“Emma,” James said as he hurried up the front porch. He shoved the front door open and hurried inside, McGee’s guns and ammo in a bag on his back and everything else that wouldn’t fit in his arms.

The door to the cellar clicked and the book case that it hid behind opened. Emma peered out before shoving it all the way open and running to him. “What happened? Are you okay? You were gone so long.”

“I’m fine. It’s okay.” He smoothed a hand over her head. “Did you get medical supplies when you packed up?”

Her eyes widened. “The first aid kit. Why? Is Mr. McGee hurt?”

“No. He’s…it’s not him.” He couldn’t tell her McGee was dead. It would freak her out. “We found a woman. She’s hurt.”

“Where is she?” Emma asked.

“Still in the truck. I’m taking these down to the cellar and then I’m going to bring her in. Did you set up the air mattress down there?” He shuffled a few of the weapons in his arms while hurrying past her to deposit them on the concrete floor.

“I did.” Emma stomped down the stairs after him.

“Good girl. Stay down here. I’ll be right back.” He slipped the bag off and handed it to Emma. “I need you to go through these for me. Separate them down and organize them.” He hadn’t looked at the stuff, he’d just grabbed it and shoved it in.

Emma took a step back with the weight but managed to drag it to the center of the room.

James spun around and hurried back to the truck. He opened the door and lifted the woman back into his arms, and then kicked the door shut with his foot. She mumbled something again that he didn’t understand, but her eyes stayed shut. He hurried to the cellar door where Emma stood waiting.

“Shut the door behind me and lock it,” he said as he moved past her.

He was half way down the stairs when the door clicked shut and the lock was switched over. Emma’s footsteps thumped down after him. “What happened to her? Is she okay?”

“I don’t know. Her arm is…frozen,” he said as he set her down on the air mattress.

“Frozen. How is that possible? It’s the middle of summer,” Emma said.

“I don’t know. Maybe one of their weapons did this to her.” He shook his head. Did the alien’s even have weapons? He wasn’t sure. The one he’d seen had touched McGee with its hand.

“So it’s really happening? There are aliens?” Emma asked.

James looked up; meeting her eyes, and nodded. “Yeah. I’m afraid so.”

Emma sat down on the floor where she stood, cradled her knees to her chest, and rested her forehead on them.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” James got up and dropped to his knees. He pulled her into a hug. Her body shuddered and a sob broke free. Tact had never been his strong suit. Too many years in the Marines had hardened him, and he sometimes forgot that his niece wasn’t as strong as she pretended to be.

A moan from the mattress caused him to pull away. The woman rolled off but cried out when her frozen arm hit the cement floor. She hissed and shook it out. Fire lit up her arm.

Emma gasped, digging her fingers into James’ skin through his shirt. “James?”

He grabbed the gun from the back of his jeans and pointed it at the woman. She flapped her arm – or was it a wing – a few times before the fire dissipated and her arm returned to normal. The ice that had glazed over it earlier was gone. Her brilliant sapphire eyes snapped up to meet his.

She shot to her feet. James pulled off the safety. “Don’t move.” She looked human – now. Was she an alien too? She looked nothing like the yellow creature he’d seen and shot earlier. McGee’s words echoed in his mind. A fiery bird had been in the sky too. Were there really two types of aliens? Was she one of them?

The woman said something but it wasn’t in English. It didn’t even sound like a language he’d heard before, and he’d heard a lot of them. She put her hands up and said something again.

“What is she saying, James?” Emma asked.

“Stay back, Emma,” he said, making sure she was behind him.

“Is she…one of them?” Emma asked.

James opened his mouth, but stopped when the front door slammed open. He didn’t need to see to know that it was forced open hard enough to hit the wall. He could hear the resounding thud down here. Footsteps moved across the floorboards. He counted six different sets.

Emma clasped onto him tighter. She covered her mouth, stifling a sob.

The woman’s eyes went to the ceiling. She swallowed, but thankfully didn’t make a sound. James kept his gun trained on her.

Glass shattered above them. Emma whimpered and buried her face into his side. The floorboards rattled. Someone was ransacking the place. Part of him wanted to run up and stop the intruders, but he didn’t. His first priority was protecting Emma. He had no idea who, or what, was up there. If it was the yellow aliens he couldn’t risk one of them finding her, and he had no idea if the woman before him was friend or foe.

James kept his eyes on the woman. Her eyes stayed trained on the floor above them. Things clattered to the ground, and he could hear three sets of feet going to the second floor. Furniture was scooted across the floorboards and it thudded heavily above, making James certain it had been over turned.

He bit the inside of his cheek. His parent’s home was being destroyed. He’d worked hard to help restore it the past few years since his discharge. These things, whoever they might be, were tearing it apart. His pulse thundered in his ears, and his grip on the gun tightened. As soon as whoever left, he was going to get answers from the woman across the room.

His eyes locked with hers. Her look softened. Was that sympathy on her face? Was she even human? He had no idea, and right now he didn’t care. She knew what was going on, he could feel it.

* * *

Rage. That was the only word Nova could think of to describe the emotion on the man’s face in front of her. His grey-blue eyes were locked on her and hadn’t left. She took a moment to look him over. He wasn’t so different than her in this form; in fact, he looked like a phoenix male. His black hair was cut short. Stubble adorned his jaw. He was tall and muscles bulged beneath the blue shirt stretching over his chest. She’d guess he had some type of military training. He was calm, even if enraged. The weapon in his hand hadn’t moved either. Her gaze drifted to the small woman attached to him – no not a woman, but a child. The girl holding his waist was terrified and sobbed quietly into his side. Her long brown hair covered her face like a curtain. The man had a protective hand on her back, and had kept her to the side facing away from Nova.

The primitive weapon he had pointed at her had yet to waiver. Had the Imanji, at least that’s who she assumed was in the house, not been there, she was certain he’d have used it by now.

Her communication device wasn’t working. The pair hadn’t said enough for it to decipher their language yet, or worse, it was broken. She hoped it wasn’t the latter.

Everything still hurt from her previous fight. She sagged against the wall for support, but kept her hands in the air. They’d had a short briefing before leaving for the shuttles about the culture on the planet. Her hand signal was supposed to be a sign of surrender. So far it didn’t seem to be working.

Her legs quivered from the exertion of standing. She slid down the wall and sat on the icy floor. Her gaze shifted from the ceiling to the man. The Imanji had yet to find the room they were in, and she hoped they wouldn’t. She wasn’t in any condition for a fight. The icy blast had frozen half her body and nearly hit her heart. It would take several shifts for her body to recover. Shifting wasn’t a luxury she had right now. One wrong move and the man just might fire his weapon at her. It might be primitive, but in her weakened condition, it could kill her. She’d have to wait it out until she could talk to him.

The minutes slipped by slowly until finally the Imanji, or whoever, left. They stayed in silence a while longer, letting it stretch between them awkwardly.

“Who are you? What are you?” the man asked. His fingers flexed and then curled back around the trigger of the weapon.

“I mean you no harm,” she said, hoping her words would make sense to them. It was one thing to die in battle, but quite another to perish due to faulty equipment and a simple misunderstanding. They were on the same side. She just had to convince them of that.

“Who are you?” he asked again. “Stay back, Emma.” He gingerly pushed the child away and took a step forward.

“My names Nova Emerick. I’m from the planet, Delphi. I mean you no harm, and I’m here to help with the Imanji threat – the yellow aliens,” she said, pointing to the ceiling.

“What does she mean?” the girl asked.

“Do you understand what I am saying?” she asked, praying her communication device was working.

The man narrowed his eyes. “Where’s Delphi?”

Thank God. They understood her. “The Acubans Star System. I don’t believe it’s in your star charts. It’s quite a journey from here. I’m here to help evacuate you from Earth before the Imanji destroy it.”

“What do you mean destroy it?” he asked.

“That’s what they do. They travel the galaxy looking for populated planets. They feed…” she trailed off her eyes going to the girl who had moved to the corner. Tears streamed from her eyes and she shook. “…from the inhabitants then they destroy the planet. My people are here to help.”

“That’s great, but I bet our military is already coordinating a plan of attack. You can go back to your ship, or whatever you came here on, and tell your leader that.” He motioned to the stairs with his gun.

Nova shook her head. “Your weapons are primitive. Your people don’t stand a chance against the Imanji. The only way to survive is to evacuate. If you’ll allow me a chance to heal myself and contact my ship, I can have another shuttle here to evacuate you and others in the area. My shuttle and many others were heading somewhere called Atlanta to help rescue as many of your people as we could. I’m sure at least one of them can come back here.”

The man pursed his lips. “And why would I go with you?”

“To save your and your daughter’s life,” she said, nodding at the girl. This was her first trip down to a planet and she was botching it up horribly. Captain Cree may never let her off the ship again, or worse, he’d send her home. She shuddered at the thought. Her parents would never let her live it down if she failed.

“James, what if she’s telling the truth. The radio—“

“Hush, Emma,” the man, James, said.

“I know you’re scared,” she said, directing her attention to the girl. Maybe if she couldn’t get through to the man, she could to the girl. “I’m here to help. My people have been fighting the Imanji for some time. They will lay waste to your planet and everyone on it. We have to leave. I’ve seen what they do to planets. You won’t survive.”

The girl’s lip trembled and she hiccupped.

“Stop scaring her,” James said. “Go. Get out of here before I shoot you.”

Nova licked her lips. Her mentor had said that this would be easy. The creatures they were sent to save would be grateful for the help. This man was anything but, he didn’t even want it.

“I’m not trying to scare you,” she said. “I’m telling you the truth. My mission is to help save as many souls as I can.”

“Huh,” James said. His finger squeezed down on the trigger ever so slightly. She swallowed but stood her ground. Her eyes darted to the barrel of the weapon and then back to his gaze when he continued, “It’s been my experience that people don’t do things just because. What’s your motive?”

“The Imanji are here because of us,” she blurted in frustration. Why wouldn’t this man just believe her already? He didn’t say anything so she continued, “They stole your planet’s coordinates from our database. We are trying to right our mistake.”

“So you led them here and now you want to make it right by what? Evacuating us and taking us to…Delphi?” he asked with a growl.

She nodded not trusting herself to speak. Her words seemed to be making him angrier. Maybe her translator wasn’t communicating with them correctly.

The floorboards creaked above them again, causing them to quiet.

“James, Emma, are you home?” a woman called out.

“Is that Sheriff Davis?” Emma asked.

James nodded. “Don’t move,” he told Nova as he stepped backwards to where Emma stood. “Keep this pointed at her, Emma. If she moves, shoot. Understand?”

Emma nodded as she took the weapon from James. He turned on his heel and darted up the stairs. Hushed voices carried down, but she couldn’t make out what was being said.

Nova studied the girl who eyed her warily. The child wouldn’t shoot her. She didn’t look like she had it in her, unlike her father. It would be easy to overpower the girl, but she stayed rooted to her spot. She needed the people to trust in her, attacking the child would be wrong and wouldn’t help her cause.

The door clicked shut and James’ footfalls thudded down the stairs. “They’re evacuating everyone in town to the high school gym. We should pack up.”

“Where is the high school gym?” Nova asked.

“Doesn’t matter. You’re not coming. Grab your things, Emma.” He took the gun from the girl, sighed, and then tucked it back in his pants.

A scream pierced the air. James whirled around to the steps as a woman cried out for help. He cursed under his breath. “The Sheriff. Emma, stay here.” He darted up the steps and shoved the door open.

“No. Wait,” Nova called after him.

James didn’t know what the Imanji could do. If they used their compulsion on him, he was as good as dead. She shared a look with the terrified girl. “Stay here,” she said, forcing her aching body to a stand and following after the man.