Chapter 19: Chapter 16: Dawn

"What's our status?" the president asked.

"Mr president, we confirm that all incoming smaller craft have been destroyed. Situation in orbit is still unknown, but the jamming signal is gone. Something big crashed near our location. We are investigating it right now."

Only minutes later we received telemetry from Apaches, who were viewing the crash area from a safe distance. They showed waving survivors, clearly not aggressive. And the ship....it IS the Arbella! But look at it, it is a total wreck! Smoke coming out on all sides, fire in its midsection. 

"General, they are friendly! That is my ship!" I said enthusiastically, only then realizing that people may have died.

"Understood. I will order medical teams to that location at once. Wait, where are you going?" the general shouted to me.

"I want to help them!" I said, looking a bit confused, wanting to help was only normal, right?

"Sorry, the blast doors are still closed, you are not going anywhere trust me. Besides, I need you here."

So, I had to wait. There was nothing I could do. 

The lieutenant then said "Eh, general sir, I know this is a bit late, but NASA wants you to know that we received strange signals from our old Voyager probe. The probe stopped transmitting only seconds later. They said that it took about 17 hours for the last transmission to reach Earth."

"Yeah....that really is a bit late, but thank you lieutenant. It only confirms that those aliens had hostile intentions. Let's hope that they are gone." the general said, shaking his head at the useless information.

"Sir, our satellites are fully operational again, we have some images."

"Put them on screen."

The images were a bit blurry, but I could definitely recognize the hull markings. They were similar to the Arbella's.  

"General. Those...those are friendly craft! Is that the only one?"

"Are you sure about that?" the general asked.

I nodded vigorously.

"Lieutenant, is there something else in orbit?"

"Nothing for now sir, we are still scanning."

"General, we are receiving a strong audio signal on all channels!"

"On speaker!"

"Nash wa val kaver, Aroron, Rida Nofa," a loud and deep male voice proclaimed.

"What do they say Ayanna?" the president asked.

"Ah..wait. That is definitely Shalnean. But I am still learning the language."

The general looked at me in total confusion. 

"Don't ask, general. It is a long story." I said, shaking my head and trying to get my comm.device to work.
I pressed the red button, but nothing happened.

"General, can we answer them? I want to try to tell them something," I said.

"Lieutenant. Open a channel."

"Channel open, sir."

"Vash.....ka....val, Rida Nofa, Ayanna Vohali. Ne..get sha...va!" I tried my best to speak proper Shalnaen, but failed miserably.

"Vohali, vana kver shal neget?" The voice replied.

The general looked at me in anticipation, but I only shrugged. I had no idea what he had said, so I replied with the following. "Reva! Neget shava!"  I was only able to say: sorry, help! But I think he got the message.

"Ayanna, can you PLEASE tell us what is going on?" The president said, sounding quite impatient.

Oh for crying out loud. I decided to try English. "I don't know if you guys can understand me, my translator is broken." 

"Warm greetings Vohali, we understand you perfectly now. Can you give me a status update?"

I must have looked surprised and embarrassed at the same time.
"Yes Captain. The Arbella crashed close to my location. We have survivors!"

"That is good news. Rescue shuttles are already on their way and two escorts will land in a few hours."

"Copy that. You are most welcome here, I will tell the people here to stand down with weapons."

"Most appreciated. As for our Groknac friends.....they are no more."

A loud cheering could be heard in this room. "Captain, I don't know if you have heard it, but people are cheering here. On behalf of the humans on this planet, thank you for coming to the rescue!"

"You are most welcome. And...Vohali, I will be your temporary commander during the rescue operations and therefore order you to coordinate rescue efforts on site."

"Yes sir, orders acknowledged. It will take a while before I get to the crash site as this facility is in emergency lockdown mode. But these people and I will do our best to help, sir."

"Copy that, Nofa out."

Then a loud message came on the intercom "blast door opening, all stations return to normal operations in fifteen minutes."

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"Mr president, did you hear the conversation?" The general said.

"Yes I did. Ayanna, please be sure to thank our friends in person on our behalf."

"Of course, mr president."

 

After waiting for fifteen minutes I was able to leave the base with a marine who was assigned to me.  
He would be my relay to the general during the rescue operations. When I finally could breathe some fresh air, the marine told me that my "ride" had arrived. I thought it was something fancy at first, but I was asked to step into an aging M113, an armored personnel carrier. Whatever, it is time to find my SO!

But just before I enter the M113, I see the harbinger of dawn. The starry sky is making way for the first distant ray of light, bringing us early dawn. I had no idea this much time had passed already.

It took us some time to arrive at the crash site. By the time I exited the M113, I could see two shuttlecraft slowly landing near the crashed ship. 

I spotted a nurse who was working at light speed to help bandage survivors. I walked towards her and said "Greetings, can we help with medical assistance?"

"vash kavar neget shalna," the nurse said in a friendly tone, but not looking at me at all. She is very busy, so no complaints.

"Sorry, I don't understand," I said, deciding to head to the shuttlecraft instead.

The nurse then took me by my arm and gestured to me to wait. I nodded in agreement that I would wait a bit.
She then waved to someone near the shuttlecraft, then shouted something, while pointing at her comm.device. The others nodded. 

The nurse faced me again, and smiled, pointing at her ears and then her and my comm.device, then pointing back to the shuttle.

I nodded, they are getting the translator back online. Not even a minute had passed when my comm.device started beeping "database connection restored."

At exactly the same moment, the nurse faced me again. 
"Greetings, we have crash landed here after Groknac attacked us. We have many casualties, can you provide medical assistance?"

"Of course, I just talked to the reinforcements. More shuttles are on their way, also two escorts will come and help you within hours. Until then the people of this planet will help. Can you guide them?"

"Yes, definitely. We need all the help you can give."

"Alright, I will try to find the SO. I won't keep you from your duties. Bye" 

The nurse nodded and continued her work. I asked the marine to send medical aid by chopper and it seemed that I spoke too soon, they were already on their way. And indeed, not even five minutes later multiple Blackhawks landed with medical teams and supplies. The translators are working again, so communication won't be an issue anymore.

 

Then suddenly. "Vencan to Vohali." The SO contacted me on my comm.device.

"Oh goddess you are alive! Eh, yes, sir, Vohali here."

"I'm happy to hear your voice too, Vohali. We lost our ship, but there is no danger of an explosion. The Admiral wasn't kidding when she said reinforcements. She sent a battlecruiser and five escorts. The Groknac didn't stand a chance against their combined firepower. Your idea of mini-jumps saved the day, they could scan for gravity waves and jump to the edge of the scanning range. It took them fifteen little jumps, but it worked! I wouldn't be surprised if they refer to it as the Vohali-jump from now on."

"Oh goddess, yes sir, that is very good news, glad it worked. I already spoke with Rida Nofa, Captain of the reinforcements. Also, on behalf of the people of Earth, thank you for your sacrifice, sir. You have many new friends here. One more thing, I am under orders to coordinate rescue efforts. Do you wish to assume command of that?"

"Yes I do. But please continue to coordinate medical efforts with Earth. I'm sure that we will need their help for a while longer."

"Understood sir." 

"Alright. Vencan out."

 

 

Now we switch to the general, who is discussing the next steps to take, with the president.
The president then approved the downgrade to DEFCON 2. 

"Good, now let's send the all clear to all news stations. People must be frightened out there," the president said to the general.

"Yes sir, there will be many witnesses of the debris entering the atmosphere, and the hostile that was shot down above Seattle. What will you tell them?"

"In this case, there is no other way than to tell them the truth. People have telescopes and video cameras, it is only a matter of time before even more footage comes available. Let alone all the UN delegates and world leaders who met Ayanna in person. We can't contain this any longer."

"What about the nuke we detonated? The other nations won't have missed that," the general said worriedly.

"Trust me. I will address the nation, most of this speech was already prepared for a similar scenario."

Then, after fifteen minutes of preparations, the president finally addressed the nation. 

"My fellow Americans. I am happy to announce that the threat has passed. My previous message was cut short, so many of you must have assumed the worst. Now let me repeat, we are all safe now, there is no more danger.

Please listen carefully as the following is important. The question of whether we are alone in the universe or not...has been answered today. 

The fireworks that many of you have seen were the result of our wonderful new friends protecting the Earth against an outside threat. Of course our advanced defensive capabilities contributed significantly to this cause by using weapons especially designed for these kinds of outside threats. The low yield nuclear explosion above the Atlantic was proof of that. Also, our brave and very capable fighter pilots protected our cities by intercepting some undesired guests.

My fellow Americans. We have a saying in the White House, I am sure that you know it too. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. You and all other nations on the Earth shall have full access to it. 

If you are watching this message from your shelter then know that it is safe to go home. Don't forget to check on your neighbors. Today a brand new and exciting future for humanity starts. It is time for mankind to come together and grow up. Let's show our new, wonderful neighbors what we humans are capable of. Now go home, spread the word and god bless!"