Austen was having trouble standing from JR’s concoction that he had sent up his nose. He heard Deana moan. Then in his mind he heard her say, I’ll help, but please don’t let JR accidently on purpose shoot me. He wants me dead. I can’t stop him in my present condition, and I will only know when he shoots me. Then it’ll be too late. He’s … voodoo proof.
Austen pointed his rifle at JR and threatened, “You kill anyone in this room that ain’t bug-ugly, and it’ll be the last thing you do.”
JR pushed the barrel out of his face, gritted his teeth and said, “Fine, but we ain’t done with this argument, Bubba.”
The portal across from Deana was getting bigger and bigger. JR said, “On the other ship I looked outside our ship where the portal looked like it was coming from, and there was nothing there - like they were coming from another dimension or something.”
Austen laughed, and JR said, “Great, you’re fried. I hope you shoot straight and remember the two kids at our feet.”
Dale had only made it halfway between the two bridges before he collapsed. There was a portal opening up on the bridge that no one was aware of right beside the infirmary. JR had never thought of getting caught in crossfire. The little green guys were coming into the bridge. One of them ran to the other side of the infirmary hatch and sneaked a peak at Kirk lying on the deck-plating.
This time Kirk didn’t levitate. He was being dragged on the deck by the alien’s mind. JR noticed Kirk’s body moving, spun around, and shot at the alien. The alien ducked back and JR missed. At least it lost its hold on Kirk.
Two more portals opened up in the infirmary, and an alien with a see-through shield entered. All the bullets seemed to be absorbed into the shield as the Houstons fired. JR saw one of the alien’s big heads and shot at it as it was leaving a portal - bull’s eye. Two more Skinnies jumped through with shields and Austen kept shooting. It was the only thing keeping them from advancing, even though the shields protected them. The infirmary was extremely loud in this war-zone.
Six more aliens entered the bridge dividing the Houston’s attention. The Skinnies in the infirmary were close enough that the Houstons were using their rifles as bats. Deana started to levitate off her bed, and she lay on the far wall in a crucified fashion. Her neck went back lifting her head up to show her glowing red eyes. Every time she focused on an alien, the head popped like it was shoved in a microwave.
One of the aliens saw what she was doing and jumped back into one of the portals, but not before Austen shot it. JR switched weapons as Austen reloaded. An alien jumped from one side of the bridge, but JR shot it midway in the hatch, and it splattered everywhere.
All this time, SSSaa’s bodyguard was trying to get into the humans' ship. He had noticed the saucers flying outside the ships and he wanted to attack, but SSSaa would only let him go to help the Earth ship. He finally opened the human’s hatch, which was not easy. As JR told Austen to stay with the kids, JR jumped onto the bridge, shotgun blazing. He shot an alien, and as he pumped the shotgun for another shot, the big lizard had four of the Skinnies in his arms. He pushed them all back into one of the portals, but as soon as he turned around, a dozen arms and hands came out and pulled him into the portal. He had a shocked look on his face.
JR screamed, “Don’t get too close to the portals!” He got up quickly and started shooting the aliens that were not quick enough to jump to safety. He thought about going in the portal after the lizard, but all of a sudden, all of the portals closed up.
There were aliens splattered all over the consoles on the bridge. JR hoped he hadn’t shot up the consoles. It all happened so fast. With all of the portals closed, Deana floated back to the bed she had come from. She said in Austen’s mind, They’re gone now, but their ships are still flying next to ours. She had to repeat what she had said because Austen was so messed up.
Austen sat down on the deck, and the kids came to. Noah asked as Austen pulled the boys into a hug, “What happened?” Austen just held them giving them no answers. His mouth was too dry, and his sight was off a bit.
JR walked back into the infirmary. He slipped on the alien’s blood and fell to the deck. Dale saw it and asked, “What the hell is going on?” They both got up at the same time.
JR said, “A bunch of uglies happened. We managed to kill a few, but we lost SSSaa’s bodyguard in the exchange. Guess they put everybody to sleep but me and Austen. I don’t think it was sleeping gas or it would have gotten both of us too.”
Dale shook his head like he understood, but he didn’t really. He looked at SSSaa’s ship hatch that was still open and felt really bad that he had lost a friend. He didn’t even know his name. He thought again, What the hell happened?
Chapter 5
HIGH-TIMES
Deana was giving the morning meeting. Austen stood next to her for support. JR was in the lounge standing by the exit. That way he could leave first. He had never gone to a meeting before, although he had enjoyed the musical before the killings. He thought that there was a lot of eye-candy in these meetings. He also was hoping to embarrass his brother if the opportunity arose.
Acting Captain Deana was explaining to both crews about the attack on both the One-Oh-One and the attack on Captain Derek, although he was out of danger by then. She explained that she would be trading places with Commander Hawkins again indefinitely, and JR started clapping. This in turn started slow-clapping from the crews for some reason. Deana just let it go; she knew why they clapped.
She wanted to know why she had to trade places with the commander, but she realized it was to satisfy Austen - and JR. This wasn’t JR’s ship; he wasn’t even a cadet. He was just a suspicious ass whose request was granted by Captain Austen. Every time she got close to the man she loved, she had to start all over from square one.
All of the ladies were paying close attention to what Deana was saying. They all knew she was hurting, but they also clapped with JR. Deana waited till it quieted down, and then she went into more detail about SSSaa’s missing bodyguard and the alien’s second attempt at kidnapping Kirk.
To keep up the charade explaining JR's presence on the One-Oh-One, she told them about "Doctor" Houston’s static electricity both times the Skinnies attacked, and that he had used a special drug to keep him and his brother conscious and immune to whatever they used to knock everybody else out. “It may be some kind of field they use, so I want a team of engineers working on it to see if they can break that field next time, or block it. Captain Austen took the doctor's drug himself to see the aliens invade, but he wasn’t able to tell what kind of technology they used for their portals or their stun field. They show up real good on our cameras when they're dead, so let’s hope they’re not camera shy." That got a few laughs from the crew. Even JR laughed.
She continued, “Our ally ship wasn’t attacked because Kirk wasn’t on that ship, but our Lizardian friends say that the enemy is still flying close to us. I need all departments working on this. I know some of you are worried about Captain Derek’s condition, and Captain Austen and I want you to know he is healthy and well, but no visitors please.”
She walked over to where Kirk was sitting and put her arms around him as Qworn scooted way over to get away from her. She said, “Please do not volunteer for B.B.G. assignment because that is not an option. Remember Captain Derek's telling us to never give up hope, and please let’s not let them get away with our Kirk.”
Kirk grabbed her arms as they went around him and held them tight. There were all those geniuses on the ship, so Deana knew they’d come up with something. She looked to Austen to see if he wanted to add any final words but he didn’t. She looked around the lounge and ordered everybody dismissed, but everybody stayed to come up with ideas.
SSSaa had been trying to talk to his ship, but it remained silent. He thought, So you are quiet, huh? Fine, I will send my crew and the star-drive to the Earth ship, and we will die together.
He was about to call his new