Alien Nightmare, Part II: The Return
by 80sarcades

Welcome! This is a continuation of 'Alien Nightmare.' Major spoiler if you plunge ahead, so I highly suggest you read the original first if you haven't already done so. The time is 1947 and the aliens return to pay us a visit.

Have a nice day!

Rigel Corolois, Orion Constellation
Home System, Abraxi Matriarchate
Earth Year 1947

It was a time of heady victory.

Her Majesty, trailed by her consorts, appeared on the balcony to accept the congratulations of Her people. The long war had been all but won; except for a few lone holdouts victory was assured.

Celebrations - some forced, most not - reigned throughout the Abraxi Matriarchate. Fireworks and other displays littered the skies of numerous planets in a grand cacophony of bright lights and stellar explosions. The future of the Empire was assured.

Or so it seemed.

Unnoticed by all except for a few, a small frigate streaked through the heavens on the way to a remote destination. The region of space it approached was purposely unmapped; the planet it would soon arrive at did not officially exist.

Yet, despite its primitive nature, it would determine the ultimate fate of the Empire.

So this is Earth.

Captain K'yrk sneered disdainfully at the blue-white marble that hovered in the center of her viewscreen. How strange, she thought. To be honest, I expected a world of horrors. Instead I see nothing more than a primitive mudball. One warship - a scout ship, even! - could destroy this world before the natives realized what was happening.

And maybe they should.

The warrior-turned-scientist sighed heavily. However, we have our orders. Distasteful as they are. She looked at the image of Earth once more.

How can one world give birth to something so horrible? Moreover: can we find a cure for it?

She shuddered slightly at the last thought; the video briefing of Doctor D'san's death had been graphic. Even terrifying, to say the least. The might of the Abraxi Matriarchate was unparalleled in known herstory; the defeat of the Sullstan had left the Empire as the most powerful race in their part of the galaxy.

And yet, like a deck of cards, the whole of civilization could be brought down by the most lethal substance known to her kind. A name so horrifying as to only be whispered by those few who had heard of it. A name synonymous with death.

Hershey's.

Ignorance is bliss, she reflected ruefully. Oh, how wise they are...

"Now entering Earth orbit, Captain," Science officer S'pok announced. "Cloaking field active. Request permission to begin initial target scans." Her slightly twitching eyestalks - the only outward sign of emotion on her normally impassive face - glanced at her sensor array for a brief moment. "We will have to descend to a lower orbit due to atmospheric interference," she continued. "The planet's composition is...fascinating."

"Make it so, Number One," K'yrk ordered, forestalling a lengthy explanation. She glanced at the satellite-free world once more before her eyestalks swiveled to another station. "Are the stasis tubes ready?" she snapped.

"Yes, ma'am," the ship's doctor/third scientist rasped. "Ready for transport." A soft whisper - almost inaudible - reached the Captain's ears. "Sending molecules from one place to another," the voice growled. "It's unnatural..."

"Very well, Ma'koi," the senior officer nodded, ignoring the comment. The medical officer's...odd...thoughts regarding transporters were well known. Ominously, K'yrk had an uneasy feeling about the mission; she resolutely shrugged the silent worry away.

The sooner we're away from here, the better!

With nothing else better to do - the scans would take several hours to find the proper candidates - Captain K'yrk turned the command station over to the science officer before she left the bridge.

Strangely, the Captain's quarters - a private luxury aboard the normally crew-cramped frigate - provided little relief from her worried thoughts. It was difficult enough to be a ship captain at times and even more so when you were on a secret mission assigned by the High Council itself!

And if she should fail...

K'yrk forcefully pushed the negative thoughts away. We will succeed, she vowed. For our sakes, we have no choice.

With that, she brought a holographic file into view. It had become a daily habit ever since the mission started: to review the file on Earth and the so-called Human race. Granted, any detailed information on the inhabitants was understandably limited. However, there were fascinating tidbits here and there...

Her long talons tapped several touchpads on the desk. In response, the figure of an unconscious human male suddenly shimmered into existence above her console. A golden symbol - some kind of avian? she wondered for the umpteenth time - glinted slightly on his brown head covering. As before, she studied him intently to gain some insight into the native mind. According to the mind-scanner - and couldn't they have at least tried to do a detailed scan? she silently fumed- he was highly intelligent for his kind. Perhaps even more so.

His fellow prisoners were an eclectic group as well, she remembered. A thief, for one. The chemist. A cook. The communicator. By themselves they meant nothing. As a whole, however...

It makes me wonder.

Was their presence just a coincidence...or was it part of something larger? she mused. The sensors on the survey ship monitoring that particular area of Earth - Germany, she recalled - recorded a large surface explosion soon after collecting its male cargo. Oddly, the prisoners had been traveling in a conveyance on that very night. Unusual, but explainable. The destruction was merely coincidental.

And not one caused by their 'airplanes', or whatever they are called. Curious.

Similarly, the leader - along with three of his followers - had the word 'sabotage' in their lewdly assorted thoughts. K'yrk glanced up at the hologram once more. Was that your plan? she asked the still figure. To strike back at your enemy while acting as seemingly helpless prisoners?

It was a ridiculous, even ludicrous thought by any standard. Even so, somehow - and she couldn't explain exactly how she knew - she suspected that was precisely the case. If so, it was an act of courage worthy of I'vanova the Strong herself!

Privately she was even willing to admit that this one had the qualities of a warrior...even if he was a male. With a reluctant sigh she deactivated the hologram. It was just another strange detail to consider on a planet full of oddities. Granted, it wasn't the first time a primitive culture run by males had been found by the Matriarchate. However, it was absolutely unheard of for one to advance to any kind of industrial standard. The few anthropologists who actually knew about the world were practically salivating to examine this new rarity. K'yrk shook her head before a sudden snort of amusement escaped her nostrils.

There always has to be one oddball in a galaxy of females! And who knows: they have atomics now. Perhaps they'll destroy themselves and solve this nightmare for us!

With that pleasant thought, she reached for her personal holoviewer. A touch of a button brought an image of her firstborn daughter into focus. For a brief moment she allowed herself to smile.

My J'anway, she thought proudly. A warrior, following in her mother's footsteps... Lost in memories, she was startled when the overhead loudspeaker blared into life.

"Captain to the bridge," S'pok's dry tone announced.

K'yrk glanced at the chronometer; only a little more than a hour had passed.

That soon?

She deactivated the viewer and laid it on the table before she stabbed one of the lighted touchpads. "Report," she snarled.

"Targets located," the science officer coolly replied. "Standing by for transport."

The Captain closed her eyes for a moment. "On my way," she said reluctantly. Her scaly fingers reflexively closed the link before she rose up from the chair. After a moment's thought she put the viewer in a side pocket of her uniform before heading to the bridge.

"Targets?" K'yrk growled.

"Here." S'pok put an image of Earth on the main viewscreen before zooming in on one of the northern continents. "The nation-state known as the United States of America. Eastern region...there." Her finger indicated one of the coastal areas. "Two females, traveling in a conveyance."

"Very well," the Captain replied. "Initiate transport when ready."

After a moment, Ma'koi's voice spoke up. "Transport complete," she announced. "Subjects in quarantine tubes; health signs elevated but stable. Shall I prepare the samples?"

"With caution," K'yrk softly warned, menace in her dry tones. The doctor nodded gravely before she left the bridge. The viewscreen was still active; for some reason the close-up images of Earth left her feeling nauseated.

"Viewer off," she ordered. Immediately the offending images vanished. Satisfied, the Captain then turned to her science officer. "It's time," she said heavily. "Report to the Medical Bay to assist the doctor." A faint grin then appeared on her scaly face. "With luck, we will unlock the secret of this...object," she sneered.

"Acknowledged," S'pok said simply, her gaze flicking to her superior for a brief moment even as her talons worked to put her station on standby. With a quick, practiced efficiency she stepped into the turbolift and departed. The Captain, now alone on the bridge, gazed upon the image of Earth once more. This time she narrowed her eyes in determination.

Soon we will know your darkest secret, she vowed. And then, nothing will stop us...

With that vow, she quickly maneuvered the ship to a location directly above the planet's largest ocean. Once done, she set the controls to maintain their orbital position before departing from the bridge.

In her haste, however, she forgot one small detail.

The human females, K'yrk noted, were somewhat smaller than she expected.

Not to mention pink, she thought distastefully. How disgusting!

Each woman occupied a sealed cylindrical - and thankfully, soundproof - tube that occupied one section of the small medical lab. The younger of the two females was screaming hysterically and beating her fists on the sides of the clear container. The older of the two - presumably the mother? the Captain wondered - was more subdued; she was alternatively trying to communicate with her captors and with her terrified daughter.

In truth, none of the female scientists particularly cared about the primitive women beyond their value as test subjects. Instead, they stepped into the adjoining chamber and donned the environmental suits before proceeding with the next phase of the project.

Doctor Ma'koi carefully, if not reverently, lifted a small sealed tube from an unlocked safe. Inside the clear 'glass' - in actuality, the strongest transparent metal the Matriarchate had devised - lay two rectangular dark objects; the word 'Hersheys' was clearly visible on the top of each block. The three reptilian aliens eyed the deadly substance with careful precision as the doctor carefully inserted the tube into a compartment on the side of the large cylinder.

With a small hiss, the chamber sealed shut. A second tube, identical to its sister, slipped into a similar opening on the second cylinder. Only then did the aliens finally relax.

A small fan then pushed the vapors from the Hershey's into the main chambers. Once the humans were fully exposed the genetic scanners began to cast their blue rays onto each of the trapped females. The alien scientists studied the holographic representations of each woman's DNA as it formed over their respective containers. Somewhere in the helix strand was the immunity to the Hershey's; it would only be a matter of time before they discovered the cure.

And they might have been successful in their mission had it not been for the Confederate States of America.

Next: Skyrockets in Flight.

I couldn't resist using female versions of Kirk, Spock and McCoy from Star Trek. Seemed only fitting...though I highly doubt these versions would chase after skirts, LOL! Ivanova (Ivanova the Strong) was one of my favorite characters from Babylon 5. Janeway (J'anway) was the Captain from Star Trek: Voyager. Oddly enough, I thought the Admiral version of her at the end of the series was much cooler:-)

Thanks for reading!