Dinner was a huge bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken with sides of macaroni-and-cheese, and a large tub of coleslaw.
"Sorry kiddos." Tom Duncan grinned, looking not sorry at all. "I got busy loading up ten-thousand dollars worth of Christmas trees onto a huge truck, so I got KFC delivered."
He passed the paper plates around. "Enjoy."
"What are Christmas trees?" Jesse asked as she grabbed a drumstick from the bucket.
"Oh, people around here like to stick an evergreen pine tree in their houses during the month of December to celebrate the birth of one of their Gods."
Jesse nodded and continued to munch on her chicken leg. "But it's barely July. Why are they buying these trees now?"
"These things are in pots. They will be repotted and placed in various public areas. In this part of the world, people start getting ready for Christmas around July. If you wait too long, there won't be anything left to buy."
"So tell me about your day. Was it fun? And if it wasn't fun, was it at least productive?"
He began attacking the food as Jesse began describing to him the events of the day. As the details began rolling out, Alekai added pertinent aspects that Jesse had left out.
Through it all, Tom simply sat there, munching away on the chicken and the sides. He said nothing until they had completely told him of the situation.
"Hmmm. Do you have the Mission Order?"
"Yes. Would you like to hear it?"
"Sure, if you can replay it."
Jesse pulled out a small device from her pocket. She tapped on it a couple of times and set it on the table.
Within seconds, the sound of a computerized voice read out the Mission Order.
"Whew!" Tom whistled as the voice finished reading the Mission Order. "Whoever this lady is, she broke some serious rules of the Force."
"She did?" Alekai looked up from his coleslaw.
"Yep. For starters, she KNOWINGLY placed a civilian in danger. That'd be you." He pointed at Alekai.
"Then, she failed to clearly state the Mission Order to the commanding officer who is supposed to carry out her order." He pointed to Jesse. "That'd be you."
"Furthermore, she knowingly and willingly abandoned her own subordinate AND a civilian out in space with just a note saying, 'Ta ta! And good luck!'"
Alekai sat back and stared at the chicken. "Is that considered an offense?"
Tom chuckled. "Hell yeah! That's a SERIOUS offense! And if that wasn't enough, siccing the enemy on her own subordinates is a facking tragedy. There's plenty enough here for her to get court-martialed."
Tom sat back and scratched his head. Then he grimaced and looked at his greasy chicken-stained hands.
"I'm sure all the video and audio feeds have been collected by your Gear."
Alekai tapped the shoulder pocket of his jacket. "I got it all collected and stored right here in my little mobile."
"I did the same here," she indicated at the device on the table.
"Good. Keep it for your records. You'll need it in the future to prove that you didn't desert the Force."
Alekai gulped down his cola and wiped his mouth. "Tom, how do you know all the rules of the Force?"
Tom grimaced, throwing a glance at Alekai. "I wasn't always a tree salesman you know. I was one of their decorated Generals."
Jesse smiled. "You're a legend."
"Pshaaah. A dishonorably discharged legend." He rubbed his greasy hands on his tee-shirt.
"So what do you kids plan to do now?"
Alekai threw down his fork. "We're going to follow them to Taranhara."
Tom licked his greasy lips. "Well, I hope you're not gonna just hop into your little Gear out there and just run after them."
Jesse laughed. "You're so silly. The Gear is just an exoskeleton. We're going to need to get on a trans-space starship."
Tom shook his head. He pointed to the mobile device on the table. "Have you checked your status?"
"What do you mean?" Jesse stared at Tom, uncomprehendingly.
She grabbed the mobile device and tapped her tiny fingers on the screen. The more she tapped, the more frightened she looked.
"Oh my God! I'm dead!"
Alekai raised an eyebrow. "Well you've eaten a lot of chicken for such a dead girl."
Jesse scowled. "I was hungry, okay? The point is. I can't get tickets on any kind of trans-space starship if I wanted to. My passport has been revoked! My star currency is frozen."
Tom chuckled. "Ahhh, that sounds so familiar. Same thing happened to me almost twenty years ago. I was left stranded on Earth with nothing but an unhatched egg."
Alekai chuffed. "I'm surprised you didn't break the egg and made breakfast with it."
Tom sighed. "It was too late to do that. You were already about to hatch. All I did was sit around and wait a few days and you'd broken out of the egg. You were a cute baby snake."
He gestured in Alekai's direction. "You should check your status too. I'd be willing to bet that you're just as dead as she is."
Alekai pulled out his mobile device from his arm pocket.
"Yep. I'm dead alright." He laughed as he checked his personal data.
"They don't waste any time do they." Tom shook his head.
"What do we do now?" Jesse's big blue eyes were starting to get that panicked look.
"We do it our way." Tom cackled, slapping his thighs.
"I don't understand. What does that mean?"
Alekai grinned. "Have you forgotten what I told you up there in outer space?"
Jesse turned back to Alekai, confusion reigning in her bright blue eyes.
"I told you. Dead people can't break laws."
🌺🌺🌺
Early the next morning, a gopher had rung the doorbell. Tom opened the door and took the package. Then he went to Alekai's bedroom door and banged on the wooden surface.
BANG BANG BANG
"Rise and shine, Romeo! Come on. You can't sleep in on a day like this."
One minute later, Tom flung the door open.
"Get up, kiddo." He made his way to Alekai's bed and tapped him on the head.
Alekai's amber eyes peered out between the tangled strands of his long black hair.
"What time is it?"
"Six. Get up. I got something for you."
Alekai rubbed his head and sat up. The covers fell off, revealing his naked torso.
"Dude. Wear something to sleep. There's a female in the house."
"Relax. I got bottoms on." Alekai mumbled as he threw off his covers to reveal a pair of boxer shorts.
Tom threw the package at Alekai's chest.
"Here ya go."
"What's this?" Alekai stared at the package with sleepy amber eyes.
"Your ticket out of Paradise."