Horizon Seeds (Complete)

Prologue

Four years prior.

What had started as an after-hours security job for Police Constable Valerie Terrance very quickly degraded into an all-out hostage situation when gunmen wearing balaclavas took advantage of the confusion as the shuttles landed. The Othshali'i aliens exited their atmospheric space ships and walked through the crowd of onlookers. They were waylaid by another group of more peaceful protesters, and at that moment, the terrorists ran through the gaps in the line of guards and held the ten or so delegates at gun point, threatening to blow their heads off if they didn't get back into their spacecraft and head back to where ever the hell they came from.

Valerie happened to be the closest to the drama as it all unfolded. She hadn't even planned on being there that day as her Brandon had invited her to picnic in the botanical gardens. But her work partner was promoted to a desk job assisting the Senior Sergeant, and as a result Val was asked to fill in for guard duty. She really wasn't a happy lady when all the shouting started and she knew she would have to step into the fray, literally in between the gunmen and their targets, to stop it from going sideways quickly. So there she was, two shotguns pointed at her chest on one side and grey alien dignitaries flanked by feather fluttering guards on the other. She understood straight away who was the most threat.

'Calm down, please, let's just stay calm.' She held out a hand to both parties as the crowds scattered, screams and camera flashes in all directions. 'You don't want to do this. We are all here in the name of peace and trade, to learn what each of our peoples can do for each other, let's not do this violence.' She looked both ways before she decided to face the terrorists first.

'Lower your weapons and nobody will get hurt.' The taller of the two stepped forward, shaking the gun barrel in her face and she tensed as she saw out of the corner of her eye the closest Othshali'i guard move slowly towards them. 'Please, listen to me now and I promise I'll make it easy on you, but if you don't lower your gun now I can't promise you will survive the day.' The calm manner in which she asked for his compliance seemed to stun the mid-30-year old guy and he started swinging his weapon from her to the guards closing in on them all. She quickly turned around and put her hands up in what she hoped was a universal sign of surrender. The gunmen backed away warily and Val stepped towards the aliens slowly.

'Please, they have no comprehension of your warrior's prowess or how much danger they are in.' She begged. 'Don't hurt them.'

She quickly called over her shoulder for the terrorists to drop their weapons again. 'Do it quickly, or I can't advocate for your lives.' The guns wavered then lowered as she stepped back towards them when the guards advanced again. She knew by this time her own people had got all of the Earth VIPs to safety and were probably close by.

'Slowly put your hands on your heads, like this.' She tucked her hands behind her head and watched out of the corner of her eyes as the humans followed her instructions as four very large, very aggressive grey men closed in on them again. She stepped back again to shield the humans from attack but wondered why she was risking herself for two stupid idiots at the risk of her own life.

She looked to the leader of the Othshali'i as he stood behind a wall of grey body guards and almost pleaded with him.

'Please, you say you come in peace and trade, please prove that to us today. These men are ignorant, they are nobody, they don't understand your honour nor do they understand your power. Please spare their lives.' At this point she had no real idea if they were interested in killing the gunmen or not, but it sure made for great television. She quickly glanced behind her to find the human idiots were now being detained by human guards. One local police officer looked at her and nodded slowly in encouragement, but they had no idea that she was making it all up as she went along. Turning back, she saw the leader of the Othshali'i, who had come today to meet the city's leaders and tour the region. He waved a hand and stepped forward as the threatening guards retreated, sliding back into the group of feathered people.

She took a shaky breath as the robed alien before her stepped forward and extended hand, palm facing down.

'What is your name, please?' He asked in strangely lilting English.

'I'm Police Constable Valerie Terrance, Sir.' She nodded her head, it wasn't necessary but it seemed like the thing to do. Now that the drama had dissipated so quickly, she just wanted to get out of the way and avoid being the centre of attention again.

The alien bowed to her and raised his hand to his forehead as he straightened up.

'With my thanks,' He said and bowed again. Then something freaky happened. All of the rest of the alien collective bowed low also and held it longer than was comfortable. When they all straightened up as one she seriously wondered if they had practised this together in their spare time. Flushed with embarrassment she nodded again, lost for words.

'With our thanks.' He said again and then that was it. He moved across the walkway that was moments ago cram-packed with human spectators, and walked towards the council building where the human city leaders were starting to emerge from the building again after all of the action was over. Valerie took that as her cue to step back into the line she was in and put on her staunchest guard face, all the while trying to hide the tremors shaking through her body. Someone patted her on the back. Just another day in the life of one of Hamilton City's finest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~This is an ORIGINAL webnovel by author JV Findlay. Feel free to support her work over on ko-fi.com/jvfindlay ♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~