attacked, followed by the dreaded race of humanoids known as the Cyberlords, they were the ones who were able to use our technology the best. Our fleets were spread pretty thin across the empire when my father struck, but he was secretly building a large battle fleet near unexplored space. Our fleets were defeated within a few weeks, the only thing that remained was the Emperors fleet that surrounded our home world Teyven Prime." "Wow so how did you escape?" Asked Rick who was in total awe of the story.

"My grandfather ordered Grand Admiral Kova'aval to fight our way out of the system, he told us to travel in one direction and then come to your system. He feels your world is ready to join the intergalactic community and could help us defeat our enemies." Explained Dern'ala.

"I don't know about that, the Earth as a whole can be pretty messed up, we fight amongst ourselves, we have terrorism, hunger and famine, diseases like AIDS." Rick explained.

"This would be a great opportunity for your world, we are offering you space and technology that would help your world cure disease, feed those who starve and maybe appease those who want to strike terror into their fellow man." Dern'ala explained to Rick. "Do you recognize this?"

Dern'ala pressed a button on the device and what looked to be a small moon appeared floating above it. Rick shook his head no and the Commander clicked the device back off.

"That is a moon in your solar system belonging to the planet you call Jupiter, under its ice is a ship my grandfather called a Grand Dreadnought. With this ship and the ship's us already have, as well as the ones we hope to get our new human allies to build we should be able to reclaim our Empire and free our people." Dern'ala explained the whole magnificent plan. "Well if you want to address the world, I suggest you go to the United Nations in New York City, representatives from every world government are there." Said Rick.

"We will need an ambassador, do you think you could go with us, as our ambassador Rick?" Asked Dern'ala.

"Dern I'm just a small town guy earning a modest living as a mechanic, and I have no experience in politics." Rick replied shocked that the Teyven would consider him for such a position.

"Rick my great great great-grandfather was just a farmer when led a revolt that brought down a tyrannical government on our home world. Even simple men can go on to do great things, you can do great things, you have never tried." Said Dern'ala.

"All right I will do it, at least until you find someone better to fill my place." He said getting up from the chair to go to the refrigerator and get out a pitcher of lemonade.

He poured them a couple of tall cold glasses of lemonade and sat back down with his new friend. Dern'ala was grateful for the drink after all of the talking he had done to explain why they had to escape from the Teyven Empire.

"So do you have any other family left behind?" Asked Rick.

"My grandfather is dead, executed by my father, yes I do, I hope they are in hiding, my father is greatly upset with me for not siding with him in his takeover of the empire." Dern'ala replied. "I have a wife and three children they live on a small plantation outside the main city of the home world."

Dern'ala reached into his pocket and showed Rick a picture of a very beautiful woman, even if she is an alien. Then he showed him a picture of three children two boys and one cute little girl holding a doll.

"Nice." Rick said politely.

"So why have you not professed your love for the lady Karen who came here to help Iza'ell?" Dern'ala asked watching Rick almost jumps out of his seat in surprise.

"I don't, I mean how the hells do you know I love her?" He stammered.

"Your eyes watch her every move, your face lights up brighter than the brightest star, your hands get a slight tremble when she is near you and your palms get sweaty causing you to wipe them on your clothes from time to time." Explained Dern'ala. "I had the same problem when first met my wife as well, in a case of true love like mine and my wife's you never get over those first feelings." "I do love her, and I just cannot find the right time or words to say it to her." He replied looking down at his glass of lemonade.

"Courage my friend, I can find the courage to fly my fight craft into a battle with fifty to one odd against me, yet when I first met my wife I could not find the courage at first to even talk to her." Dern'ala explained.

"How did find the courage?" Rick asked.

"My grandfather told me that if there is something you want, something you desire more than anything in the universe, then you have to find the courageous to make it yours." Dern'ala replied.

A knock at the front door, Rick got up to see who it was, sure enough it was Karen carrying with her a medical bag and a large gym bag. Rick opened the door for her and took the large gym bag from her placing it over his shoulder.

"How is our patient doing?" Asked Karen.

"Sleeping, I have an air mattress out in the garage I use for camping, I will blow it up for you so you can sleep in the same room as Iza'ell." He said to watch her head up the stairs.

"That would be great thanks Rick." She shouted back.

Rick set the bag down and told Dern'ala he would be back in a few minutes, Dern'ala took the time to walk around the downstairs of the home. He stopped and looked at every picture that hung on the wall, some he figured were family related to Rick due to the resemblance. The house reminded him of his own home back on Teyven, and everything was neat and uniformed. Rick came in carrying with him, and the inflated air mattress, he carried the mattress and the gym bag upstairs so Karen had a place lie down. "I'll be out in the garage." He said running down the stairs. "Let me know when the others are awake, then we will go get your craft and bring back here."

"Good Rick, I will rest for a while." Dern'ala replied.

Rick ran out the door and down the steps, only one dog followed him out the screen door on the front porch, the one called Rommel the other followed Dern'ala to the couch. He lied down on the couch and stroked the dog's head for several long moments. We really need creatures like these back on Teyven he thought, they are so noble and relaxing. Then he too fell asleep on the couch, but several hours later the other members of his crew woke him up.

"Commander we are awake now." Dela'ol said to wake him.

"Good we must go find Rick, he says he has a way of bringing the ship from where we crashed to his garage so we can begin repairs." Said Dern'ala wiping the sleep from his eyes.

The three of them with Rommel following they left the house, they went for the barn that Rick used for a garage. They found Rick who brought them around to the back where he showed them the tow truck and the flat bed wrecker. He told them his plan, pulled the vessel out of the small crater with the tow truck and then pull it up onto the bed of the flatbed wrecker. The four they made out to the wreck and everything went as planned, before sunset they had the wrecked vessel in the barn. The three aliens went to work immediately assessing the damage, Dern'ala declared that communications will be the first thing they should work on. Rick left them to their work and went back up to the house to make dinner, he fired up his grill then went in to get some steaks he pulled out of the freezer earlier. Karen left her stable patient long enough to whip up some pasta salad and baked several potatoes for everyone. When all of the food was done, they place it all on the picnic table in back of the house, Rick turned on the insect repellent torches, Karen found a soft rock station for the radio, then Rick went down to get the three aliens. After dinner Karen went back upstairs to check on her patient, who now was awake. The young woman was shocked at first, then she realized that Karen meant her no harm.

"Who are you?" Asked the young woman.

"I'm Karen, you must be Iza'ell, your commander is very worried about you." She told the young woman trying not to alarm her.

"The commander, I must speak to him at once." Said the young woman.

"I will go get him." Karen replied.

"Do not let the others know I'm awake, not yet." She asked her.

"Okay I will only get the commander and let him know." Said Karen leaving the room. "Iza" Said Commander Dern as he entered the room.

"Sir, I know who sabotaged our mission, yet I feel you will not believe me." She said.

"Tell me and I will tell you if I believe you or not." Said Dern'ala

"Your brother is the traitor, he sabotaged the ship, he wants our mission to fail." She told her commander.

"Iza you need to relax." Said Karen nervously watching the medical device as it showed her heart rate elevated.

"What proofs do you have, making accusations against a senior officer and a member of the royal family of Teyven can result in court martial from the fleet." Explained Dern'ala with no real outward change in his emotion or in his tone of voice.

"Before we left the flagship him on board in the engineering section when I came on board to do one last rundown of our flight course. He was carrying a tool box, he claimed he was making some adjustments to the weapons system." She said. "Then when we entered Earth's orbit he pulled a device from his pocket, detonating the bomb he planted, he is loyal to your father not your grandfather." "Karen I want you to give my brother a sedative, one strong enough to put him out for hours, with the help of Dela'ol we will try and access the bridge flight recorder. We will see if her story matches, what she is saying is feasible enough to be true." The commander turned to look out the window shaking his head. "You will find that right sedative in the Teyven medical bag, and the medical device can tell you much to set the shot at to put him out."

With that he turned and left the room, Karen was able to get Iza to eat a little food and then a young woman went back to sleep. Using the excuse that his brother wanted him to get some good nights sleep for a long day work tomorrow. He accepted the reasoning behind the suggestion and allowed her to sedate him. Once he was asleep, Karen went downstairs, she went out onto the porch to find Rick staring up at the stars. The two dogs were lying down, both of them asleep, Karen stood next to him rubbing her bare arms. She wore a loose-fitting tank top and a pair of jean shorts when she came back to the farm this morning. Now the cool summer nights' air was causing her sensitive nipples to strain against the fabric of her shirt and bra.

"Sure is cool tonight." She said while trying to get closer to him for warmth.

Rick turned around and opened the front door, he reached into the house and pulled a nice crocheted shawl off of the coat rack that belonged to his grandmother. He came back outside and wrapped it around her, then he stood behind her wrapping his arms around her. She seemed to melt against his body, she could feel his warmth, his strong tender touch, the strength of his arms as he pulled her against him.

"It sure is beautiful tonight, Karen there is something I need to say to you and I don't want you to interrupt me. I love you, I loved you all throughout high school, I loved you after you left and I still love you now that your back. You are beautiful and such a beautiful person, I love being around you, being so close to you." He said feeling like someone lifted a five-ton boulder off of his chest.

She turned around in his arms, she buried her face against his and she was now sobbing into his chest. Rick instinctively put his arms up around her back and began to rub it, doing his best to calm her down.

"Rick I've waited so long to hear you say those words to me, and I love you too." She sobbed and sniffed.

Rick broke the embrace only to reach down and take her face in both hands, he gently reached up and wiped away her tears. Then he looked down into her beautiful eyes as they sparkled with lust, leaned his head down and kissed her full on the lips. The two of them stood kissing, hugging laughing, crying for several long minutes when they interrupted by Dern'ala and Dela'ol. Dern smiled at Rick, realizing what had just happened, happy for his new friends to find each other finally. Then he broke the news to them that they had just finished reviewing the flight recorder and they found what Iza had said was true. "My brother is the traitor, but he is loyal to my father." Commander Dern'ala said still showing no emotion in his voice.

"We also went through the gear his brother brought on board, we found a homing beacon, I don't know if has the range to give our location away or not. Also it had correspondences that were between him and his father months before the attack. The little traitor knew about the attack's months before they even happened." Dela said with rage in his voice.

"In the morning I will execute him." Said Dern'ala bluntly.

"You can't execute him, can't we just tie him up or something?" Karen pleaded.

"Karen if he was a regular citizen we could, but he is not a regular citizen, one he is of royal blood and he betrayed that. Secondly he is a soldier sworn to defend the Empire, to betray either one is punishable by death. If I do not do it then it falls upon Dela to do it, if he does not when we get back to the ship the Grand Admiral can execute us all for failure to carry out our duty." Explained Dern. "Now if you will excuse me, I will pray over my brother while he sleeps, then sit with him for a while remembering happier younger times. Good night."

Dern and Dela left the porch leaving Karen and Rick alone again with the dogs, both of them realized that there would be no talking them out of doing this. They grew tired of standing, so they retired to the porch swing, Karen finally fell asleep in his arms. So he carefully swooped her up and carried up the stairs. He layed her down on the air mattress, covered her with a blanket, he gave her a peck on her forehead and whispered he loved her. Then he left the room, and he passed his room where Dern was on his knees praying and crying over his sedated brother. Rick went downstairs to find Dela sitting in the dark living room, Rick did not turn on the light as he went and laid down on the couch. He picked up the remote from the coffee table and turned on the television. Dela jumped up and looked at the screen, he had never seen Earth television before, he wanted Rick to explain it to him. Rick showed him how to work the remote and told he to have fun with watching, he wanted to get to sleep. Dela stayed up most of the night watching television, while poor Rick slept a long uncomfortable sleep on the couch.

Sarla'ala was still asleep when Derna'ala and Dela'ol came for him, they carried him out of the house while everyone else was asleep. They took him out to the woods near the crash site and tied him standing up to a tree. An hour later he awoke, confused and dazed by the surroundings then he saw his brother standing before him. Suddenly his brother slapped him hard across the face, and the young man could taste blood from the corner of his lip.

"How long have you known brother?" Asked Sarla'ala with anger in his voice.

"Yesterday evening after dinner." Came the reply, but Sarla'ala could feel the coldness of his brothers stare.

"Father was right about you, your loyalty to our grandfather will prove to be your undoing. Are you really this willing to let go of your station in life, so that others beneath you can feel as if they are our equals? Do you think our populace has the education, the will, the desire to govern as member of royalty or of the elite classes?" Sarla'ala gave them the same speech almost word for word their father had given their grandfather a month before he had overthrown the empire along with their enemies.

"Sarla'ala you have been found guilty to high crime of treason against the empire, the penalty for such a crime is death. Dela'ol your weapon please." Derna'ala gave his own brother his death sentence and then stuck his hand out for Dela'ola to give him his energy gun.

Dela'ola handed him the energy gun, Derna'ala took the gun and set the setting to it's highest level kills, if you used it long enough on the same target it would dissolve it. Sarla'ala looked at his brother in horror, but he did not think his brother would actually go through with the sentence. Yet something about the look in his brothers eyes told him that he would, the young man wished his assignation attempt went according to plan. The bomb was meant to make the ship crash, but he was supposed to be able to escape out an escape pod before it did.

"Goodbye Brother" Derna'ala said feeling remorse at what he was about to do. "I thought we would lead our people into a new age together."

"When Father's fleet catches up to the Grand Admiral's fleet you will be destroyed, this primitive world enslaved and the galaxy will tremble at the mention of the Teyven Empire once again." Tears were now rolling down his brothers face as he gave his final speech.

Without anything further to say Derna'ala squeezed the trigger, the energy beam lashed out and struck his brother in the chest, a few seconds the young man was dead. A minute later the body was burned until it was nothing but a pile of ash afterwards.

"Let's get back to the shuttle, and the battery may be charged enough for us to activate the communications system." Said Derna'ala handing the energy weapon back to Dela'ola

Meanwhile back at the farmhouse Rick woke up on the couch with Karen in his arms, he could smell the scent of blueberries in her hair. He remembered they professed their love for each other last night, then fell asleep on the couch watching the late movie. He leaned his head forward and breathed in the scent of her fragrant shampoo, then held her tightly to him.

"Mmm" She moaned.

"Good mornings sleepy head." He whispered smiling down at her pretty face.

"Good morning." She smiled back then she slid herself up enough to kiss him on the lips.

They held the kiss for a few minutes then they broke it off, the two of them just lay on the couch looking at each other. Rick pulled her up until her whole body was lying on top of him, then the two of them engaged into a more passionate kiss. He gently ran his hands up her back caressing her soft skin, Karen felt like she was going to melt into his arms forever. Yet she reluctantly broke the kiss off, and Rick looked at her with surprise and disappointment.

"The time is not right, not yet." She whispered.

"I understand." He whispered back.

"I have to check my patient, then I have to go back into town and check on Bryan, then I will try to get back out here." She explained.

"Why don't you bring Bryan out here, he's a great kid, I'm sure he would love to spend the summer out here?" Rick suggested.

"I don't know Rick, one he would probably be in the way and two we shouldn't take things too fast." She said pulling herself up off of him to where she was now standing.

"Well I think he will be just fine, for one Bryan and I are just like this." He said holding up two fingers and crossing them. "Secondly the kid has only dropped subtle hints for us to get together since you've moved back to town. Bring him out, tell him I need someone to help me with the dogs and that I have a big surprise for him."

"All right I'll bring him out." She said to put her hands on her hips. "Now get up and give me a kiss so I can go check in on Iza'ell."

Rick stood up and kissed her again on the lips, the two of them held each other for a few moments and then exchanged love you's. Rick watched her push away from him and went back upstairs to check on Iza'ell. After a few minutes she was back downstairs, the two of them exchanged kisses and love you Again and she was off for town.

Rick watched her drive off from his front porch, then he noticed the doors were open to the barn. He stepped down off of the porch and walked to the barn, the dogs who were laying on the front lawn followed their master.

"Rick the Grand Admiral is on his with a shuttle and he wants to meet you!" Dela'ola shouted enthusiastically from the wrecked shuttle.

"Wow how long do we have for him to get here?" Asked Rick.

"Well my squadron is flying his escort and piloting his shuttle, considering the way they fly, I would say any minute now." Said Derna'ala.

"Any minute!" Rick exclaimed.

Suddenly four objects the size of earth style fighter jets swooped over the barn, the noise was so deafening that is made the dogs howl. Then a shuttle similar to the size of the one that wrecked was now coming in for a landing, right in front of the barn. Rick stepped outside and saw the four smaller crafts landed in the field behind the barn, he saw four figures in flight suits get out of them.

Then the shuttle opened up and a ramp came down from it, first a half dozen figures come running out armed with energy rifles and dressed as combat soldiers. Then one of the most menacing figures Rick had ever seen in his entire life come down the ramp. The man was large by any standards whether he was from earth or an alien from the Teyven empire.

The man had a patch over one eye, the patch had five gold stars embroidered onto it, each star had some kind of gem attached to it. His head was shaved bald, a large scar on the right side of it, his face looked rough and worn. Then Rick noticed as he walked toward the barn that his nose was missing half of it, the man only had one nostril. Rick always thought he was a very big guy at around six two and weighing two hundred pounds, lean and all muscle. This guy coming toward him had to be five or six inches taller, probably weighed more than three hundred pounds, he was definitely huge.

"Grand Admirals thank you for coming sir." Said Derna'ala running out to salute him then shake what appeared to be a mechanical arm.

"Commander Derna'ala, Lieutenant Dela'ola, glad to see you are alive and well" The man said in a thunderous voice. "You must be Rick, I'm Grand Admiral Kova'aval, thank you for taking care of people under my command and a member of the royal family I have proudly served for the last fifty years."

"You're welcome." Rick said in awe of the man.

"So your brother is the traitor, damn." Spat the old grand admiral.

"Yes sir, I most unfortunate loss." Said Derna'ala looking down at the ground.

"Oh the senior members of your squadron are here as well." The grand admiral said as the four fighter pilots walked up behind him.

"Rick going from right too left we have my adjutant, Adjutant Commander Sekla'ara, Lieutenant Senior Grade Pevet'ele, Lieutenant Senior Grade Kora'ele and Lieutenant Dega'ana. They have served with me for the past eight years, everyone this is our new friend and our ambassador Rick Thomas" Announced Derna'ala.

Everyone nodded in acknowledgment and then the small group started to go into the barn, the dogs cautiously sniffed at the grand admiral. The large old man laughed when one of them sniffed with its cold wet nose at his robotic arm.

"What are these beasts?" He said in a surprisingly quiet tone.

"They are dogs, the yellow one is named Rommel and the black one is named Patton, besides being a mechanic, I'm sort of a history buff as well." Explained Rick.

"Naming your pets after great figures in your history, is that an honor?" Asked the Grand Admiral.

"Depends on the person, I guess." Said Rick.

"Someday you will have to name one of these dog creatures after me." Laughed the Grand Admiral.

"Did you find the dreadnought?" Asked Derna'ala trying to get back to business.

"Yes commander it is still intact, under the ice." Replied Sekla'ara. "It should be easy enough for us to recover."

"Only if its guardians will let US that is." Mumbled Dega'ana.

"Guardians?" Chimed in Dela'ola.

"Under the ice is an ancient race that inhabited the seas of most worlds throughout the universe, now they only live on that moon. They are almost as time itself, they are wise, telepathic and very large, your grandfather in his memoirs said they called themselves the Gumtu." Explained the Grand Admiral. "You must be first petitions' them before retrieving the ship Commander."

"Then if they do let you, you will have to enter the right code, the wrong code will make the maintenance androids switch from their normal maintenance mode to a security mode. They will kill anyone who comes on the ship without entering the proper code first." Explained Sekla'ara.

"Do you know the code Commander?" Asked Kora'ele.

"Only I and the Grand Admiral know it." Replied the commander. "So tonight we will prepare, then we will have a good supper, so you can get to know all of our new friends."

"That's right, and Karen went to town to get her son." Rick said. "She has been taking care of your injured pilot Iza'ell."

"Ah yes the healer, and we will look forward to meeting her and her son." Said the Grand Admiral.

The Grand Admiral, Commander Derna'ala, Adjutant Commander Sekla'ara and Dela'ola went aboard the shuttle to plan for the next day. While Rick and the other set up table outside for a good supper. Rick called Karen and told her they would have guests tonight and asked if she would pick up a lot of food before she came back out to the house. He told her not to worry about money, and he would just call mister Jenkins the local grocery store manager to put it on his credit card.

After he got off the phone they got plenty of tables and chairs, then they went to the woods to find wood. Rick was going to make a large fire, when they got back to the house he checked the gauge on the propane tank and saw that it was full. Just then the horn from Karen's car was blowing as she pulled up the long driveway with a car full of groceries and her son Bryan.

"Wow from the road you can't see any of their ships." She said in awe.

"It's our stealth technology." Explained Pevet'ele.

"Works good." Said Karen.

"Rick are these the aliens mom was talking about, they are so cool." Bryan shouted with glee looking over the aliens with the curiousity of a child.

"Yeah buddy, they are cool." Rick said scooping the child up.

"Mommy says you and her are starting a relationship." The boy told him.

"Yes we are, what do you have to say about that?" Asked the boy.

"All I have to say is what took you so long?" The little boy said and everyone laughed.

Then the four who were in the barn finally emerged, Rick took time introduce everyone and then they all worked on dinner. He and Karen had to do a lot of explaining on what to do, the Grand Admiral had a lot of fun helping Rick cook the burgers and hot dogs on the grill. Even the injured Iza'ell was able to join them for dinner, everyone at the tables got to know each other and talked of happier times.

Rick and Karen learned that Pevet'ele a male Teyven and Kora'ele a female Teyven met when they joined the fleet, fell in love and were actually married by Derna'ala's grandfather. They found out that Sekla'ara was once a former beauty pagent winner before she joined the fleet, she wanted to show she was not just a beauty, the Grand Admiral had decorated her twice for valor.Everyon had interesting tales to tell about themselves and life back in the Teyven Empire and how anxious they were to get back to take it back.

The most surprising thing of the night was the Grand Admiral, Bryan and the dogs, the dogs laid at his feet and Bryan not deterred by appearances sat on the mans lap. He told them stories of when he and Derna'ala's grandfather were very young men fighting in wars side by side. The entire time they were fighter pilots together neither of them had a different wing man, when they both commanded capital ships they were at least in the same fleet.

But not all of the Grand Admiral's stories were of war, he told tales about all the different worlds of the empire. He also told stories about other planets that he led expeditions to over the many years he was in service, before they knew it Bryan had fallen asleep cuddled up against the gruff old Grand Admiral.

"I better get him to bed." Said Karen.

"What handsome young lad, he has your eyes." The Grand Admiral whispered while handing him to her. "Reminds me of my great grand children still in the empire, if they are even still alive."

"Don't talk like that sir, of course they are still alive, we have to keep up hope that all of our loved ones are holding up while waiting for us to return home to save them." Said Iza'ell

"Hold your tongue girl." Said one of the soldiers, Rick could not remember his name.

"Hol your tongue combat specialist Arek'ork, she is right to remind an old soldier that we must never give up hope." Said the Grand Admiral. "Now get that boy off to bed, he will have an exciting day tomorrow."

Karen carried her son inside the house, Rick followed her inside as well, they put him Rick's bed. The dogs either out of force of habit or a need to protect the boy followed as well, they knew he would sleep well tonight.

When they went back outside the soldiers, the pilots, the Commander and the Grand Admiral said their goodnights and went back inside the shuttle. That left Karen and Rick alone outside, Karen started to clean up the mess that was left behind.

"Karen that can wait until morning, do you remember the layout of this property?" He asked.

"It has been a while since I've been out here, so no not really." She replied.

"Well would you like to take a short walk with me?" He asked her extending his hand to her.

"Yes that would be nice." She answered.

Rick grabbed a blanket from the truck that he kept in it for the winter time when he would go deer hunting. Then he led her down a small path just past the barn leading in the opposite direction of the woods. The path went straight up a small hill and when they got to the top they could see the glimmering lights of the town.

"It's very beautiful." Karen sighed.

"Not as beautiful as you are." Rick replied taking her into his warm arms.

The two of them embraced each other and began to kiss passionately, they only stopped long enough for Rick to spread the blanket on the ground. Then they laid upon the blanket and continued to kiss, Rick gently unbuttoned her blouse and then nervously unclasped her bra, Karen could feel the nervous trembles in his fingers as he gently caressed and squeezed her breasts.

"Make love to me." She whispered into his ear.

Rick undid the button of her jean shorts and then he pulled them down off of her, then he pulled her panties down. He pulled down his jeans, then pulled off his shirt, he got between her legs, his cock throbbing with anticipation of entering her.

Gently he positioned his cock at the warm moist entrance of her pussy, and he gently eased himself into her. Karen had not had a lover since before Bryan was born, she almost felt like a virgin again. She pulls Rick down on top of her and they are once again kissing passionately, making love under the stars on hill overlooking the town they grew up in.

Rick slowly began to increase his thrusts, Karen let out several soft moans and then dug her nails into his back when he brought her to her first orgasm of the night. Karen wrapped her legs around him tighter urging him to continue, he does and soon they are both cumming together.

They made love three times that night before they headed back to the farmhouse, once again they fall asleep in each others arms. They would be tired the next day, but it was well worth it to consummate a love that should have happened years ago.The next morning everything from the previous night was cleaned up and the crew was preparing the shuttle for take off. The Grand Admiral ordered the fighters to return to the flagship, seeing how they would not need an escort.

"Well are you ready to go into space and meet your neighbors?" Asked Derna'ala.

"Is it going to be safe?" Asked Karen.

"Trust us Karen's it will be very safe, this is going to be a glorious opportunity for you." The Grand Admiral said from the doorway. "Now get the boy and your fine man so we can get going."

Karen found Rick in the living room, he was helping Bryan tie his sneakers, she watched in silence as Rick fathered to the young boy. Then he mussed up his hair and the two of them turned around to see Karen standing in the foyer waiting for them.

"Mommy!" Shouted the young boy running to his mother.

"Are you ready to meet the Gomtu?" She asked.

"Sure are." He replied. "I dreamed about them last night, there are only three of them left and they talk inside our heads and they are very old and very wise. :

"Everything the Grand Admiral told him last night." Laughed Rick walking over to take Karen into his arms to kiss her.

"I love you" She said giving him one last peck.

"I love you too." He said to hold her hand out the door and to the large shuttle craft.

With everyone on board the shuttle took off from the planet and was now on its way to Europa. The trip only took the shuttle thirty five minutes, and the pilots even made it scenic taking them by breathtaking views of Mars. When they finally arrived, they saw a large ship sitting on the surface of Europa.

"Science shuttle One Nine X this is shuttle Kova'aval one prepares for the link up on aft hatches." Said Derna'ala over the radio.

"Prepared for link up on aft hatch, Science officer Kre'alam welcomes the Grand Admiral." Said a disembodied voice.

"Acknowledged, link up in five, four, three, two, one." A loud thud stopped the countdown. "Link up completed, pressurization normal."

"All right the rest of you stay here, Derna, Rick, Karen, Bryan will accompany me to the science shuttle, when we are aboard unlink and establish an orbit." Ordered the Grand Admiral.

They walked through the hatchway and into the science shuttle, a short stout man greeted them at the door. He ran a device that looked similar to the medical scanner that they used to treat Iza'ell.

"Kre'alam, you will stop scanning the humans this instance." Boomed the Grand Admiral.

"Yes sorry, sir, I was just curious." He said shutting off the device.

"Signal my shuttle to separate we will be on the bridge waiting for you." Said the Grand Admiral.

"At once sir." Said the scientist.

They arrived to the bridge where all they could see on the main view screen was a dark layer of ice. The crew of the shuttle was too busy to acknowledge the five newcomers on the bridge, the science officer finally got there.

"Begin melting" Ordered Kre'alam. "We should be through the ice in about five minutes."

The ride through the ice was bumpy, the shuttle was shaking with every layer they went through. Then just as Kre'alam had said they were through the ice in five minutes and plunged into a world of darkness.

"Exterior lights, full intensity." Ordered Kre'alam.

They could now see the dreadnought, Rick remembered seeing the Intrepid with his Grandfather when he was a kid. This thing was the size of ten Intrepid's as they approached it slowly, the Grand Admiral walked up to screen as if he saw a ghost.

"Three large objects moving in between us and the dreadnought." Announced a voice from in the back of the ship.

"Gomtu" Whispered the Grand Admiral.

"You remember us." Said a voice in every ones heads.

"Yes Ovik, I remember you and Tevik and Korvik. How long has it been my old friends?" Asked the Grand Admiral.

"Too long, you brought barbarians from the primitive world known as Earth, yet I sense goodness in them. Have they evolved enough to grace the presence of the Gomtu, we know you still kill the intelligent creatures of your seas back on Earth?" Said Ovik in every ones minds.

"We need their help, as well as your's." Said Derna'ala.

"You are familiar, yet we do not know you." Said Ovik. "Are you kin to Dewar'ala?"

"Yes, I'm his grandson, he is dead, his empire in ruins, we need the dreadnought to reclaim it, we need the help of the Earth as well." Pleaded Derna'ala.

"Yes, I see, the dreadnought is yours, the androids are still taking care of it." Said Ovik.

"Ovik, the child, the one from our dreams." Said Tevik.

"What, how do you know my child." Said Karen with alarm.

"He is a child of great destiny, we can look into his future, he will someday unite the Earth and the Teyven to form a mighty alliance for centuries. He will usher in a time of peace and knowledge that will benefit the universe immensely. Yet getting to that time all of you will face many trials and tribulations, yet without any of you he will not become what he is destined to be." Tevik said

"Bryan will become what is known in the ancient histories as the Beacon of Peace, please do not be alarmed Karen, it is because of you and Rick, Derna and others that he will fulfill and reach his destiny." Korvik explained.

"As time passes you will understand what we are telling you now." Said Ovik. "We will leave to rest ourselves, and Grand Admiral comes alone when you are ready to make plans for your impending battle." Ovik said as he turned his massive body swiftly away making the shuttle shake.

In a few moments the large massive whale like creatures were gone and the shuttle was now on its way to the dreadnought. They linked up to it and the Grand Admiral entered the command codes and the door opened.

At the door they were greeted by three androids, they all wore black jumpsuits and they had silver heads. They had sensors for eyes, sensors for ears and their mouths were nothing but a speaker.

"What is your first order?" They asked the simultaneously.

"Ready the ship for flight" Ordered the Grand Admiral.

"As you wish." They replied together and walked away.

The Grand Admiral explained that theirs were more than five hundred androids on board, some were for engineering, some for combat, some were medical, some were for maintenance. He explained how the emperor the androids designed and built specifically for the dreadnought. He had them programmed that above all else they were to care for the dreadnought. The loyalty to the dreadnought was all that was expected out of him, the final piece of programming was that the only two people they could take orders from were the emperor and the Grand Admiral.

"The ship is ready for flight." Announced the androids.

"Excellent, lay in a course for the Earth, as we leave Europa, contact my shuttle for updated navigational information." He ordered.

The large ship broke through the ice easily and was on its way toward the Earth, the androids receive the information from the shuttle. The ship now had its new heading the United Nations in New York City. They did not even activate the stealth technology when they entered the Earth's atmosphere.

Dozens of fighter jets swooped by and around the large ship as it made its descent toward the building. None of them fired or made a hostile move, they were waiting to the alien intruder to make the first move.

"Set us down in the water" Ordered the Grand Admiral.

The ship landed in the water and they watched on the view screens as dozens of police cars surrounded the scene. News vans also arrived and were filming this event for all the worlds to see, the Grand Admiral ordered the ramp to be lowered.

He was the first to step out, followed by Derna, then Rick, Karen and Bryan, they walked down the ramp. A police officer, Rick recognized his rank insignia to be that of captain nervously walked up to greet them.

"Let me do the talking." Rick whispered to the Grand Admiral.

"Hello, officer I'm Rick Thomas, this is my girlfriend Karen and her son Bryan, these are our friends from the Teyven Empire. They come in peace and they want the help of the Earth, they wish to address the United Nations." Explained Rick.

"Unfucking believable." Said the police captain. "Those are your demands."

"Those were not demands, and it was a request in the interest of peace and friendship." Said Rick.

"Let me go talk to someone, in the meantime don't move, just stay right here." He said and ran into the building.

"So now what do we do?" Asked Derna'ala.

"We wait" Said Rick.

"I hope they don't have itchy trigger fingers" Said Karen.

"I hope so too, if the androids sense anything happening to me they would destroy this city, perhaps even the earth." Said the Grand Admiral.

The police captain came running back out and he had news that he was to escort them into the general assembly chamber. They followed him inside, the androids pulled the ramp up and closed the door to the dreadnought. No one will be able to get on board with the Grand Admiral away from the ship.

The doors opened to the assembly and they were greeted by oo's and ah's, as well as whispers as they watched the motley group walk to the front podium. They were met by the UN president, he explained that the members of the security council have requested they wait. He also said they needed to get the media set up to broadcast what was going to be said around the world.

"More waiting" Bryan sighed.Finally it was time to address the United Nations and Rick stepped nervously up to the podium looking out at all of the faces from all of the worlds nations. He pulled out a piece of paper that had his speech on it, which he had been writing since the Teyven asked him to be their ambassador to Earth.

"Hello, I'm Rick Thomas, I'm from a small town in upstate New York here in the United States and I like to tell you about my new friends." He said gesturing toward the Teyven.

"They crashed in the woods behind my house, they were hurt and they needed help, so I did the human thing and I helped them. One of them needed more help than I could give so I went and got my girlfriend Karen to help me take care of her. After talking to Commander Derna'ala and finding out why they are here, I knew in my heart he was telling the truth. They need our help, a longtime ago Derna'ala's grandfather, the late emperor of the Teyven empire studied our world.

He was fascinated by democracy and giving the people the right to elect their own leaders. When he felt the time was right he started to implement changes in his Empire that would do just that with the end result his royal family would be popular figureheads." Rick stopped for a moment to take a drink from a pitcher of ice water provided for him.

"Unfortunately his eldest son and the enemies of his empire used this as an opportunity to overrun the Empire and seize control of it. The Emperor was killed, his trusted advisor Grand Admiral Kova'aval was able to escape with a fleet to the one place he thought he might find help.

They offer us many things in return, cures for diseases that were once incurable, ways to farm lands that were considered un farmable so that our hungry can feed themselves, pollution free power sources that can last lifetimes. They offer us the ability to make the world better for everyone, but they offer us the opportunity to explore space with them. To explore undiscovered worlds, the scientific community would learn the wonders of the universe. All they ask is our help in building a fleet, to destroy the enemies of the Teyven, if we do not we will be invaded and enslaved by them. We will in essence be fighting to protect our freedom and helping them gets their freedom back. Thank you."

Rick stepped away from the podium and was met by Karen and his new friends who hugged him and patted him on his back. The delegations from around the world applauded him and the general secretary came over to them.

"Thank you for your speech Mister Thomas, we will deliberate and the security council will deliberate, will you be available for questions if we have them?" He asked the group.

"Yes we can wait aboard the ship, and here is a communications device to contact us." The grand admiral told him while handing him the device.

"Thank you." The general secretary replied taking the device.

The small group went back outside and back aboard the dreadnought, the Grand Admiral suggested they go to the galley and see if the food service computer was online. He told everyone to sit at the largest table and he went to the wall unit to check on it. Soon he came back with a wide assortment of Teyven snacks, Bryan's eyes lit up when he saw the Teyven equivalent of cookies.

"Go ahead young Bryan, and the ones with the blue frosting are my favorite ones." Said the grand admiral.

Everyone chow ed down on the snacks and the communicator went off several times, they answered several questions from the delegations and the security council. After several hours the secretaries' general told them they will debate through the night and have an answer in the morning.

Then a signal came in from the fleet, it was from the heavy cruiser Vendetta and it was of the highest urgency.

"Grand Admiral, this is Command Erva'ova our long range sensors have picked up and incoming fleet of ships coming into the system." Announced the disembodied voice of the commander.

"Very well have the fleet go to battle ready and we will be there shortly, transmit coordinates so we can intercept." ordered the Grand Admiral.

"Yes sir transmitting now." Said the commander.

"Derna'ala if these ships are hostile, I want you to take a shuttle and deliver our friends to safety, Rick contact the United Nations let them know we have to investigate something and will return at dawn." Said the grand admiral. "Androids prepare the ship for flight."

The great ship took flight and as quickly as it came it was now leaving the Earth, the Grand Admiral led everyone to the bridge and the androids piloted it toward the incoming fleet. The sensors were now being directed toward the fleet scanning it to see if it was hostile and then the report came.

"Grand Admiral, this is Commander Tegav'orkal of the heavy cruiser Revenge they are civilian ship's repeat they are non hostile civilian ships." Said the disembodied voice of the commander of the Revenge.

"Thank Commander, our sensors are starting to confirm that as well, pull the fleet back to previous location and await my orders." Said the Grand Admiral.

"Incoming communications from a converted military frigate." Said the androids.

"On the screen." Said the Grand Admiral.

The screen came alive with the image of a beautiful woman, and her beautiful golden brown skin was almost glowing her long light green hair perfectly styled around her shoulders. Derna'ala gasped when he saw her on the screen and stepped forward on the bridge, he looked at her with tears building in his eyes.

"Derna, my husband." She said.

"Moya my wife." He replied. "You have escaped from the empire."

"Yes my love, our children are here safe on this ship, I managed to get some of our top doctors, scientists, and around ten thousand of our citizens. Also, you may notice the ships of the Teyven Terra forming Company as well." She explained. "We lost a lot of ships during our escape, we had more than five hundred ships, now we only have two hundred and sixty-four, more than twenty five-thousand people were either killed or captured."

"You are safe now my love, I will go ready a shuttle and come over to be with you shortly." He said. "By your leave Grand Admiral?"

"Yes go boy, go." He said.

"Grand Admiral is that you?" Asked Moya.

"Yes Moya my dear it is I, was your fleet followed by any of our enemies or the traitor fleet?" He asked her.

"We saw no signs of pursuit, we took different directions when we made our escape, then we rendevous and made our way to the Sol system." She explained. "Yet they are going to be coming soon, and the fleets of our enemies were assembling at the Teyven home world."

"Hopefully we will be ready for them." He said "I will contact Admiral Seva'niral and have her coordinate the refugee fleet."

"Grand Admiral, one more thing I would like to report, I have your great grandchildren on board with me, your grandchildren decided to stay behind to organize the resistance." She said.

A large smile grew across his face when he heard the news he sat down with a large plop into the command chair. Both Karen and Bryan ran over to hug the great large man as he sobbed tears of joy and relief.

"See you soon, Moya out." Said Derna's wife turning off communications.

"You here that girl they are still alive, when I contact Admiral Seva, I will also tell her to give that young Iza'ell a promotion." Said the grand admiral hugging little Bryan.

Derna'ala's shuttle landed on the converted frigate, he remembered the day he bought it cheap at a military surplus yard. He worked on it off and on with his sons', they had it disarmed and it was given a civilian ship license. When got off of his shuttle he found his wife, his sons and his daughters waiting for him.

The children ran over and hugged their father, then they let go and Derna grabbed his wife, the two of them engaged in a passionate kiss that seemed to last forever. Another shuttle arrived with Dela'ol and Iza'ell on board, it, they exchanged pleasantries with Moya.

"The Grand Admiral sent us to pick up his great grandchildren." Said Dela.

"Yes of course, Deva'ala would go retrieve the grand admirals' great grandchildren for Dela?" asked Moya'ala.

"Yes mother." Replied her son. "C'mon let us leave our parents so they can catch up with each other."

The kids ran off and several minutes later the three great grandchildren of the Grand Admirals came into the shuttle bay. Dela and Iza took them onto the shuttle, but Dela came back outside to speak to Derna again.

"Communications traffic is extremely busy, tell your crews to look for a shuttle from the battle fleet. , It will use visual signals to instruct your ship on where to park." Said Dela'ol

"Thanks Dela." The couple said in unison.

"Deva'ala, you have the bridge watch, you need to get to the bridge and watch for a shuttle, it will use visual signals to tell us where we are to park our ship." His mother said into a communications unit.

"Yes mother, and I'm on my way." Said their oldest son.

"He has a bridge watch?" His father said in surprise.

"Yes, he helped his father restore this old vessel, and he knows this ship better than anyone, so it is only fair he should get a bridge watch." Explained Moya.

The two of them walked through the corridors to the families private quarters, and they had a quiet dinner as a family. Then they put the two youngest children to bed, after they were to bed Derna went back out to the main living area. His wife went into the bedroom, when she came back out she came back out wearing a white transparent night dress. He could see her large swollen breast pushing against the fabric, her nipples fully erect, he could see the dark green neatly trimmed tufts of her pubic hair.

She strode seductively toward her husband who was standing in the center of the room, they embraced and kissed. Her skin felt as if it was on fire as they stood together kissing, he then swept her up into his arms and carried her to their bedroom. He laid her on the bed gently and began to remove his uniform, his wife reached up and undid his belt allowing his holstered gun drop to the floor. She undid his uniform pants and slid them down his legs, his erect penis was now bobbing in front of her. She looked up at her husband with fire in her eyes and took his penis into her erect hands, stoking it up and down. Then she engulfed it into her mouth, Derna shuddered at the incredible sensation his wife was giving him. He missed his wife, but he missed the physical intimacy even more, he allowed her to suck gently on his cock for several long moments. Then he reached down and pushed her back on the bed, he finished removing his pants and then climbed on top of her.

He pulled the night dress open and began to suckle on her nipples, then he kissed his way down her stomach, he was now between her spread legs. Derna ran his tongue through her pubic hair until he found her lips, his tongue spread the folds apart as he licked his wife's wet nectar.

He continued until he brought his wife to orgasm, then he slid his body up on top of hers and the two of them made love all through the night.

Meanwhile, on the dreadnought, Karen and Rick had put Bryan to sleep after playing with the Grand Admirals great grandchildren. They put him into bed and Rick announced that he was exhausted and was going to take a hot shower then goes to bed himself. He got undressed and got into the shower, a few moments later Karen joined him in the shower as well.

"I could use a shower too." She said in an innocent little voice.

"Well you came to the right place." Rick said picking up the alien soap.

He lathered it up in his hands and began to wash Karen's body seductively, Karen moaned softly as his lathered hands slid slowly over the sensitive parts of her body. Then he turned her under the hot water and rinsed her off, she turned back around to him and they kissed. Rick picked her up and she wrapped her legs around him, he slid his cock into her eager pussy. He gently eased himself into her and the two of them made love in the shower. When Rick was done, he had planted his seed into her garden, something wonderful was going to come from this moment.

The two of the dried off and they quickly got into the Teyven bed, they too made love throughout the night. Over and over again the professed their love for each other, eventually they fell asleep in each others arm.

Meanwhile back on Earth the United Nations deliberated throughout the night, watching the deliberations was Vice President Martin Haynes. A man who was looking at this as an opportunity to gain power through any means possible. He too throughout the night called in every political favor with every politician in the United States. Then he contacted every foreign leader he knew as well, wanting to make sure that everyone wanted to help the Teyven.

He had a lot of planning to do if he was going to be able to use the aliens to gain power for himself. He also knew several people around the world that sought power as well, with their help he would be able to use the aliens, defeat their enemies and build an Earth empire that would not be just a planet, but would be among the stars.The fleet during the night received news that the Earth had agreed to help the Teyven and build a fleet to combat the alien forces coming toward them. The grand admiral walked the bridge of the dreadnought with two other high ranking officers loyal to his fleet.

Admiral Kella'dora who served with the grand admiral on many of his campaigns, he watched her go from young fighter pilot, then to engineering school to become the chief engineer of the fleet. If he was not married, he often thought Kella would have made a favorable mate, he read her plan to build the fleet on Earth. It called for using the large wide-open spaces on the planet to build large capital ships like heavy cruisers and frigates. Smaller areas could be used for construction of fighters and build the technologies to place into the bigger ships. He signed the data pad and approved her plan to build the ships, then he took a pad from the Admiral, Admiral Tega'avata former superintendent of the Teyven military academy.

His plan outlined how he was going to train the military, scientific and engineering people on Earth. The fleet would have to send a lot of key personnel down to the planet, while still leaving enough people on board the ship's of the fleet. He approved this plan as well, but he could not have the earth ship's flying around in battle not knowing what they were doing.

"Kella does you think you can have a fleet built in six months?" He asked her showing obvious concern in his face.

"Well Kova, if what this Rick Thomas tells us about the people of Earth is true, we should be able to do it, they sound like a race of hard-working peoples and they are no strangers to a war." She replied.

"Yes and all we are doing now is pushing them ahead a couple hundred-year technologies wise." Said Tega'avata.

"Yes speaking of Rick, Derna is giving him his first flying lesson in the training fighter and then on to the little surprise I have waiting for him." Said Kova. "I have my personal shuttle prepared to take you to Earth, and the pilot already has the coordinates."

They turned and left the Grand Admiral on the bridge alone with the androids who manned the great dreadnought. He went over to the scanning station and scanned for the training fighter and watched his Earth friend and Derna. Rick was going through different maneuvers and he seemed to have a natural feel for flying a space borne fighter.

On board the fighter Rick and Derna were going through several basic maneuvers for beginners. Derna was amazed at how well Rick was at handling the small ship, and Rick was surprised at how the Teyven designed the fighter. Everything the pilot needed was either within easy reach and all of the video readouts were clear and easy to read.

"Okay Ricks do you want to try some target practice, and this fighter is only equipped with laser cannons, no rockets." Derna explained.

"Sure Derna, what do you want me to shoot at?" Rick laughed.

"Releasing drones now, two drones have just been released you should see them on the targeting computer to your right." Derna explained.

The drones appeared out in front of the fighter and Derna programmed them to evade on the first skill level. Rick following Derna's instruction targeted and flew the fighter to attack the drones, the first one was easy to kill. Derna turned up the drone's evasion program to level three, and Rick followed it trying to line up the fighter for the kill of the other drone.

Rick surprised Derna with his next maneuver, he broke off his original attack and increased his speed to flank the drone and come around to the front of it. The drone's computer could not calculate a new evasion maneuver in time and Rick blew it up.

"Wow my friend with a little more training you could fly with my royal squadron." Derna praised him.

"Thank you and this would not be possible if not for such a good instructor." Rick replied.

"Now here is a new set of coordinates, but I want you to head over to and land on that heavy cruiser." Derna said.

"All right I'm on my way to it." Said Rick.

Rick guided the fighter to the new coordinates and landed on the flight deck of the heavy cruiser. He took his helmet off and looked around the deck, most of the crews of the ship were standing at attention on the flight deck in what appeared to be a dress uniform.

"Wow I know you are royalty, do they do this every time you visit a ship?" Asked Rick as they climbed out of the cockpit.

"No, this is for you." Said Derna.

"For me!?" Rick said as he caught sight of Karen and Bryan now running toward the training fighter.

"Yes we renamed this ship to be called the Ambassador's Flagship, the Grand Admiral felt it was only fitting you are given a heavy cruiser due to your position as Ambassador." Derna explained.

"Oh honey, the ship has wonderful large family sized quarters for us and we would have a shuttle that would take us to Earth to get our belongings so we can make it more like home." Karen said to hug him tightly.

"Yes but sweetheart when the shooting starts wouldn't you and Bryan is safer at my grandparents old farm than up here." He said to her.

"I only feel safe when I'm with you my love and if you were to die aboard this ship in battle, I don't want to face a life without you, we will send Bryan to safety, he will stay with my parents."

She replied kissing him on the lips.

"Rick's this is Commander Merva'atak, and he will be your ship's commander." Derna said to introduce the commander to Rick.

"It is a pleasure to meet your commander." Said Rick sticking his hand out to the alien.

"Yes it is a pleasure to meet your ambassador." The commander stuck his hand out after Derna nodded to him to do so.

"The Grand Admiral personally picked this ship due to the commanders outstanding military record and loyalty to the emperor." Explained Derna.

"I live to serve the empire and now I serve your ambassador." The commander said with a bowed head.

"Well Commander if that is the case you will start by calling me Rick, unless conditions warrant you calling me an ambassador and you, your crew will not bow your head when talking to me, look me in the eye like you would be anyone else." Rick felt that his first order would go over well.

"Now shout as loud as you can 'long live the empire'." Derna whispered in his ear.

"LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE!" Rick shouted.

"WOO-HAH, WOO-HAH, WOO-HAH!" Shouted the crew of the flagship as loud as they could.

"Well I see you have a way too win the hearts and minds of your crew." Said the commander. "They will serve you well."

"Hey Ricks take a few minutes to change and then meet me aboard the shuttle, we have to go to Earth." Said Derna. "We have to meet with your countries' vice president and someone from your military."

"All rights are there in a few minutes." Said Rick as he followed Karen and Bryan out of the flight deck to the quarters.

When he finished changing him, Karen and Bryan boarded the shuttle, Rick even got to show off how good he had gotten at flying. They landed at the farm, where they would let Karen and Bryan out, they were going to drive back into town to visit with her parents and get things to take back.

They piloted the shuttle to Washington, D.C. where they were escorted by jet fighters to the white house. They landed the shuttle and got out of it, they were met on the lawn by Vice President Haynes and a man in an air force uniform. The man was a full colonel and he walked behind the vice president, as Rick and Derna approached them.

"Hello I'm Vice President Haynes and this is Colonel Maxwell Hunter, we have a few things we would like to discuss." He said to greet the other two men.

They followed them inside and the four of them sat down in a conference room of some sort, the vice president had coffee and coffee cake served. The colonel did not have either he just sat and stared at Derna and Rick coldly.

"I want Colonel Hunter to be involved in all military aspects of this operation, planning, training, the building status of the fleet." Explained the vice president. "He will report directly to me."

"Does President Franklin approve of this?" Asked Rick.

"Yes he wants the United States to be ahead of the curve so to speak, a large majority of volunteers and military to make up this fleet is coming from our country, we feel we should at least have a military attache assigned to you." Explained the vice president.

"Well it is our understanding that Admiral Tega'avata has an advanced training program for your world's military leaders, many of your Generals and Admirals from around the world have signed up for it, also we will be having training for flag officers who will command individual ships." Explained Derna.

"Yes we know all of that the plan was sent to us by one of your couriers, we feel that we need to a member of our military to see the inner workings of your fleet so we know that there will be no military secrets. Like I said before our country will probably make up sixty percent of the people who man those ships we are building." Said the vice president.

"I will have to run this by the Grand Admiral, and we will send our answer by noon your time tomorrow." Said Derna.

"Mister Thomas' we have a place prepared for you here in Washington and we will make preparations for the security of you and your family." The colonel said finally speaking.

"No thank your Colonel Hunter, if I was staying here on Earth, I would stay at my farmhouse and the Teyven will provide more than enough security." Rick replied.

"Well the people of the United States would be offended if our ambassador did not stay on Earth." Said the vice president.

"I'm a citizen of the United States, but I'm the ambassador to the planet Earth for the Teyven Empire, I will be staying aboard a Teyven ship." Said Rick.

"Well gentlemen, we have to get back to Rick's farmhouse to pick up his family and head back to the fleet, we will be in communication about Colonel Hunter." Said Derna.

"Yes thank you for your time, Jenkins gets in here and escort our guests out." Said the vice president.

A member of the secret service escorted them back outside and the shuttle took off for upstate New York. The vice president and the colonel did not like the way the meeting went, they really hoped that Colonel Hunter would be going with them.

"Don't worry sir, I'm sure this grand admiral will see the wisdom behind having me serve as a military attache." Said Colonel Hunter.

"If they don't, we will have to come up with another plan to find out more about the Teyven." Said the vice president.

"Derna I don't think the vice president and that colonel were being exactly truthful, do you?" Asked Rick.

"No they do seem they may have an ulterior motive." Said Derna.

"I think we should allow the Colonel to be a military attache, only so we can keep an eye on him, see what he is up too." Said Rick.

"Yes I think you may be right, we will recommend that to the Grand Admiral, maybe talk to the Gomtu again to get their thoughts." Said Derna. "Now for that little detour you wanted to make."

They landed the shuttle in Central Park in New York City and the two of them got out, they secured the door while dozens of onlookers watched in awe. They walked to the street and got a taxi, Rick asked the driver to take him to the nearest jewelry store. Then they went in and they bought a beautiful ring set for Karen, Rick was going to propose to her when they got back.

They paid for the ring and went back to the shuttle, then they flew to Karen's parents home and landed in the backyard. Her parents, Bryan and Karen came out with a pile of boxes and some bags to take back to the ship.

"Women." Sighed Derna. "My wife took as many things with her as she could on board the frigate when they escaped the empire."

"Well here goes nothing." Laughed Rick as he walked up to Karen and kissed her.

Then he dropped down on one knee and held her hand, he pulled the ring out of his pocket to show it to her. The diamond sparkled in the bright sunlight and Karen began to cry, her mother also cried and her father held her tight.

"Karen's I know we have not been together very long, as a matter of fact if it was not for the Teyven we would both probably still be afraid to act on our feelings. I love you with all of my heart and soul, I have for a long time now, I want you to be my wife, I want us to be a family, Karen would you marry me?" Rick said to a now excited Karen.

"Yes, oh yes I will marry you." She said to allow him to slip the ring on the finger.

She knocked Rick to the ground as she practically jumped on him and began planting kisses all over his face.

"Well how do we plan a wedding with you two up in outer space all of the time?" Her mother sobbed.

"The Teyven will be honored to help with this wedding and I know I'm going to regret this but Moya my wife will never forgive me if I do not offer her help as well." Derna said to Karen's parents.

After everything was settled down, they loaded the shuttle with all of Karen and Bryan's things and then they were off to the farmhouse. They got a few things of Rick's and they were back into space heading to the fleet. Derna made a communication link with his wife, and Moya and Karen spent the rest of the trip discussing the wedding to be.

Karen's parents announced the wedding on Earth, which made the world wide news, what was planned to be a small intimate wedding would soon be a world wide media event.

Next Chapter

Revisit the Gomtu, wedding preparations, vice president Haynes finds out how good Teyven security can be. Sorry for any delays in the Chapters, due to real world circumstances they can be slow in coming along.