Disgusted

Commander Ava Kahne clenched her fists, pulling her leather bodysuit tight from shoulders to gloved fingertips. She stood behind her pilots and stared out the spaceship's large front panel at the tiny bubble craft they were trailing. Lieutenants Cling and Wolley furiously tapped away at the control panels, barely even looking down to see what they were doing. The spaceships were only two hundred miles from Earth's atmosphere. It was now or never.

"They're just about in firing range, ma'am," Wolley said, as the ship's front arms, like a crab's pincers, came abreast of the bubble craft.

"Bring out the laser cannons, and blast these little headaches out of the Milky Way," Commander Kahne answered. She tilted her head to the left and bellowed, "Smart, I want every gunner on this ship manning a cannon and aiming at their little green heads!"

"Aye, aye, commander!" a voice yelled through the intercom.

The two green aliens in the bubble craft had been tracked for the past seven months throughout the entire galaxy. It was clear now that they were planning to land on Earth; and that just couldn't happen. That's why the STAR (Space Terrorist and Aerial Resistance) unit had been created. Commander Kahne had built her career on keeping Americans ignorant of the extra-terrestrial life-forces that constantly tried to take over their pretty blue and green planet. And these two little suckers were not going to ruin that.

"We're in postion," Smart's voice crackled over the intercom.

"Lieutenants?"

"We've surrounded their craft on both sides, ma'am," Cling answered. "It should be an easy pick-off."

"Alright, Smart, engage!"

The spaceship vibrated as the laser guns began shooting. The commander watched intently as red streams of light flew towards the bubble craft. She gaped in disbelief as the green aliens bounced and zigzagged out of harms way every time, their bulbous heads bobbing around in the bubble cockpit. After a good fifteen minutes of constant firing, the guns were forced to power down.

"Commander, we don't have enough battery life left to keep firing. What do you want us to do?" Smart yelled from the engine room. The two lieutenants stopped their typing chatter and turned to look at Commander Kahne.

She stared in disgust at the green pests who were making her life miserable. The aliens turned with mischievous sneers on their faces. One blew a raspberry against their glass bubble, while the other dropped his pants and waved his little, round buttocks at the spaceship. She could almost hear their nasal giggling in her mind.

"Where are the backup generators?" she finally asked through clenched teeth.

"We've used them too, ma'am. We've never had to fire all forty-two cannons at once, so we weren't prepared-" Smart's voice got quieter and quieter.

"Wait!" Cling cried, swinging back around to his control panel. He furiously pounded his fingertips into the keyboards, muttering "No, no, no." under his breath. "They're engaging their jump-start!"

"How is that possible? You told me they had no super speed equipment on that tiny thing!" Commander Kahne shook her head violently, making her thick, blonde braid fly around her neck.

"They have never employed it until now. It must have gotten installed at the last plasma station they stopped at." Cling stammered, trying to explain what was about to happen.

"Over-ride it!" Kahne commanded, leaning in between the lieutenants' chairs.

"I don't think we can. It's begun the charge stage already."

With a blast that defied the size of the craft, the little bubble ship rocketed forward , out of the reach of the much larger spaceship.

"And they've just now entered Earth's atmosphere, " Lieutenant Wolley said in a defeated tone.

Commander Kahne collapsed into her chair and propped her forehead on a gloved hand. "Get me the President on the phone."

Bethany Bachman writes in Philadelphia and is still struggling to conceal her bulbous, green head.

For more fiction fun, check out www.storypraxis.com.