It's New Year's Eve, so if I'm going to update today before I get stone cold piss drunk, it'll be this experimental fic
The fire crackled as the seven of them sat on the ground around the warm glow of the fire. There was no food for Brendan or Kathrine, the large, red-haired alien told them that they could not afford to spare any. That satisfied Brendan and Katherine just fine- what the aliens ate looked like a mixture of mud and motor oil. Kathrine had noticed the tall, bald alien was had kept his eye on them for a long time, and she kept close to Brendan. Brendan was much too occupied to notice- he glanced uneasily at their dark-haired leader from time to time, who had kept his eyes, all four pupils with two in each, locked on Brendan. As soon as the crew had finished, the tall, bald creature with the deep, soft voice spoke up. "If we have frightened you, please forgive us." When neither Brendan nor Kathrine replied, the alien said, "My name is Cova. And yours?"
Brendan bit his lip hesitantly before he said, "Brendan, and this is Kathrine." Kathrine gave a tiny wave with a weak smile.
Cova looked at the tall, bulky alien beside him. "I'm Dragista," said the red-haired alien.
Dragista in turn looked at the short alien across from him. "Klamor, expert mechanic,' said the short, green-haired creature.
The small, blonde female took her queue. "Littich," she said quickly. Through the illumination of the bright fire in fromt of her, Brendan saw two small, skin-covered, demon-like horns. "And there," Littich added, jerking her thumb towards the glaring lead alien with a tiny degree of contempt, "is Battar, our self-appointed captain." When Battar only kept his eyes locked on Brendan, Littich quietly whispered, "He doesn't like to trust anyone but himself." Battar growled inwardly at Littich's comment.
By now, Kathrine had completely detached herself from Brendan. "So, why are you here on Earth?" She asked.
Littich, Cova, Dragista, and Klamor all looked at Battar. "I should start at the beginning," said Battar at length.
"We come from a planet named Tatsis, or what was planet Tatsis. Tatsis was a quiet and relatively peaceful planet, as it had been for several millenia. About three stellar years ago, we were approached by an envoy of a race known as the Kilhnians, and they offered to form an alliance with us. But when the Kilhnians say form an alliance, they mean take over and enslave planets. We fought them for two stellar years, and the war was going nowhere. Then they decided to test out their new weapon- a laser that completely scorches the surface of an entire planet. They used it, but the laser didn't scorch Tatsis. The laser destroyed it."
Brendan and Kathrine fell silent, and Battar continued. "Before Tatsis was destroyed, we managed to send a few ships into space, far away from Tatsis. From those ships, seven teams of five were formed, each made of one of Tatsis' five intelligent races. Klamor is our mechanic, Cova is our navigator, Dragista is our deckhand, and Littich is our software programmer. We are the fifth team, and our mission is to find another planet to call home."
"How'd your ship break down?" Brendan asked.
"As soon as we left on our mission, a Kilhnian fighter craft spotted us. We managed to lose it, but it damaged our ship. We've been flying with the damage for a stellar year, and now we've finally crashed here."
Dragista took a quick look around the open cliffside. "What do you call this planet, anywhay?" He asked.
"Earth," said Brendan, "and if you're looking for a peaceful planet, Earth isn't one."
"Oh, really?" Battar asked testily.
"Yeah," said Brendan, "There's a lot of people with a lot of power and too many loose screws." When Brendan gathered stares from the alien crew, he continued, "If any one of them knew you were from outer space, they'd lock you up and do all sorts of tests on you for sure."
Littich looked uneasily at Klamor. "Klamor, did you fix the ship?" she asked, hoping to hear a yes.
"Those cords should work," said Klamor, "But they won't be holdin' for long. They've got enough in 'em to move her to a safe spot."
Cova rubbed his chin. "It appears that we are not safe out in the open," he said, "We need a place to hide."
Kathrine nudged Brendan in the ribs again. "We could help you out," said Brendan, glaring at Kathrine out of the corner of his eye.
Battar opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it. "All right," he said, "It doesn't look like we have much of a choice anyway." Battar looked at his wrist device again. "We've spent enough time chatting," he said as he quickly rose, "time to get moving."
Cova and Dragista stood up slowly, Klamor pushed himself to his knee, and Littich sprung up and stretched. "Cova, hide the ship at the base of this cliff," Battar ordered as Littich kicked dirt over the fire. "Klamor, go with him. Dragista and Littich, we've got to find a way to fit into the Earthling's landcraft."
Brendan looked at his hoodless car. Even though it was now a convertible, Brendan doubted that all seven of them could squeeze into five seats. "Well, Brendan," said Littich as the spacecraft slowly began to trudge along the ground, "How're you going to fit us all in there?"
Brendan paused, and looked at his car. Walking over to its side, Brendan began to ponder, staring at the seats. Before Brendan could speak, a loud boom echoed though the air. Looking around, Brendan and Kathrine found the spacecraft to be gone. Battar walked over to the edge of the cliff, and looked down at the bottom. "They've buried it with a landslide completely," said Battar, "there's that problem taken care of. Brendan, pilot us down there. Now."
Brendan could hardly believe this was happening. "How could a harmless date turn into an intergalactic nightmare?" He moaned silently, opening the car door and stepping inside.
Kathrine took the passenger seat, and Battar, Littich, and Dragista sat themselves in the back. "Now hurry down there," Battar ordered, "I don't want to waste any more time."
Brendan reluctantly started the car. Sighing inwardly, Brendan muttered under his breath, "Why couldn't this have all been a bad dream...?"