First Contact: Birth of the Phoenix

"And just how do we do that, just pull up to a three-star generals' door and knock," I almost laughed?

"Kinda, yes," her response hit me like a ton of bricks," listen, we've been playing this all wrong, we've been letting Marshall deal the cards when we've had the biggest ace in the deck," she looked at Drell, " we're in a fucking alien space ship with a genuine, goddamn alien, hell Rider, you're even fucking him. We've been hiding when we should be yelling."

I knew she was right; it was why she had been so valuable to my squad; she always saw the other options before anybody else, "So, how do we do this?"

"One of two ways, direct or covert, we can either set up a multi-language, 'I come in peace' message and blast it across all com channels hoping we get to Santiago, or we sneak into Earth airspace and go knock on the general's door and introduce him to Drell. You're the boss, you tell me."

"Drell, how close to a planet can we safely get at FTL?"

"With the right pilot, we could theoretically get almost to the surface, but it would take the right pilot. That is very risky though. It would be best to drop before we entered the atmosphere."

"So, can you do it?"

"No, but you can. Case with your connection to the ship, I think you are the only one that can. You never noticed that I never did anything when we flew, it was all you; I just sat next to you for support," there was something about the way he looked at me; I knew he was right.

"Ok, so let's do this, we go for covert but get the recording ready anyway just in case our pilot fucks up."

"Gotta love your confidence, boss," Granger laughed at me.

"Jazz, when can we expect the general to be at his cabin?"

We had about a month to get ready. It took all that time to fine-tune our plan and discretely gathered what we would need to get it done. Of all places, we found the derelict mining shuttle at the abandoned mining facility where we first hid. We had to leave several containers of trade goods there to get it into the cargo bay, even trimming pieces off to make it work, but for what we had planned. It didn't need to be space worthy.

The hard part was finding a way to hack into General Santiago's personal communications so we would know what to expect when we got there, Jazz came through again; he would be alone for the first week of his vacation before his wife joined hum from Luna.

We came out of FTL just before we hit the atmosphere, passing over the east coast of The United States with the sunrise, I was decelerating hard, leaving a streak in the sky visible from Vancouver to Miami. Drell was in the seat to my right and Jazz was at nav, watching our trajectory like a hawk, yelling out even the slightest corrections, and waiting for the perfect moment to signal Granger.

On Jazz's signal, Granger jettisoned the shuttle from the cargo bay, I hit all stop, and a pile of space debris slammed into the side of the Rocky Mountains just south of Denver while we slid through the darkness, landing quietly on the lawn of a beautiful cabin by a small lake , it had worked like a charm; I got up and gave Jazz a kiss full on the lips.

Now for the hard part.

General Emanuel Santiago ran Earth Force Marines. He was known to be a good, fair man who had come to fame for single handedly putting down the ringer riots by walking into a mining bar, beating the crap out of four instigators, and then sitting down and listening to everybody else as they expressed their complaints. He had gotten the corporations to agree to most of the grievances and facilitated the creation of the mine workers council, to meditate what was left. The alternative was a battalion of Marines in landing craft just waiting for his order to solve the problem for everybody. If he didn't listen to an intruder in his house offering him a cup of the best coffee he would ever taste, I was going to have my hands full.

I heard his feet on the stairs, took a deep breath and turned to face him when the light came on.

"Good morning general, coffee," I offered him the cup?

"Who the hell are you and what the fuck are you doing in my house?"

"Master Sergeant Case Rider, General, and I need your help," I extended the coffee again.

"Rider, why do I know that name, who the hell are you?"

"Well, general, you probably know that name because I was reported dead a few weeks ago on Mars, that and we met last year when my squad called an audible at the war games and embarrassed the hell out of Colonel Marshall's Alpha squad," he took the coffee.

He took a sip of the coffee and his expression immediately softened," gawd dam, sergeant, this is excellent, best cup of coffee I've ever had, but you are not Rider, you don't think I would know one of the best damn sergeants in my entire command. You have ten seconds, to give me a reason I don't throw you under the fucking brig, soldier."

"Yes sir, would you care to take your coffee on the front porch, I think that might help," I motioned to the door?

I went first and noticed he picked up his side arm before he followed me, I didn't blame him.

The sunrise across the lake was spectacular and Drell's ship was silhouetted perfectly in the exploding reds, oranges, and pinks.

"That is not one of ours, is it sergeant?"

"No sir, it most definitely is not," I put my finger to my ear activating my com," Granger, Jazz, Drell, you're up?"

Drell walked to the bottom of the ramp and up to the porch with Granger and Jazz behind him, "Good morning General Santiago, I am Drell Ciros, Crown Prince of the house of Ciros, first and rightful heir to the throne of Trellis. I would appreciate your assistance in returning home so I can claim my birthright," It was perfect Earth Standard. I don't know who was more shocked at what had just happened, me or the general; I had been screwing the king of an entire fucking species.

The general's jaw dropped, he reached for someplace to sit down and I helped him to a chair. It took him several minutes to regain his composure, "Shit, I dropped my coffee," and he started laughing.

It took all day to explain everything that had happened since I started my hike back to camp. The general called Colonel Marshall who begrudgingly cleared Granger and Jazz of all charges, giving them the option to return to base in their old positions, no harm, no foul, or to take early discharge and stay right where they were if they so desired, they chose the latter. Master Sergeant Case Rider was left dead with my benefits transferring to my mom.

We were the general's guests for two weeks as dignitaries came from Buenos Ares to meet Drell and talk about possible relations with Trellis, all President Del Mar and his staff had to do was figure out how to let the word out that first contact had been made. The data we needed was downloaded from Luna and Jazz had the map connected within a couple of days. We took the general for a quick spin around the solar system, introducing him to FTL and made sure he had a large supply of coffee for his personal stock before we left. When his wife arrived, he was introduced to Trellian pheromones; we made sure he had plenty of those, too.

We sat around the fire ring in the general's yard, watching the sun set over the mountains, sipping the general's best whiskey, cooking s'mores over the fire, and thinking about the journey we were going to be starting the next morning, "You know, a ship should have a name," Jazz's lazy voice drifted into the air with the smoke from the fire.

"On Trellis, we have a myth of an animal, like your birds; when it dies, it burst into flames and is reborn from the ashes. It seems fitting for all of us, the word does not translate to Earth Standard, I'm afraid."

"You mean a Phoenix," I reached up and kissed his cheek?

To be Continued...