The battle in Central Park lasted only a few minutes as more alien reinforcements came. The anti-alien hate group got completely wiped and unfortunately, some soldiers died in the process. It turned out that the General that greeted the Aliens shared the hate group’s opinions and gave the order to attack the aliens as well. Luckily for everyone included, someone in the chain of command ordered soldiers to stop shooting at the aliens and help with the hate group, even though aliens had that completely under control.
None of the Kraz’ox got injured in the skirmish and the disgraced general got arrested when the skirmish ended. A Lieutenant by the name of William that took command over the battle and saved the soldier’s life in the process explained what happened to Kraz’ox after a short period they allowed the military to deal with the disgraced General as they didn’t deem it important enough.
The situation in the park calmed down completely and the military regained some control, but by the time they did, the huge civilian crowd already gathered around the aliens.
Two of the Kraz’ox in robes came forward and gestured something with their hands, apparently Kraz’ox gesture to calm down, before one of them began speaking.
“Greetings Humans, it’s nice to finally meet you in person. We apologize for the destruction,” The Alien spoke with a soft tone in perfect English. “We monitored the situation on Earth since our broadcast and we expected isolated incidents like these. They happened on several landing spots but we can assure you now civilians died.”
The crowd was silent all eyes on the two Aliens. Marcus and Joanna with the help of her badge got themselves to the front row. Marcus now had a clear view of the aliens in robes. Their skin looked gentle and soft, and their gestures looked not that different than humans.
“More ships will be landing later today and tomorrow on various points on Earth in order to help us with your training and integration.” The Violet Alien continued.
“What training?” Someone from the crowd yelled.
“We are going to train you in several areas, from building jump drives, spaceships, and battlesuits to space combat depending on your skills and we are going to slowly integrate you into our coalition.” The Alien answered.
“And do we have a choice?” The same voice yelled from the crowd.
“Not really, but not because of us, we would have given you a choice if we found you in normal times. But I am afraid the Anoi’s, the aliens that docked and destroyed your ISS, will not give you one. When they come back, and they will sooner or later, they are going to enslave you to work the dirty jobs their citizens don’t want to and use your planet and its resources to the fullest until nothing is left.” The Alien answered in a calm voice once again.
“And how can we trust you?” A woman in the front row asked a question now. “How do we know you are not the bad guys?”
“I am afraid you will need to have some faith as you humans say,” The answered and something like a smile appeared on its face. “We believe we are on the right side of this conflict, but everyone believes that when they are fighting a war. You will have all the necessary information in the upcoming days that will make things more clear.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“But why us?” Marcus couldn’t contain his curiosity anymore. “Why would you need our help?”
“I am going to be blunt with you, there is nothing special about you humans, but there are many of you on this little planet. The war took a toll on most species on both sides, and manpower is in highest demand now.” The alien answered.
More people from the crowd started interrupting asking different questions and the Alien gave pretty descriptive answers to all of them. Some ten minutes later another alien wearing the same robe came and whispered something to the one that was speaking.
“That will be all for today,” The alien yelled over the crowd. “We are going to set up a camp here, and as I said more ships will be landing shortly. We are going to broadcast our instructions in the upcoming days to where you should report and so on. Go to your homes now, you are entering a new era.”
The crowd started muttering, some yelled more questions but most started dispersing. Marcus and Joanne left the park and went back to the 13th precinct where they collected their impressions of today’s events.
“There is something really offputting about these aliens,” Marcus said
“Could be that they are just that, aliens,” Joanne answered.
“Could be, but the way they are presenting things, the way they easily killed those anti-alien guys and made no big deal out of it, the way they are putting things like they are giving us the choice when they really aren’t, it doesn’t look good for us,” Marcus added with a worried look on his face.
“Yea you are probably right,” Joanne added while fiddling with her badge. “What are you going to do now?”
“I am going to my parents, to be with my family, I hoped to get some answers here but we almost died. So I am going to be with them and wait like everyone else.” Marcus answered and hugged Joanne goodbye.
**********
Anoi battleship was still being hauled by the Qhiks armada towards one of the inner planets. Anoi’s were nervous, Azcrawford kept trying to regain control of the ship, and Qhiks warned them two additional times last time with a direct threat that it would be the last warning.
The ISS crew used the time to rest, there was nothing else to do and they haven’t slept in god knows how long. James couldn’t fall asleep but he used the time to clear his mind as best as he could. He went over the events in his head trying to look for the details he missed, to make this all clearer for himself but there was nothing he missed, the truth was they were no more than ants that stumbled upon a spaceship and everything was happening out of their control.
As they approached the biggest planet, Qhiks contacted the ship again with instructions.
“We will teleport ten humans to our home planet,” The voice said. “You will need to stand still in a small area in order for us to teleport you without any complications.”
“What about us?” Azcrawford asked.
“The Anoi’s are to stay on the ship,” The voice answered. “We need to talk to humans alone first.”
Azcrawford wasn’t happy with the answering, James could see that much, but there wasn’t anything else he could do. The ISS crew decided between each other which ten people would go. James, Chloe, and Meng were the obvious choices and they took seven more volunteers including Eric, who was the first one to spot the Anoi ship.
Some minutes later the Qhiks instructed them to stand still and that the teleportation would happen in 30 seconds. They hurdled into a small circle looking between each other for comfort and security, but their eyes betrayed them, each and every one of the astronauts was scared, with a little bit of excitement pouring out.
James’ vision went black for a brief second and he found himself along with his Crew under a sky that was a mix between green and blue, with two suns and the mega structures around them clearly visible.
“Welcome, humans,” The same Qhiks voice from the ship greeted them. “To our home planet, you will be meeting us soon.”