When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand.

- Revelation 6 -

Marty could see the playfulness in Angie's beautiful eyes. It was the way they gleamed and sparkled in the harsh light of the Space Port's corridor outside their quarters. There was a hint of the eroticism in them, but most of what he saw was a tacit tease.

"Jean-Michael and Lucia have been reassigned to the X-3001."

Marty faked surprise. He had expected as much. "Are they being replaced?"

Angie playfully tilted her head. "Of course. I think you'll like the replacements. They're old friends of yours."

"Oh, really?"

"Come and we'll meet them."

He followed her to a meeting room on the command deck. When he entered, he indeed found a friend.

He looked at Angie. "Is that Birdie?"

"It is I," the bird alien said, sounding like a parrot. "I am pleased to see you again, Martin."

"I had assumed that I would never see you again. This is a nice surprise."

Angie was all smiles. "They sent a team back to Beta CVn and established a relationship with Birdie’s people that sparked the formation of the ULGP."

"Yeah, I heard about the Union of Local Group Planets. Who taught Birdie how to speak English?"

"Lia. She has another student." Angie waved a hand, and a Mehen came into the room.

"Is this Ninja?" Marty asked Angie.

Angie smiled.

"I am honored to be with you again, Martin." The words were embellished with hissing sounds.

Marty gripped his hand, which was more like a claw. "Welcome, my friend." He turned to Angie. "First we had an international crew. Now, we have an intergalactic crew."

"They volunteered, just like some humans that have volunteered to go with aliens."

"It's an exchange program," Marty said. "Speaking of aliens, has Tyler been briefed on how to deal with the Roswell aliens?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him since we got back."

The Mehen perked up. "If you are saying about the Cleats, they have stopped all actions against my people."

"Honey said that she has been in contact with her people," Angie said. "And, they reported the same. I also heard that the Centaurs conveyed the same situation."

Marty rubbed his jaw. "Sounds like they're lying low. Maybe the Dragon aliens are keeping them busy."

"Good," Angie said. "Maybe they'll leave us alone."

"I wonder how new the Dragon aliens are to this part of the galaxy."

Nobody had an answer to that.

###

Marty took a swallow of a dark green liquid and smiled at his Mehen friend. "This stuff is great. Your people make a hell of a brew."

“It is the drink of warriors,” Ninja said. “We drink it after battle.”

“Or on any other appropriate occasion, right?”

Ninja gestured in the affirmative with his claw.

Angie came out of her quarters and immediately frowned. “Are you teaching our Mehen friend a bad habit?”

“Hey, this is his stuff,” Marty said, maintaining a grin. “I’m going to volunteer to go on their ships.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Crazy like a fox.”

She laughed.

When she departed, the Mehen turned to Marty. “Do you permit your females to go on your ships?”

“Are you kidding? She’s the commander. She has been in more battles than most males. You know Uma, don’t you?”

Ninja nodded, an unusual human gesture for an alien.

“She has killed more Cleat aliens than any of us. She’s very accurate with a weapon.”

“Our females are not warriors,” Ninja said. “It is our way, but that way may be changing. We have lost many and are in need of new ones.”

“I don’t know about your people, but we discovered a long time ago that we were ignoring an enormous potential by not absorbing females into our military units. They make superb warriors."

"They are also not hard to look at."

Marty laughed, but he had trouble imagining a female Mehen being easy to look at.

Angie was not laughing. She and Tyler were listening to Arthur spell out what they were and were not to do when they encountered the Roswell aliens, but he had a few surprises.

"General Wilson is no longer Chief of Staff. He's a consultant to the High Command of the ULGP. Space Command is now a branch of the UN. I am still in charge of Mission Planning, but I'm sure that will change."

"Will my status change?"

"No. You are still commander, but you have been put in for admiral."

Angie acquired a serious frown. "That sounds like a desk job."

"Not necessarily. You will be in command of a fleet."

"What about Martin?"

"He will be promoted to commander and given a ship."

Shit. Oh, well.

"What about Tyler?"

"I was getting to that. You, Tyler, have been promoted to Chief Consular for the ULGP. You are charged with negotiating treaties and accords with alien species. You will have a staff of both humans and Union signatory aliens. The alien that you call Birdie is now part of your diplomatic staff."

"When is all this going to happen?" Angie asked.

"Not until after your next mission to 37 Geminorum. We've received transmissions from the Roswell aliens that indicate they are ready to throw in the towel. We feel that they are being attacked by the new aliens."

"Are we to assume that these new aliens represent a greater threat?" Tyler asked.

"Yes. If you can arrange an accord with the Roswell aliens, do so, but be cautious. We have no basis for trusting them."

"What is the X-3002's status?" Angie asked.

"We've augmented the shields and weapons based on the Dragon alien's ship, but it's no guarantee. We also added another X-400 series craft."

"When do we go?"

"Tomorrow night."

Angie and Tyler exchanged glances. It was sooner than both had expected.

###

Angie gave Marty a smirk. "I'm being promoted to admiral."

"Admiral? You're being transferred to the Navy?"

"No, silly. They use naval terminology now because the star cruisers are like ships of space."

"A metaphor of dubious merit."

"Whatever. By the way, you're being promoted to commander and will get your own ship."

He grimaced. "I hope it won't be as captain of a stupid ferry."

"Don't sweat it. You'll be in my fleet."

"Oh, goody! Will we get to wear a feathered helmet?"

"Smart ass!"

He grinned. "And, proud of it."

She laughed. "Get your gear. We ship out tonight."

"Wow! They must have good intel."

She sighed. "This mission may well be the most critical one yet."

"And, we'll have to save the day again."

"Yes, damn it. I'm too old for this shit."

He grinned again. "No way! You don't look a day over thirty-five."

She huffed. "You've had too much of Ninja's booze."

He laughed.

###

"We have entered normal space, Angie."

"Reduce our velocity to 2000 kps, Delphi."

Marty rubbed a hand down his face. "Wow! That was one hell of a jump. I thought it would never end."

"I find it hard to believe that we traveled over 400 light years in one jump," Angie said.

"Yeah, they forgot to tell us that the Dragon alien's technology was untested. Guinea pigs are us."

"Wow!"

Marty looked over at Karl. "Is that a good wow or a bad wow?"

"Sorry about that, but this is a rare supergiant G-class orange main sequence star. It's 7600 times more luminous than our sun, but it has a surface temperature of only 4360 K. It's spectrum shows high helium content. That would suggest that it's converting helium into carbon in its core. I place its diameter at 150 times Sol and about 8 times its mass."

George looked over at Karl. "If this is the Roswell alien's home star, they must be impervious to high doses of radiation because the only planets I'm seeing are devoid of atmospheres."

"Maybe this is the wrong star," Marty said.

"This is Epsilon Geminorum," Karl said. "The star they call Membusta."

"There's a companion star approximately a half lightyear away," George said.

"Yes," Karl said. "It's a K-class star with a mass 77% of Sol, a temperature of 4130 K, and a luminosity of only 20% of our sun."

Angie looked at Karl, George and Marty. "Are we in agreement that this is not the Roswell alien's home star?"

No one disagreed.

“Change course, Delphi. Take us to the companion star with a short jump.”

“Yes, Angie.”

The breaking engines fired and the ship turned. The jump was so brief that a blink would have avoided the visual effect.

“We have entered normal space, Angie.”

“Reduce our velocity to 1000 kps, Delphi. Maintain stealth mode.”

“Yes, Angie.”

“This star is more like it,” Karl said. “It’s a bit on the cool side, but a planet at 0.7 AU would be in the habitable zone.”

“You have it,” George said. “There are four inner planets and four gas giants. Planet number two is at 0.7 AU and is large enough. We’re a little too far out, but it looks like it has an atmosphere.”

“I’m reading an oxygen line in its spectrum,” Anna said. “There are also sizable water peaks.”

“Put us on course to planet number two, Delphi.”

“I have detected a large number of vessels at 80 AU from the star, Angie.”

“Are they saucers, Delphi?’

“No, Angie. Their energy signals resemble the Dragon alien craft.”

“Oh, that’s just great,” Marty, said. “Instead of the Roswell aliens, we’ve stumbled onto the Dragon aliens’ home world.”

“I don’t think that is a valid conclusion,” George said. “There are numerous saucers coming off the planet. I think we’ve stumbled onto a major war.”

“Now we have a dilemma,” Marty said. “Do we help the Dragon aliens destroy the Roswell aliens’ home world, or do we help the Roswell aliens defeat the Dragon fleet?”

“Maybe we should just go back home and leave them fight each other,” Uma said.

“This is like a scale,” Marty said. “We must weigh the good and the bad and determine which is best for us, us being the Union.”

Everybody focused on Angie. She was the commander and the last word on what they would do, and everybody knew that her decision could affect the fate of humans as well as many other alien species.

“It would be easy to just cut and run,” Angie said. “However, we will eventually have to fight. Since the Roswell aliens and we have both been attacked by the Dragon aliens, we have no other logical choice than to fight the Dragon aliens.”

“But, the Roswell aliens have been our principal enemy,” Marty said. “If we help them defeat the Dragon fleet, will they agree to peaceful terms?”

“I believe they will,” Tyler said. “We and the Roswell aliens will have a mutual enemy. I have a hunch that these Dragon aliens are much more of a threat to all of the intelligent species in this part of the galaxy and they must be stopped. If we don’t help the Roswell aliens, we will eventually have to fight this new threat on our own.”

“How can we take on the Dragon fleet?” George asked. “They have over a thousand ships in their fleet.”

“We have two X-400 class fighters,” Angie said. “That will allow us to split the enemy fleet. We have powerful weapons and we don’t have to worry about causing any collateral damage way out here. I say we fight.”

“You’re the commander, Commander,” Marty said. “Who of us is going in the fighters?”

“I’ll stay with the X-3002 and Anna will help me. You can pick the crews for the fighters.”

Marty looked around at the crew. “I think that Honey and Uma should take one fighter. Ninja and I will take the other.”

“Agreed,” Angie said. “I will fire a spread of torpedoes before the attack, so make sure you wait before tearing into the enemy fleet.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Marty looked at the Mehen. “Okay, Ninja, let’s go. We have a battle to fight.”

Ninja got up and followed Marty to the elevators. Uma and Honey followed both of them. As the elevator descended to the hangar deck, Marty gave his battle orders.

He looked at Uma. “You and Honey take the X-401 and go to the right. Ninja and I will go to the left. We should be able to get into position before Angie fires the torpedoes. When the fleet breaks up, we’ll hit them from the flanks.”

“I hate this fighting,” Uma said, sounding depressed.

Marty comforted her, but he was firm. “What we do here will change the course of history in this part of the galaxy. If we fail, we will only be a footnote in the history of some alien species that happens to stumble on the debris that’s left.”

“If that was meant as a pep talk, it was not very effective,” Uma said.

“It wasn’t meant to be a pep talk. As has been said by many a soldier: Ours is not to reason why, ours is to do or die.”

“I think we will surely die,” Uma said.

“Not before we cause one hell of a lot of damage,” Marty said.

When the elevator door opened, Marty saluted. “Those who are about to die, I salute you.”

Uma gave him a sour look. Honey didn’t seem to be impressed.

Ninja mimicked Marty’s salute.

When they got to the X-402, Ninja had something to say. “You would make a good star cruiser commander in our service.”

“Thank you, but fighting is the only thing I do well. Right now we have an impossible battle to fight. You will be fighting for your people as well as for all of us. I will fly and you will do the shooting. They have installed new targeting systems on these fighters. All you have to do is look at your target and the weapons are aimed at where you are looking. We have lots of power, but we must get it fired at the enemy craft as quickly as we can. Delphi will help us by softening up their ships with energy beams that have been modified to penetrate the enemy ship’s shielding. You will pump particle pulses into them to finish the job.”

“I am ready, Martin.”

The elevator arrived at the command deck. Marty showed Ninja how to operate the weapon system while they waited for the hangar to be evacuated and the hangar door to retract. When the ship was ready to go out of the hangar, Ninja was ready to do his job.

Marty accelerated to flank the enemy fleet, which surprisingly had not detected the presence of the X-3002. The element of surprise was in their favor.

“Full power to the shields, Delphi. Please transfer weapons to Ninja. Prepare to fire energy beams at full power on my orders.”

“Yes, Martin.”

On the X-3002 command deck, the mood was somber. Angie turned the X-3002 into the enemy fleet.

“Please, fire a spread of torpedoes into the enemy fleet, Delphi. Maximum yield. Full power to the forward shields.”

“Yes, Angie.”

The missiles whooshed out of their tubes and accelerated to a tenth the speed of light before they detonated. Space lit up with blinding white light before neutrons, alpha particles and gamma rays crashed into the X-3002’s shields. Some neutrons got through, but the alpha particles and gamma radiation was stopped. The shields crackled and popped loud enough to make people cringe. Angie accelerated to high velocity so that she could fly into the enemy fleet, which was dispersing into smaller groups after the explosions. Enemy ships quickly locked onto the X-3002 and fired missiles, but Angie maneuvered away from them with tight turns, all the while Anna fired particle pulses into them at a ferocious rate.

“I don’t believe it,” Angie said. “These idiots are firing slow missiles at us. At these speeds, they’re ineffective.”

Anna didn’t answer her. She was too busy shooting.

Uma was similarly occupied on the X-401. Honey maneuvered through the attacking enemy craft with the skill of an experienced pilot, avoiding missiles and energy beams. Uma’s accurate shooting began taking its toll on the Dragon ships. Honey’s magnificent brain had calculated that they had no chance to survive this battle, but her conclusion did not affect her brilliantly executed flying.

Marty and Ninja were also holding their own against the enemy onslaught, but neither knew or cared about survival odds. They were too busy dispatching enemy craft.

“There’s one on our tail, Ninja. I’m going to roll over, so get ready.

Ninja never answered. When the ship rolled, he fired, blasting the pursuing enemy to bits. Marty was impressed with the professional manner in which the Mehen fought. Ninja showed no emotion nor did he cringe or react to enemy fire hitting into the X-402. He had marvelous focus on his task, the perfect demeanor of a true warrior.

The battle was beginning to take its toll on the X-3002. The shields were straining from numerous energy and debris hits. George and Karl were kept busy trying to put out fires from exploding relays. Angie and Anna were beginning to tire from the constant strain of combat. The rest of the crew was cringing in his or her seat from the constant din of battle.

Worse yet, Angie had no idea if Marty was still alive. She had little time to pay attention to the two fighters, which she assumed were as busy as she was. She knew down deep that this battle could not be won, that they would be inevitably destroyed. The decision to fight had been hers, and it was too late for personal regrets.

Suddenly, the enemy craft turned away. The silence was deafening.

On the X-402, the two warriors had observed the same action.

“What the hell?” Marty exclaimed. “Are they running?”

“No, Martin,” Ninja said with much hissing. “They have come under attack from the Cleats.”

Marty grinned. “Well then, let’s give them a hand.”

On the X-401, Uma and Honey looked at each other.

“The saucers of the Roswell aliens have joined the fight,” Honey said. “I believe you humans say that the cavalry has arrived.”

“I don’t say that,” Uma said. “Martin is the one who uses those colloquialisms.”

“Martin is an interesting human,” Honey said. “He is insouciant and difficult to understand.”

Uma smiled. “That is putting it mildly.”

They laughed.

Their laughter abruptly ended when an enemy craft’s energy beam crashed into their shields with thunderous result.

“We must go back to the battle,” Honey said.

“He will regret his attack on us,” Uma said. “I gave him a present.”

Two plasma missiles crashed into the enemy, destroying it. The explosion resulted in a blindingly bright cloud that nearly engulfed the X-401.

At this point in the battle, weapons fire was flashing continuously, and explosions were occurring at an alarming rate. The Dragon enemy had no intention of running. The good news was that the Roswell fleet was taking the brunt of the enemy hits. The X-401 and X-402 were flying around the fringes and destroying stragglers. Angie had pulled the X-3002 out of the fray to avoid all of the exploding ships. After several minutes, the violence of battle subsided. Angie wondered whether the Roswell aliens would turn on them.

On the X-402, the Mehen turned to his human partner. "I want to thank you, Martin for choosing me. I would have been dishonored if I had not participated in this battle."

"I chose you because you are an experienced warrior. Our success depended upon your skill. It was a magnificent battle, wasn't it?"

"It was, Martin."

"Hey, are you guys still awake?"

Marty smiled. "Sure, Commander. We're still afloat."

"In that case, get your butts back here. We may need to make a hasty departure."

"Copy that."

"I would find it hard to obey a female."

Marty chuckled. "You would obey this female. She's tough."

On the X-3002, there was a certain uncertainty. Now that the Dragon fleet had been destroyed, what were the Roswell aliens going to do? That was the question.

"Honey and Uma reporting in. We are awaiting orders."

"Return to the X-3002 as soon as possible."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Bring us to LSR, Delphi."

The breaking engines fired.

"We are now at Local Standard of Rest, Angie."

"Thank you, Delphi."

"You are welcome, Angie."

After the two fighters had returned, saucers quickly encircled the X-3002. They made no menacing moves, but their presence was like being out in the woods alone and surrounded by hungry wolves.

"Shouldn't we be powering up weapons?" Anna asked.

"No," Angie said. "We're here to make peace not war."

"I hope that they believe that."

"They had better. We can't take on thousands of ships. Our only option would be to launch all of the Nova weapons."

"That would result in our destruction as well as theirs," Marty pointed out.

Angie sighed. "I know."

"Angie, a ship requests COM."

Angie swallowed hard. "Open COM, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

The main screen displayed the image of a Roswell alien. His tight-skinned face had a gray bloodless cast. His large lifeless eyes were as black as night and his lipless mouth showed no emotion.

"Why did you come here?"

"We came here to talk," Tyler said. "We do not wish to fight."

"You fought the Old Ones well."

"They have attacked us and we wished to prevent them from destroying you. We fight only in self defense."

"We understand."

Tyler went out of character. "Why do you attack us?"

The answer was unexpected. "It is just something we do."

Marty rubbed a hand down his face. “Good grief.”

Tyler never missed a beat. "Why don't you make this 'something you do' the defeat of the Old Ones. We propose a pact between your people and all the species of the Union of Local Group Planets. This pact would call for a cessation of hostilities and the mutual defense against the Old Ones."

"What do we get in return?"

"Our help in fighting the Old Ones and all the information that we have about them."

"What information could you possibly have? You have just recently discovered them,"

"We have one of their ships and the body of the pilot."

That revelation resulted in a pause.

"You would share these discoveries?"

"Yes."

"We agree to a cessation of hostilities. We require additional negotiation."

Tyler suppressed a smile. "We will send a negotiation team."

The alien's mouth curled into what looked like a smile. "Do you recognize me, Martin?"

Marty's eyebrows rose. "Ah, I . . . are you the one we rescued from the wrecked saucer?"

"Were you aware that you saved First Commander?"

"No. How could I . . . What is First Commander?"

"I am much like your General Ike in World War II."

"Oh. Well, it wouldn't have made any difference. You were in need. That's all that mattered."

"Your diplomat said that you would send back a negotiation team. How do we know that you won't send back a fleet to destroy us? Why should we not destroy you here and now?"

"We don't do that sort of thing. We were never ordered to destroy your home world despite the fact that you made several attempts to destroy ours. We only want peace."

"You are a violent species. Why should we believe you?"

Marty swallowed hard, but he never averted his eyes. "We admit that we have been a violent species, but we have changed. Look around at our crew. You will see that we are a diverse group comprised of many different races. We also have members from other planets. We have abandoned our violent ways and have united in a single purpose: to explore the universe and contact other intelligent species, not to conquer or exploit, but rather to exchange knowledge and culture. All we desire is peace."

There was a long maddening silence from an unblinking alien. Everybody knew that their commander had her finger on the trigger and complete annihilation was a breath away.

"You may go. We will await your negotiators.”

Everybody could breathe now.

"Thank you," Marty said.

The alien didn't respond.

"Take us up to jump velocity, Delphi. Put us on course to Earth."

"Yes, Angie."

Every crewmember knew that his or her life and the lives of everyone on Earth had been saved by what Angelina had done here and the simple act of mercy that Marty had given to an undeserving enemy. They each reacted to this reprieve from oblivion in a unique manner.

"Allah be praised," Ferris exclaimed with emotion.

"God bless you Angelina and Martin," Anne said, fighting the urge to cry.

Uma could not speak. Tears streamed down her face.

George and Karl exchanged relieved glances

Onuki, Brigit and Lia hugged.

Tyler smiled.

Honey, Ninja and Birdie remained emotionless.

Angie offered Marty a coy smile. He returned a forty-watt grin.

So, we're still alive. Now what?

This is the end of the beginning, not the beginning of the end.