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.
