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.
