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Chapter 9 – The Alien Threat
Gondor
(Legolas's POV)

As I predicted, Ariedel and I were the brunt of many jokes during the morning gathering in the dining hall.

"I could have sworn a pair of wolves had managed to sneak into the halls," said Aragorn.

To my horror, my own daughter scrunched her face. "That is sooooooo gross, Uncle Aragorn." Anwar gagged while the boys laughed.

I gave Aragorn a warning look. Now was not the time for such discussions in front of the children, especially my daughter, who I discovered knew a lot more than I wanted her to know.

Aragorn smiled and turned to Anwar. "Nay, Anwar, I truly believe we had wolves. They were howling and howling."

This time Ariedel intervened and threw a bread roll at Aragorn. It bounced off his forehead and landed in his bowl of porridge, which splashed the front of his tunic. That scene caused great amusement among everyone, including Arwen.

Sometime during the meal, Faramir, the Steward of Gondor arrived. With him was his wife Éowyn who was Éomer's sister. They apologized for their tardiness and joined in the merriment around the table.

I was disappointed to learn from Arwen that Gimli was not in Gondor. He spent a considerable time in the Shire with Sam, Merry and Pippin and was there now. My Dwarf friend planned to travel to Gondor with the Hobbits to attend Eldarion's birthday in a month's time. I had so hoped to see Gimli sooner. His good humor always distracted me from any dark thoughts.

When the meal ended, the children scampered off to play somewhere in the palace. Alma took Elril for a walk in the garden, taking the two tigers with her. This left me, Ariedel, my father, Aragorn, Arwen, Éomer, Lothíriel, Faramir, Éowyn and Gamling still seated at the table. I had hoped to speak to Aragorn and Arwen alone, but decided that everyone needed to hear the story at the same time.

My tension had been eased somewhat with the merriment earlier, but I knew it was short-lived. The news about the aliens needed to be told and action was required. To initiate the announcement, I asked for everyone's attention. I turned to face Aragorn, Arwen, Faramir and Éowyn, for they were the ones that did not know of the news. "I regret to inform you that the alien threat has returned."

Aragorn's jaw dropped, quickly understanding the magnitude of my statement. "What?"

Faramir and Arwen were equally surprised. They had been at the battle when the aliens attacked Minas Tirith long ago. Éowyn was perplexed, for she had not been present at the time and knew nothing first-hand except for perhaps what Faramir had told her.

I went on to tell them that an alien queen had been birthed by a Fell beast, thus giving her the ability to fly. In the meantime another alien had stowed aboard a ship bound for Valinor, killed all those aboard and managed to safely make it to the shores. The alien and the queen were united sometime after that. Since then the queen laid eggs and Elves in Valinor were abducted to be used as hosts for their young. The spread of the creatures was quickly growing.

"How do you know all this?" asked Aragorn.

"A man of Rohan was attacked and killed." I turned to Éomer, who nodded as confirmation of my statement. "Others also witnessed it and described the creature to me. It was the alien queen, now capable of flight."

"But…" continued Aragorn, shaking his head in disbelief. "How do you know what's happened in Valinor?"

"I have seen the attacks in visions and in dreams."

"What are we to do?" he asked.

I had expected Aragorn to question my visions, but was grateful that he did not. Yet I still had much to say. "I was honored last night with the presence of Nienna and Irmo. They are two of the Valar." I knew not how much Men understood about the Valar and was prepared to answer any questions they would have. Ariedel had asked many questions when I had told her of the incident before we attended the morning meal. The only thing I did not mention to Ariedel was the possibility of a ship from the stars landing in Valinor. I would bring up that topic to her alone later. Besides, there was no use mentioning it now to those that would not understand.

"What did they say?" asked Arwen.

"They will allow anyone to enter Valinor to help defeat the alien threat. They want us to bring weapons."

"They have no weapons of their own?" asked Faramir.

"Nay, there has been no need for weapons for millennia. They are defenseless and are in dire need of our assistance."

"Why do the Valar not crush the creatures themselves?" asked Éomer.

Of those that were seated at the table, only Arwen and I truly understood the ways of the Valar. She spoke before I could. "The Valar are extremely complicated beings. They have powers, but choose not to use them in some circumstances. Remember, when the threat of Sauron spread across Middle Earth, the Valar could have intervened. But they had confidence in us to allow us to fight our own battles. There are certain events we are intended to handle on our own, without the influence of the Valar."

"The alien creatures are not of our universe," I added. "The powers of the Valar are also limited in this capacity. If they had been able to stop them we would not be having this discussion at the moment."

Aragorn rubbed his chin thoughtfully and I knew he was thinking of ways to accomplish the impossible in such a short timespan. "We will take our armies to the Grey Havens and board as many ships as are available. Then we will sail West and confront the aliens as we did before."

"I have already sent word to Círdan to begin construction of as many ships as he can handle," said Thranduil. "We may need to make time to help build more, depending on how many Men we can fit into each ship."

"Unfortunately we don't have the luxury of a lot of time," said Ariedel to those around the table. "These creatures grow extremely fast and they multiply like you wouldn't believe. I don't know how else to explain it."

I remembered something else that Irmo said. "Irmo mentioned that most of the people made it to Valmar or Ilmarin, which is Manwë's own home. Manwë is another of the Valar, one of great leadership. Although most have found sanctity, there were many that were lost before they could make it to either Valmar or Ilmarin."

"When we arrive upon the shores, we should make haste to locate Gandalf," said Aragorn. "He will have more information for us."

"An excellent idea, Aragorn," complimented Thranduil. My father was not one so quick to praise anyone, especially not a mortal. But I knew he truly was quite fond of Aragorn, in his own way. "He may also be able to help us locate the queen's nesting grounds."

"We should make preparations for our journey to the Grey Havens.." Aragorn turned to Faramir. "See to it that every able-bodied Man prepares to join us. I want us ready to depart at dawn."

A few minutes later everyone stood from the table and disbursed. I glanced in Arwen's direction. She was actually smiling broadly.

"I cannot believe it. I will be able to see my father and brothers again," she told Aragorn.

Aragorn gave her a stern look. "Now, Arwen, you know it will only be for a short time."

"I know this is obviously not such a joyous time, but I cannot help the excitement I feel. And I want to take Eldarion. It will be wonderful for him to have the opportunity to see my father and brothers after so long. "

Ariedel exchanged a glance with me. "Legolas, she's really getting her hopes up. You have to tell her."

I glanced in Arwen's direction again, unable to mask the sorrow I felt so deep inside. It was such a difficult thing for me to have to tell her that her brothers had been slain. "I know. I will tell her when she and Aragorn are alone."

Gondor

Anwar stepped back from the upright flat stone she had been painting upon and admired her work. For the last couple of hours she had been painting a grey horse with a masculine rider. As the painting progressed, she found the face of the rider looking quite like that of Eldarion. It had not been intentional…but perhaps it was due to the fact that he seemed to suddenly occupy much of her thoughts. Ever since they had arrived. Eldarion seemed different than the last time she had seen him, which was only a little over six months ago. Perhaps it was because he was turning thirteen years of age. Not yet an adult, but that age brought on additional lessons in life. It was something Anwar could not wait for. She smiled at the image on the stone, thinking that it looked just as handsome as Eldarion. Then the thought brought a blush to her cheeks as she suddenly realized the meaning of such a thought.

"What are you painting?"

Anwar jumped at the sound of Eldarion's voice so near. She quickly moved to stand in front of the painting and turned to face Eldarion. "Oh, tis nothing."

"Let me see it."

She shook her head, her cheeks feeling as if they had been set aflame. When he tried to look over her shoulder, Anwar raised an arm to block the view. Then when he tried to look over the other side, she moved there. Only he did not go there as she had thought. Instead he moved in the opposite direction and tickled her waist. Anwar burst into giggles and tried to fight him off, momentarily forgetting about the painting until she saw that he was looking at it.

"Tis a likeness of me, I think."

Anwar chewed on her lower lip, not at all sure what to say.

Eldarion gave her a sideways glance and a smile. "But that is not my horse."

When he walked away, Anwar sighed in disgust of herself and retrieved her brush with the intention of painting a purple blob over the rider's face. But she found herself pausing and staring at the image again.

Brendan and Elfwine were spying from the center of the room where they had been engaging in a mock battle with wooden swords. They both burst into fits of laughter.

"Anwar and Eldarion, sitting in a tree…" sang Brendan.

Anwar frowned at her younger brother. "Stop it."

"K-i-s-s-i-n-g," continued Brendan.

"I said stop it!"

Brendan began kissing his own arm in an exaggerated manner while Elfwine laughed hysterically. "Oh, Eldarion…kiss me, kiss me."

Anwar grabbed her wooden palette of paint. "Shut up, Brendan!" She threw it at him.

Brendan ducked at the last second and the palette slammed into the far wall. He raised his eyebrows in Elfwine's direction.

"I do not think she likes you teasing her," commented Elfwine.

Anwar would have leaped on her brother if Eldarion had not re-entered the room. He carried a basket of sweetbreads. Both Brendan and Elfwine rushed over to grab some.

"Something big is happening," said Eldarion. "I saw my father's Steward gathering some of the guards and instructing them to begin mustering the Men." Eldarion sat down at a table.

Anwar reluctantly joined in after Brendan and Elfwine had taken a seat, purposely leaving the one beside Eldarion for her.

"What does that mean, mustering the Men?" asked Elfwine. He was only six, a year younger than Brendan.

Eldarion spoke with his mouth full of sweetbread. "It means that they are being called to arms. I think they are going to battle."

Anwar gave in and decided to take a sweetbread from the basket. " Battle against whom?"

Eldarion shrugged. "Not Orcs. Their numbers are not so large that they would dare to stand up against my father's army."

Brendan shared a glance with Elfwine, then turned to Eldarion. "We heard the adults talking one night. I think there is a new nemesis that challenges us."

Anwar gave Brendan a look. "Like what? What did you hear?"

"We heard nana talk to Uncle Éomer about a creature that dripped saliva from its jaws. It has lots of teeth that can easily tear through flesh." Brendan scooted closer to the table and glanced left and right, as if he wanted to be certain no one else was around to hear. "She told him that when their eggs hatch, the youngling attaches itself to the face of its prey and plants another youngling inside its mouth. Then this new youngling later bursts from the chest and becomes this creature with the dripping jaws." (mommy)

Anwar frowned. "That is such a big fat lie, Brendan. You heard no such thing."

"I swear it to be true."

"Tis not!"

"Tis so!"

Eldarion held a hand up to silence the siblings. As the oldest of the four, he felt it was his duty to bring peace. But there was another reason he wanted them to stop their silliness. "Wait a minute, I think I heard my father talk about such a creature not long ago and the battle against them. The battle occurred before I was born…before any of us were born."

Anwar turned to Eldarion. "Do you truly believe that such a hideous creature can exist? Bursting from the chest of its prey? I have heard better stories coming from trolls."

Eldarion gave Anwar a smile. "Am I to understand that you have had conversations with trolls then, Anwar?"

"Well…" Her face reddened. "Not exactly."

"There is only one way to find out," said Eldarion. "I will ask my father when I see him next."

In Orbit Around SR-682 (Arda)

The Rebel slowly orbited the large planet. To anyone looking to the stars, the dark ship would be invisible against the darkness of space.

Freak entered the Bridge and walked over to the control center where Lipinski and Zion were hovering over the digital map. "Show me what you've got."

Zion shook his head in what appeared to Freak as disbelief. "You're never gonna believe this shit, man."

"Never gonna believe what?" Freak looked down at the map and the numerous blinking red lights. He didn't need to be told what he was seeing. The red lights meant aliens. The ship sensors were picking up a whole mess of alien signatures, definitely in the hundreds. "Oh fuck, are you kidding me?"

"The sensors don't lie, boss," replied Lipinski.

Freak covered his face with his hands and took a deep breath before looking down at the map again, unable to control his frustration over this new situation. "I thought this planet was bug-free."

"We thought wrong," said Zion nonchalantly.

Freak thought for a moment. The planet had been clean of bugs. The Company later decided to set up a research base. There was no doubt in his mind they obviously had brought with them a specimen or two to work with. Did the aliens escape? Did they multiply after that, and how without a queen? If the aliens escaped from the research base, then were the scientists killed? Freak turned to Zion. "What about the base? Are there any signs of life?"

"Oh yeah," replied Zion. "All is well down there. I've got fifteen humans, two unknowns four adult xenomorphs and two undeveloped chestbursters within the compound."

So if the aliens didn't escape from the compound, then where did they come from? He frowned when he realized something Zion said. "Wait a minute. Unknowns?"

"Yeah, not human. Don't know for sure."

There was no way to find out how many aliens the scientists had to start with when the base had been set up. They had four now and the two undeveloped chestbursters had to be specimens extracted from impregnated hosts. But did the damned idiots release aliens to wreck havoc on the population? What the hell was the point of that? And what were the unknowns? Could they be clones? "This is fucking unbelievable. I wasn't expecting this shit at all."

Lipinski straightened up. "So does this mean we're going bug hunting sometime soon?"

"I hadn't planned on it, but yeah, I suppose we're going bug hunting. But I got a few things I gotta take care of first."

Zion looked up, a half smile on his cleanly-shaven face. "This wouldn't have something to do with a certain Avalon citizen down there, would it?"

Freak turned to Zion. The engineer had obviously found something Freak hadn't assigned him to look for. But it was too late now. Besides, it wasn't as if he was doing something illegal. He was just looking up an old friend, nothing more. So he played along with Zion. "Tell me more, Zee."

"I picked up an Avalon Identifier Chip…quite by accident, really."

The simple fact of the matter was that Zion had saved Freak the trouble of having to find it himself. The engineer had been far too efficient for his own good. "I take it you read the AIC."

Zion punched a series of buttons on a panel off to the side. A new image with some text cut into the image of the map. "Crystal Schuyler. She's on file as an employee of Lifesource with an unknown status as to whether she's dead or alive because she hasn't checked in to update her chip in the last seven or eight months. Hey, mystery solved. She's definitely alive."

Freak studied the image of Crystal. It was from a few years ago. She wasn't smiling in the picture, her hair was cropped short under a military cap. "Yeah, right. That's her. I'm supposed to make contact with her."

"What's she doing down there?" asked Lipinski.

The idea that Crystal was alive lifted a heavy weight from Freak's shoulders and he was elated and feeling playful. "Top secret, man. If I tell you, then I'm gonna have to kill you." Freak glanced back down at the map, at the blue flashing light. Luckily it was nowhere near any of the red ones. In fact the bugs looked like they had amassed on another continent. "Patch that signal to Dropship One. I'm heading down in a couple hours. In the meantime I wanna know how many bugs we've got to deal with."

After Freak walked out of the Bridge, Zion turned to Lipinski with a smile. "Whatta you think, Loop? Old girlfriend?"

Lipinski shook his head as he studied the image. "Nah, not his type. He likes the book-smart ones. Besides, you know he's never gotten over whatserface."

"Yeah, yeah, that's right. Where is whatserface nowadays?"

"Don't know. Last I heard she was running experiments on some micro-organisms on Alpha Zeta 3 for The Company."

"So, are you gonna help me count them or what?"

Lipinski began to count the red lights and paused when he suddenly realized he didn't have to do it manually. He gave Zion a sneer.

Zion snickered and went on to punch several buttons on the console. Somewhere on the digital map another small window opened, revealing a number representing the red lights and unfortunately the number kept increasing as the seconds ticked away…1,367...1,368…1,369…1,370...

I promise you'll see some alien action soon. I'm just trying to get my ducks in a row, or should I say aliens? I would love to hear what you think. Please review. Thanks.