Things sure looked brighter after a good night's sleep. I feel sorry for Taegen, but I have more important things to worry about for the moment.

My updated task list has the following entries:
-leave for Earth at 0600. Return to the ISF Arbella when the primary mission objective is completed.
Mission objectives: 
-Primary objective: assist Earth in asking for our support in defending against an imminent Groknac attack.
-Secondary objective: motivate Earth into joining the Empire
Other objectives:
-learn to read, write and speak the Shalna language.

Yeah..the language part, honestly, that's not going to happen anytime soon.
Aaah! Alright, alright. I decided it was wise to at least download the language lessons onto my comm.device, so they can see that I showed some effort. But they never said when I had to actually start learning.......

After breakfast and getting something to munch on for later, I went to the shuttlebay. The same pilot as before was already waiting for me, but there were no guards joining me today as the Admiral removed them from my command yesterday evening. I guess those three must be happy about their reassignment, their babysitting mission was probably more tense then they had imagined.  

I grabbed one of the mission backpacks, the ones that Taegen said that I should take. I found a weapon inside and asked the pilot to return it to the armory, so I won't get into any problems on Earth. 

After landing safely on Earth at our previous landing site, I watched my transport slowly depart, leaving me all alone on Earth. A while ago this would be perfectly normal for me, a human between other humans. 
But now I'm an alien, between only humans, so I do feel a bit nervous.
It is a bit chilly this early in the day, a cold breeze makes me happy that I have brought a proper jacket this morning, but my legs feel like they are freezing. Common, hurry up already, I'm freezing over here!

It should now be around 0900 here on Earth, my time and theirs are not perfectly aligned, but my comm.device will keep track of time..literally. While lost in thought, I finally see a car approaching. A female Air Force officer exits the car and walks directly towards me. She is probably in her early thirties and appears to be unarmed. Her name tag shows "A. Connely," her rank insignia shows that she is a lieutenant. She is smiling warmly, so I can only return the same.

Time for me to shine, I approach her while smiling, offer my hand and say "Good morning lieutenant Connely. I am Ayanna."

We shook hands, after which the lieutenant said "Good morning Ayanna, have we met before?"

"Haha, no I just read your name tag, that's all."

"Ah, of course. Before I ask you to enter our transportation...may I please check if you are armed? This is only a security check but it still means that I will have to touch you."

"Of course lieutenant, I am unarmed, but I carry sensitive equipment and emergency rations in my backpack. I would rather not unpack that here. I am willing to show you the contents of those at our destination if you like."
She then checked my clothes for hidden weapons, like knives. But she gave me the all clear.

"Ayanna, I must ask you to unpack everything. I have to check those for weapons too."

"Alright, if you must. But you should know that packing this stuff is going to take some time. Ah, and do you perhaps have a blanket or something?"

She nodded and took a blanket from the car's trunk. She put it on the cold ground, after which I unpacked everything. The lieutenant asked me after a careful inspection what each equipment's function was. 
I looked at the equipment, then at her. "Honestly? This is my first planet mission, I only recognise.....this thing. That is a communications device. And this....obviously some food. And this..."

"Ayanna, thank you. Would you mind if we stored that equipment in a safe place? I promise that nobody will touch that." 

"Yes, that is no problem, but I am taking this with me. Might not look like much, but that is my lunch. And I also need these batteries for my smartwatch, see?"

She grimaced at the food and replied "alright, take it with you." 

I handed over the bag, and she invited me to walk to a nearby helicopter, a UH-60 Blackhawk. I was hoping to get into a warm car, but I had to endure some more.

Getting into the chopper was a walk in the park, but my skirt offered no protection against the cold...or the wind. The people inside were well mannered, especially after the death glare Lieutenant Connely gave them.
They even gave me a blanket to put around my mostly frozen legs...ah this was much better!

They helped me to buckle up, as I'm a bit taller than what they are used to here. Out of curiosity I looked back but then saw someone peeking into my bag. I waved my finger at him and said "ah ah ah! No peeking!" 
You wouldn't peek inside a lady's purse, now would you? I loved the face he made when he was caught, he put up his hands as if I was about to shoot him. I then winked at him and gave him a warm smile. 

I then asked the lieutenant where we were heading, and she said "Area51, there are secure accommodations for you there."

Alright, she is not one for small talk I think. Better keep quiet for now.

The helicopter slowly started its engines and I could see the rotor blades starting to spin. I was happy to wear noise dampening headphones that fit snugly around my head as the engine noise was considerably loud.
Granted, my ears are a bit longer than theirs, but the dampening effect was still good enough.

After a short while we landed on an airstrip and were then transported to Area51 in a C5 Galaxy, whose pilots didn't mind taking aboard a few extra passengers on its cargo run. 

Once we had arrived at the airstrip near Area51, one of the most mysterious places on Earth, a car approached to pick us up. The black SUV then drove us past a checkpoint to the site's main entrance.

I looked around, but there was nothing special here, just a normal military facility. Except for one building, the one we are heading to. It's a very tall building with reflective glass panels, making it look as if the whole building was made out of glass. Even if someone could somehow enter this area unseen, they still couldn't see a glimpse of what was going on inside.

We stepped out of the car and entered the building, where a security officer gave me a badge. My uniform doesn't allow badges to be placed that easily, so I had to click it onto my rank insignia. Lieutenant Connely saw me wrestling to find a spot for the badge and gave me an apologetic look. 

I shrugged, "no problem, my people don't use badges, so my uniform isn't designed for one. Not pretty, but it works."

We are then using an elevator to go down 10 levels, then pass another checkpoint and take another elevator down another 10 levels. I wonder why the building is so tall when we have to go down so far.

When we exit the elevator, our badges are inspected again, security sure is tight around here. But I don't get any of that "creepy" atmosphere you would expect from just the name Area51. It really seems like just any other military base to me.

The lieutenant then said "Ayanna, this floor has been made exclusively available to you. You can freely use the kitchen, showers, computers, sports equipment, anything you need. There is a telephone in your office, so you can ask for anything else that you might need. Do you have any questions?"

"Yes, lieutenant. There are spare uniforms in my backpack, but you are not allowing me access to them. Could you perhaps bring them over here?"

"I'm sorry, but they are in a highly secure area now. Nobody has access to them, not even me. On your departure day, we will return them to you in the same state. If you want fresh clothes, then please order them through the telephone, or ask a guard here," she said while pointing at a guard near the elevator.

"I see...well, do you have any XXXL uniforms? I am a bit taller than you guys," I said while looking apologetic.

"Haha, don't worry, we are a creative bunch. Just ask when you need them."

"Alright, then thank you lieutenant, I'm sure I will manage for a few days."

She nodded and said "good bye."

I was then left alone, just me and a guard near the elevator. Only now did I notice how absolutely quiet this place is. No air conditioning noise, nobody's talking, there is only a deafening silence all around me.

While exploring the place for a bit, I noticed that this floor was rather generous in size. It feels like I have four apartments all to myself. There is a kitchen with a microwave, vending machines and some packages, I need to check those later. Then I see a nice office, fully furnished with a desk, a leather chair, computer, fax, telephone,..everything I could possibly need. The next room is the shower area, but there is no bath, I wouldn't fit in it anyway. A room equipped with sports equipment...meh, not now. And then I found a meeting room where at least twenty people can comfortably have a meeting, not that I will be needing that room. Just imagine cleaning this place!
Finally I see a room which I will dub "The Relaxation Room," as it has everything I could possibly have ever wanted before: a wide screen TV, comfortable chairs, love seats, couches...this room was designed for large groups!

Trying to find my temporary bedroom, I passed the guard near the elevator and waved at him. He ignored me, while his hand was resting on his weapon....tough guy.

I finally found my bedroom, or I should say dorm room, as there are at least ten beds here, not even counting the bunk beds.

I enter the office and put my snacks and battery pack on the desk. This room has some interesting fake windows. It looks like you have a view outside, but they are only images with artificial lighting. Nicely done though, it feels better than only gray walls all around you.

I connect the battery pack to my comm.device and then set up a minimal EM jamming signal in this office only. It might just be bugged, who knows. I then inform Taegen of my progress. He is my comm.officer, and will relay my messages properly to the ship's SO or even the Admiral, depending on my instructions. This saves me the trouble and time to contact them myself. My people now know that I have arrived safely, but also that I had to hand over most of my equipment. I promised to keep them up to date at least once a day.

I walk towards a mirror and look at my reflection. "I guess I will be wearing something else for a few days," I said while grimacing. Then I decided that I had nothing better to do while I waited for the president to come back to me, so I ordered an extra tall uniform. Believe it or not, not even half an hour later someone knocked on my office door. "Enter!" I said.

But they didn't enter.  

"Excuse me ma'am" a man said, "I am a security officer and they asked me to give you your uniform. 
Do you want me to drop it here or should I bring it in?" 

The poor guy must think that I have nothing to wear at the moment, so let's be kind to him. 
"Don't worry, you can come in."

The door opened, and a young man gave me my uniform. He made sure to keep his distance, making use of his long arms as if I were some hideous monster.

"Thank you. You don't have to be afraid of me, I won't bite or something like that" I said, a huge grin on my face. Meh, that didn't convince him. 

"Sorry ma'am, have a nice day." 

And he left, like his tail was on fire. Do I smell bad or something? Ah I know, they pranked him or something.
Yes, that must be it. "There is a lonely alien lady waiting for you"....or something. 
I had a laugh before I realized I was all alone again.

I put my air force uniform on my temporary bed and of course only now realized that I had no pajamas. Whatever, I will not ask that poor guy to deliver a nightgown here. Ah...maybe I will if I am really bored. 

 

 

Then again a knock on the door. "Excuse me, this is a security check, may we enter?"

"Of course, please come in," I said, wondering what could possibly trigger a check already.

One man in air force uniform entered, a Staff Sergeant. A fully armed guard entered with him.

"You are not going to hurt me, are you?" I said, faking my fear while looking at the guard.

But the Staff Sergeant answered for him "no he won't. This is just standard procedure ma'am. We lost the connection to our smoke detectors in this room. Do you mind if we inspect this room?"

"Not at all, I have nothing to hide. Can I ask you a question while you do your..whatever it is that you are doing?" I said, while tilting my head. Smoke detectors? It is bugged alright!

"Of course," the lieutenant said.

"Why are you guys not wearing any hazmat suits around here?" I couldn't resist teasing them a bit, as my blood was already tested and they classified my race as harmless to human's health.

Both of them opened their eyes wide, as they suddenly realized that there was a reason they confined me to this floor. I am not human. So who knows what pathogens I could carry. 

"Ah, ah...good question ma'am, I will ask my superiors." He then kept his distance from me. Both of them did.

I had to suppress a good laugh, then said "guys, I am only kidding. They already checked me, you are fine, trust me. In fact, I even had a shower this morning."

They were not laughing, meh, I have to admit, it wasn't very funny. Time for my backup plan.

"Alright, then at least provide me some pajamas for tonight, can't expect me to sleep naked, now can you?"

Bingo, mission successful. Both of them are turning red from embarrassment. They were about to leave the office until the Staff Sergeant realized he came here for a reason and should still be scanning the room. 

"Excuse me ma'am, what is this device for?"

"That is my smart watch and that is my battery pack. And please don't touch that...that is....eh...lunch."

"I...I...I..see. But your smart watch is sending low frequency transmissions, it is disrupting communications on this level."

"Ah really? I am sorry, that is standard protocol for me. I'm a diplomat and a guest on your world for the next few days, and I know for a fact that this room is bugged. So tell your boss that I am disappointed and that the jamming signal will remain in effect. If you disagree, then either let me call the president or I will notify my own staff."

"Sorry ma'am but I have my orders. The signal must stop."

Okay...time to play the alien routine here. They are getting on my nerves. And I AM a diplomat, so they will be respectful to me. "I want to call the president, how do I do that here? Where is your view screen?" 

"Eh, no, you can use that phone over there. Do you know how it works?" 

"Yes, I saw it in a training video. I need to push some buttons to form a numerical sequence, right?"

"Eh, no ma'am, just pick up the receiver, and they will patch you through to the president."

My face must have shown that I was thoroughly annoyed with this, so I walked to the phone, pulled it closer and picked up the receiver. It somehow feels a bit smaller, like a toy phone.

"Hello? This is security," a male voice replies. Good, the old-style phone works through my EM field.

"Greetings, I am your guest Ayanna, and I need to speak to your president."

"The President of the United States?" he said in disbelief.

"Yes, the very same. And please be quick about it." 

 

The President was unavailable at the moment, so I asked for the ambassador instead. 
After hearing me complain for a few minutes, and threatening to return to my ship, the ambassador allowed me to use my equipment. 

After my two friends here got their new orders, the Staff Sergeant said "apologies ma'am it is alright now."

"No problem, you were only doing your job."

"May I ask a question ma'am?"

"Of course," I said, tired of almost every conversation turning into a debate. 

"How are you able to speak English so well?"

Ohh, I didn't see that coming. 
"Well, we have our gadgets for that. See this button here? It allows me to contact my computer and I can activate or deactivate the translator."

"I'm curious, could you deactivate the translator please?"

"Okay, if you really want to." I motioned to him that it was now off.

He said "sorry for bothering you today," and then waited for my reply. 

I tilted my head, and frowned, faking for a few seconds that I couldn't understand him, and then "well, it wasn't really your fault. Just don't forget my pajamas."

He blushed for a second and quickly said "I...I..thought you needed a translator?"

"No...I only said that we had gadgets to translate for us. But I understand English perfectly well."

"Then why did you use that translator thing in the first place?" he asked, showing genuine interest.

"Simple, I was planning to visit other countries as I only speak English."

"But...can you say something in your own language?" 

"Sorry guys, I need to end our little discussion here. I need to go back to work."

He apologized and they left. Half an hour later I had my pajamas. All gray, and I had hoped they had something more cute for me. Meh, I will survive.

 

I was alone in my office and had eaten my snack. The kitchen proved to be useful, there were vending machines with things like cookies, all free of charge, and some fresh sandwiches too. 

After my lunch, things became really boring. There was nothing I could do but wait. I can't even call Taegen, for he will probably get pushy again and I am not in the mood for that. 

At around 1500 hours, local time, I became so bored that I decided to start the language lessons.
It took me less than five minutes to realize that learning the language was going to take a loooong time.
But there is no way around this, so I was determined to study new words or grammar concepts for an hour every day, unless I was unable to. So I started repeating basic sentences and greetings.
Again and again and again. The training program was interactive and it somehow analyzed my voice patterns.  I was being scolded and corrected by a machine....great. 

Dinner was pre-packaged soup and another sandwich. For dessert, some chocolate cookies, my favorite.
Some tea to wash them down with, as it was getting too late for coffee. 

Just before I wanted to take a shower, I facepalmed. Of course I didn't get any fresh underwear from them! After requesting a set and waiting another thirty or so minutes, I finally got what I needed, including some spares.  

I then put away my own clothes and after a shower switched to my less than stellar pajamas. I was determined to attack the coffee machine first thing in the morning, because I now have access to an unlimited supply of coffee and cookies. If I could only share them with someone.....

 

 

Sleep came easily......but then.....in the middle of the night...

Where am I? I'm walking through dark corridors....it smells in here....and I hear strange clicking noises.
This looks like another spaceship, but of unfamiliar design. I follow the clicking noises and arrive in a room.
I am really tiny compared to the furniture in this room, everything is so big!

Then I see a giant lizard in front of me, almost scaring me to death, but it doesn't see me. It is just reading a book out loud, sitting at a desk, totally ignoring me.

It says "Once upon a time, in times long past, there was nothing but darkness in the universe. For unimaginable long periods of time nothing existed, until One came to be. A single point of consciousness trying to discover what it was. After an infinitely long time, One discovered what it was..it was alive. It was all alone in a vast expanse of nothingness. When it realized that it was all alone, it thought about other beings and the Groknac were created as One's first companions. We are the first race, the center of existence. The first work of One.
Our race thrived, conquering new worlds and taking what we wanted for we are the first born of One. There is nothing above us in existence, only One. After many millenia, we learned that other races were important to us, they are not below us at all. We learned how to trade with them and share knowledge. By sharing technologies, our race reached incredible advancements in interstellar travel, medicine, and philosophy. The Groknac united all factions in their homeworld into the Aligned Groknac. We were stronger than ever. As a united race, we forged alliances without bowing to Empires, Federations, Syndicates or any other form of fear-based unions.

Until a small faction decided to break free from the Aligned Groknac. The Unaligned Groknac took many of our ships and left our homeworld, falling back to the old ways. They plundered and killed to their heart's content, believing that they are the pinnacle of evolution. They are a disgrace. Many worlds have wanted to break our alliance with them, mistaking the Unaligned with the Aligned due to identical hull markings of our ships.
The Aligned Groknac seek peace, not war."

Then the lizard stands up, much, much taller than I am, and it points at a view screen, showing Earth.
I can clearly see the continental US. There are definitely alien ships in orbit.

It then turned to me, "AYANNA VOHALI." it said, scaring the hell out of me. I thought I was only a watcher in a dream!

I instinctively ducked behind a table and said "w....w....what are you going to do to me?"

"Fear not. Hear my words. One battlecruiser. Three escorts. Coming to you. Faster than you expect."

"Okay...." I said, meekly.

"Will you forgive the Aligned Groknac for failing to help you in battle?"

"Yes I forgive you. We want peace as well." I said, trying to sound diplomatic.

"From the bottom of the collective Aligned Groknac hearts, we bow humbly to your forgiveness.
When the time is right, we will visit you and your people and together bring peace to the galaxy."

The lizard bowed to me.

"I look forward to that meeting, great honored one," I said, also bowing. I could feel that these people value respect, so I couldn't say anything else.

"You honor us. We will honor you. Now it is time for you to go. WAKE UP!"

And I sat right up in my bed, covered in sweat and panting like I had almost died.
I immediately contacted the Admiral by text message, while the memories were still fresh in my mind. 

Only a midnight shower helped me to calm down from this strange event.