Celia’s ‘sweet ride’ was a 1982 Oldsmobile with a musty interior and a chipped, pale blue paint job. It was twice as long as a car should be, and it drove like a tank. However, on this occasion a tank seemed fitting, as she was fairly sure she had just volunteered for war. She was the commander, the Queen Bee, leading the way down the lonely highway with her drones carefully following behind her.

She wasn’t nearly as calm and cool as she had pretended to be back at the trailer. She didn’t like driving off into the desert to confront a psycho cartel leader who was going to do something so bad that even aliens felt worried. How she even got wrapped up in this was still murky. I knew I shouldn’t have danced with a stranger, she thought sullenly.

For all her worries and doubts, however, she also felt thrilled. She had stuck to her normal routine for so long that she was bored out of her mind; her parents had been right about that, at least. When the chance for adventure came, she was leaping for it. It remained to be seen if that was going to get her killed or not.

After an hour of driving, she came to mile marker sixty-seven and a barely perceptible dirt track that led from the highway off into the desert. She slowed down her car and carefully rolled off onto the rocky, badly maintained service road. It traversed a dusty plain for about two miles, and then dipped down into a gorge where the old mine stood. Putting a mine in a gorge was dangerous business, for flash floods could come any time it rained. It also made quite the death trap if a bunch of men with guns were waiting at the bottom to ambush newcomers.

She pulled off to the side of the road and got out of the car. The motorcycles followed her off the highway and swarmed around her. The dust from their wheels made the air thick, and she only avoided coughing with much effort.

“We have to walk now. It is only about two miles across this flat area, then we’ll head down into a wash,” she said, expecting them to agree readily. “The bikes will be way too loud on this road, so we need to leave them here.”

“Walk? It is really hot out. And what about escape vehicles?” one of the men grumbled from the back.

“Yeah, this is horrible advice,” Baqtan agreed.

“Our weapons are way too advanced for them anyway,” came another snide remark.

The other men murmured in agreement, and even Xarax seemed inclined to ignore her and barge right into his doom. Celia couldn’t keep her shocked look from her face. They were insane, expecting to go in with guns blazing for a high noon shootout at the old mine.

“You can’t do that! They will hear you coming and be prepared for you well before you drive up. We need to sneak up the back!”

“So it is just over that ridge?” Xarax asked, pointing towards the distance where the mine was tucked away from their eyes.

“Yeah, and I really thin-, “ she tried to warn him, but was quickly cut off.

“It’s ok. We get that you are scared. But we are trained for this sort of thing. You just wait here by the car and let us take care of it. Trust us. Things are much easier when you have alien technology,” he said reassuringly, flashing her a cheeky grin.

Celia’s began to burn in anger. “You can’t leave me behind! Besides, doesn’t Juan Reyes have his own weapon from your planet?”

Xarax chuckled. “Don’t worry. A weapon wielded by a simpleton isn’t a threat to us. He won’t know what hit him.”

The aliens all laughed together and restarted their bikes in unison. Giving Celia friendly waves, they started to pull off, leaving her spurting in their wake. She was furious.

“Idiots! You take nothing for granted in the desert!” she screamed after them, waving her arms for them to come back.

They didn’t come back. They didn't even turn around as they roared away. Their motorcycles brought a hum to the hot air that could be heard for miles. Cocky bastards are going to get themselves killed, she silently fumed. Maybe get us all killed, she added on reconsideration.

She didn’t know why she was so sure something bad was going to happen. After all, Xarax was right – they were the experts. But she had a sinking feeling in her stomach that the aliens were doubting just how cruel a desperate human like Juan Reyes could be.

Celia looked up at the sky where the sun rose ever closer to its zenith. It was already roasting, and it would only get worse soon. She would have to brave a trek across the rocky terrain, where the heat would make the ground shimmer like cool water every few feet, just to tempt her. It’d have to be a fast walk too if she wanted to get to the showdown before everything went horribly wrong. She set her shoulders in determination and grabbed a bottle of water from the car. Ready or not, she was committed to this bizarre show.

She made good time across the desert, having spent much of her youth scrambling over rocks and learning to avoid the numerous spiny plants that try to stab hikers. It was silent as she walked, with only her labored breathing and the occasional breeze making any noise. She usually liked the relative quiet of the desert during the peak of day, when everything collapsed into a well-earned nap to avoid the heat. Today, though, the silence only made her uncomfortable.

Eventually, she made her way to the edge of the canyon, keeping her body low and behind the scraggly shrubs that dotted the land. Down below she thought she could hear some faint talking, but the wind drowned out any chance she had to pick up individual words. Grumbling, she got down onto her stomach and began to crawl out to the edge slowly, allowing her to look below without being seen.

The first thing she saw was Xarax, collapsed on his knees. Surrounding him were the other aliens, some also seemingly hurt and dazed. The few that were still fully standing were desperately shooting bolts of lightning and blazing rays of heat towards a large bubble in front of them. A look of desperation was etched onto every one of the alien’s faces, and it cut to Celia’s heart. It did not look good.

She quickly turned her attention to the large bubble they were bombarding. Taking up half the canyon, the bubble was translucent, but had a silvery shimmer that made its outline clearly visible. Whenever one of the attacks from the aliens hit the shield, it merely bounced off, sending sparks flying dangerously out towards the dry vegetation in the canyon. Inside, Juan Reyes smirked with satisfaction as every blast failed to penetrate his dome. He seemed to be holding up some sort of staff, bedecked with jewels and shining bright in the noonday sun.

“Well, the world is fucked,” Celia groaned softly, watching Reyes toy with the aliens.

The cartel leader appeared to be alone, no doubt having the same cocky assuredness that the aliens had earlier. His confidence in himself was evident as he swung the staff around suddenly, sending a shock wave towards the huddled aliens. The last standing bikers fell over as the blast hit them. Reyes had clearly figured out how to use alien technology was going to steamroll over anything and everything in his way.

She looked around trying to figure out what to do. Escape was an option, and there was a good chance she could make it back to the car and drive away without being spotted. However, that would only delay the inevitable as Reyes came looking for victims to test his new powers on. The other option was to join the fight, but her lack of lightning-shooting abilities seemed to preclude her from that.

“Think, think, think!” she muttered, searching for any sort of out. “Juan is like a Bond villain, and those guys are always dumber than they look.”

Just then, she noticed a tumbleweed rolling across the bottom of the wash. It rolled slowly, making its way towards Reyes’ bubble. The dried ball then popped right into the bubble, as if there wasn’t a barrier there at all. Inch by inch, it made its way to Reyes’ feet; no doubt pushed on by the wind created by all the spells bouncing everywhere.

“That arrogant bastard’s shield is only good against alien blaster technology,” Celia whispered, smiling a little to herself. “The aliens who made it are probably too advanced to consider hand-to-hand combat a threat.”

Now that she suspected that the shield seemed completely penetrable by solid objects, all that was needed was something to run through the shield and get Reyes off guard. That something would have to be Celia.

The side of the gorge was steep and rocky, but Celia thought she could make it down. The trick would be to get to the bottom in one piece, unnoticed, and then somehow take out Reyes. It was risky, but there was no choice. She couldn’t allow a madman to have unlimited power.

She took a deep breath, said a silent goodbye to her parents, and then stood up.

Having grown up clambering up and down desert hills, Celia was quick on her feet. She flung herself down the cliff, hopping from rock to rock before a shred of doubt could hit her mind. That was the secret; if she paused long enough to doubt or think, her feet would slip out from under her, and she’d tumble. The momentum kept her upright, and she hopped down the side of the cliff, scrambling and sending rocks flying as she landed on the very edge of boulders. She’d always thought that walking on the edge was safer, because then she knew exactly where she was in relation to disaster. Today was no exception; she knew that she was straddling the very edge of chaos.

She hit the bottom of the gorge quickly, before anyone had even turned to see her. The sounds of the fighting had drowned out her wild descent, and she decided to take full advantage of the surprise. She flung all five foot two, one hundred pounds of her body against the shimmering bubble. She popped through with hardly any resistance and began to pick up momentum as she neared Reyes.

At the last possible second, Reyes turned toward her with wild eyes, finding himself under assault from the last person that he probably ever expected. He raised the staff, preparing to fight her off, but he was far too slow. Years of being protected by gangs of henchmen and a terrible reputation meant Reyes hadn’t actually gotten his hands dirty in a long time. His body felt soft as Celia slammed her shoulder into it. All of her hard work in the shop, lifting big boxes of snacks, had developed her arm strength. She was able to grab the staff and wrench it free of his grasp with relative ease.

“Fucking hell!” he screamed, trying to regain his footing. “Puta!”

“What did you call me?!” she yelled back, taking the staff and swinging it at his face. The scraps of Spanish her mother had taught her were enough to know that Reyes had crossed a line. “I’ll show you a fucking puta!”

Thrashing wildly, she managed to make contact several times, smashing him across the arm and shoulder with the heavy metal staff. The rod was quite heavy, and her rage had turned into a formidable weapon. Juan Reyes was soon on the ground, trying to crawl away from her while spewing the most hateful things he could think of. Every time he cursed, she just slapped at him again with the staff.

It was fun. Almost too fun.

“Whoa, whoa, I think you’ve had enough,” a low voice said close to her ear.

Celia turned around to face Xarax, his face ashen and drawn. His eyes were bright though, and he flashed a tired grin at her. Celia heard a scuffle behind her as several more of the aliens descended on the prone body of Reyes. They were trying to rip the alien rings off his fingers, with no gentleness at all.

Xarax held out his hand. Sighing, she looked from the staff to him. It was only with the utmost hesitancy that she handed over the item to Xarax.

“I take it this is what all the fuss was about?” she said, panting slightly from her attack.

“Yes it is. It’s an object of such power that most humans couldn’t even comprehend its true might. And yet you used it like a hammer,” Xarax laughed softly, taking the staff gingerly.

“It was effective. Not pretty, but certainly effective,” she replied, turning around to watch the aliens drag a now hog-tied Reyes across the ground towards their bikes. They had wrapped some sort of glowing rope around his limbs; the rope seemed to be slightly shocking him with every movement he made. “How did Reyes ever get this hands on this? I doubt he flew to your planet himself.”

Xarax sighed. “We are still working on that. Someone on our planet must be running a secret weapons ring. Taking things off-world and then selling them to the highest bidder. How he or she managed to find Earth, and why they’d want Earth money, is still a mystery.”

Xarax reached out to touch her shoulder. Regret dripped from his voice. “We can’t thank you enough. So please don’t be angry. I hate to do this to you after all you’ve done, but it is for the best. And…maybe I’ll see you around.”

Celia felt a warm heat move through her body. It started at her shoulder, and then snaked its way up her neck towards her head.

“What are you doing? You better not be hurting me! I saved you, you jerk!” she yelled at him, just before everything went black.