Chapter 6: The Wedding

Jenny paced back in forth in her room. Her nerves were on edge as she walked in her cabin. All around her room hung the items for her upcoming wedding to Ted. She knew it was supposed to be a day of celebration, but with the casualty count still coming in from Reno, she was terrified that something would go wrong. Jenny stopped as her eyes fell on her long white wedding gown. Even with Jessica and Amy acting as their wedding coordinator, the date had been pushed back a few days due to the trial of the Navy Seals.

"Amy! Is everything going as planned?"

Amy appeared and smiled at the young soon to be bride.

"Yes. Everything is going as planned. In fourteen hours you will be Mrs. Jenny White, I promised you this."

"I'm just so nervous, I can't calm down. I feel something is going to happen to ruin it."

"Nothing is going to happen. Now, your bridesmaids are all down in the spa. Therefore, I suggest you go and join them. I have Ted occupied, and the passageways are shut down on both ends so no one can see you."

"I don't know ... There is so much..."

"I can handle it! Now go!" Amy said as she activated several force fields in the room, and gave Jenny a nudge.

Jenny felt the fields gently push her towards the door of her quarters.

Down on level fifteen, or the 'Oscar' deck, ten women and young girls were floating in the huge spa, soaking up the heat as they relaxed before the wedding.

Tammy crawled out of the water; her nude body was dripping as she padded across to the replicator.

"Replicator, one bottle of water, 40 degrees."

The bottle of water appeared as the spa door opened, and Jenny walked into the room. Grabbing her bottle Tammy walked over to Jenny and gave her a kiss on the cheek, and whispered in her ear.

"Hey, Sexy, glad you could join us! You don't know how bad I want to make love to you. But it's yours and Ted's day, today. Maybe one day, after the wedding, we can have some fun together."

Jenny blushed and felt herself go wet as she remembered all the good times she and Tammy had shared. Then she smiled at her.

"Thanks. I enjoyed all the times we shared, but I will not cheat on Ted. I will feel him out on it, but I won't go behind his back."

"I know, Lover," she said. Turning to the other seven females, she shouted, "Okay, now! Who is overdressed, in here?"

"JENNY IS!" was quickly shouted across the room.

"Come on, Jenny, join us," shouted Jenny's cousin from the huge spa.

Lori Thompson stood up. Her six foot three inch frame shed water as her damp brown hair hung down her back. Walking towards her cousin, her thoughts drifted back three days, to when the shuttle had landed on the University of Texas campus.

Jenny watched the view from one of the vid-screens, as the Raven class assault shuttle she was flying headed towards Austin Texas and the University of Texas. She was going there to get her cousin. On the screen, was the city of Austin spread out below them as they passed the clock tower.

Lori was coming out of The Frank Erwin Center. It had been a hard morning of basketball practice on the court. She was thinking of lunch, and how the new moves for the team, just might win them the championship, when a sudden loud noise shattered the silence. She looked up to see a ... something ... that was bigger than four tractor-trailer rigs, flying overhead ... Flying? Without wings? It began to land in the Darrell K. Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium. Quickly, she joined the crowd heading that way to see the huge thing. They all came to a stop about fifty feet away, as a ramp extended from the rear of the ... whatever.

As the crowd gathered, an external speaker came on.

"Would Lori Thompson, please come to the ramp. I repeat, will Lori Thompson please come to the shuttle's ramp."

Lori's blood froze in her veins, as the voice said her name.

'Why would they want me?' she asked herself as she slowly started walking through the crowd.

She came to a stop at the bottom of the ramp, which had descended from the rear of the...

'Well, it's gotta be a spaceship, ' she thought.

The doors opened and two huge men walked part way down the ramp. Around their waist was some type of weapons mount. The weapons were pointing up and away from them as they stepped onto two small platforms. They did something to their weapons, and they started glowing. They adjusted the weapons so that they pointed outwards, above the crowd.

Lori was so busy watching the soldiers, that she missed the hatch opening again. She heard a gasp, looked up, and 'her jaw hit the ground'. Stunned, she watched her eighteen-year-old cousin started to walk down the ramp. Jenny was wearing a midnight blue uniform, with two and a half silver stripes on her shoulders. She walked down the ramp slowly. Her low heals clicked loudly in the silence.

Jenny kept her eyes on her cousin as she walked down the ramp. Stopping a foot above her so that she was looking the taller girl in the eyes, she smiled.

"Hi, cousin. How are you doing?"

"Jen ... Jenny?"

"Yep. I said I had a surprise for you, in the letter."

"Yes, you did ... but I expected you saying you were getting married or something ... but this? What is this?"

"I ... it's hard to explain. But I will try. But let me do it for all of your classmates as well."

Lori looked around at all the college kids, and then back at her cousin.

"Okay, go ahead. I think you have a captive audience."

Nodding her head to Lori, Jenny activated her com unit, 'Speakers.'

'You got it, Jenny. Speakers on, ' Tammy replies through the com.

The speakers squealed, as all speakers do, and then Jenny started talking.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Jenny Thompson and Lori is my cousin. I want to tell you all a story, which will happen in about five hundred years from now. Some of you may believe, and some may not. That is your right. In the future, Earth (or Terra as it is also known) is at war with a race called the T'Lari..."

Two hours later, the shuttle was flying across the Atlantic, towards Portsmouth England. In the lounge, Jenny and Lori were talking about the upcoming wedding while Tammy flew the shuttle.

"Ma'am I'm getting radar pings from a USN Battle fleet."

"We better skirt them, Cindy. We don't want to piss off the US Navy, right now." Tammy said as she adjusted her heading by twenty degrees.

Aboard the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, the ship's alarm sounded 'battle stations' throughout the ship, as a large craft was detected coming at them. It was traveling at roughly 28,000 feet and at a speed of mach 6. On the flight deck, two F-18s launched from the catapults and went to full afterburner, climbing to form a line between the carrier and the strange craft. Commander William Barlow and Lieutenant Commander Michael McCall leveled out their fighters at 30,000 feet and started arming their weapons.

Commander Barlow turned on his radio as he finished arming his weapons.

"This is Speeder of the United States Navy, be advised you're approaching an American battle fleet. If you do not alter course you will be fired upon."

"Roger that, Speeder. We are adjusting course. Be advised, we will fire back, if fired upon."

William looked for the ship coming towards him. Then it was there, and then it was past him. Yanking the stick back, he stood the fighter on its tail, made an Immelman turn, and went to maximum afterburners. It didn't help, his craft continued to fall behind.

"Who are you?"

"Lieutenant Commander Tammy White, Federation Navy. You can find us on the web. We are looking for good pilots. Goodbye."

Tammy smiled as she closed the com link down, and adjusted the ship for a direct heading to Portsmouth England. Flipping the frequency, she tapped into the British phone system and dialed the operator.

"Hello?" Carla said into the phone.

"Good evening, I have a person to person call to Carla Jenny from a Miss Jenny Thompson."

"I'm Carla, I will speak to Jenny."

"Please hold."

"Okay."

"So while Ken was in the coma, we were really depressed thinking he was going to die. That's basically when it happened. Ted asked me to marry him, and I said yes."

"Wow, that's so romantic. And to get married in space sounds so cool," Lori said. She looked out the window and then continued, "So now we are getting your pen pals so they can be in your wedding."

"Yep, and to finally meet Carla and Louise will be so cool. I have written to then for eight years, now..."

The com came on and interrupted Jenny. She reached up to the overhead panel, and hit the com unit switch.

"Jenny, here," she said.

"Jenny? Oh my God! How are you, girl?"

"Hi, Carla, I'm on my way to Portsmouth and was wondering if you could meet me at Kingston Park, at the soccer fields? I will be there in thirty minutes."

"HERE?" Carla said in a high-pitched scream.

"Yes, there," Jenny said as she smiled at her cousin.

"Yes ... yes, I can be at the pitch in twenty minutes. What are you wearing so I'll know what to look for?"

"Believe me, you will know us when we arrive, we will be in the biggest vehicle in the area."

"Okay, I will see you then. I want to know why you haven't written me. I thought you were dead when those terrorists set off that nuke in Reno."

"Nope we were safely away, but a lot of the city is gone. I will explain more when I see you."

"Okay, ciao."

"Ciao."

Seventeen minutes later Carla Jenny walked into the large park. Stepping up onto one of the benches, she looked for her pen pal, or a very large vehicle, but saw neither. Reaching into her carryall, she opened a baggie and pulled out a stalk of celery coated with cream cheese, she started nibbling it as she watched the time count down on her watch.

As she finished the last bite, she heard a roar. She looked around and then noticed everyone looking up, and she did the same. The blood ran from her face as she watched the strange craft set down on the football pitch. The ship filled the playing area as steam belched from the bottom of the ship. Then a ramp started coming down at the rear. People screamed and started running away. Carla jumped down from the bench, and started moving towards the gate when a loud speaker came on.

"Don't be afraid, we're Americans. We will not hurt you."

Carla froze, as she knew that voice. Turning she looked back at the ship and saw several people come out of the door, at the top of the ramp. They slowly descended. From where she stood, Carla could tell they were female from the shape of their outfits. Moving closer her eyes lock onto to one she recognized, and then she was running ... she did not come to a stop until she was halfway up the ramp and was hugging Jenny.

"How? What's going on?" Carla asked."

"It's a long story, but I want to know are you still being bothered by that asshole ex-boyfriend?"

Carla lowers her head sniffled, and said, "He is living with me, again."

"Carla Jenny, when are you going to stand up to him?"

"I ... Jen, he scares me so much. What if he hurt my gramps? I don't know what I would do if he did."

"Well, he won't. Come on," Jenny said as she looked at the two Marines and they started following her down the ramp.

"Jen ... no he will be mad."

"Not when I'm done with him. Let me guess he is at your home playing a game on his Playstation?" Jenny asked as she looked over her shoulder at Carla

"Probably, I'm supposed to be going to work, that's what I told him when he got back with his beer," Carla said as she hurried after her friend.

In the distance, the wail of police sirens could be heard as well as the distant thumping of helicopters. Walking out of the park, Jenny started walking down the road. The pair of Marines spread out and flanked the three women as they walked and talked.

Walking along, Jenny glanced into one of the windows. She spotted a beautiful, light brown, Point d'esprit teddy.

"That's perfect," Jenny said.

She turned into the doorway, pushed the door open, and walked into the store

"What's perfect?" Carla asked as she followed her friend into the store.

"This," Jenny said, as she held up the sexy teddy.

Carla blushed and looked around, "Isn't it a little revealing."

"I hope so. One reason I came to see you, is that I want you in my wedding."

"WEDDING? Why didn't you say so? Who is it?" Carla said as she hugged Jenny.

Jenny hugged her friend and then kissed her cheek. Turning to the sales women she said, "I want two of these. One brown and one white."

"Yes, Miss. I have both colors, and may I say congratulations."

"Thank you," Jenny said as she turned back to Carla. "It's Ted. We are getting married in three days, and I want you to be there."

"Oh, I couldn't, I don't have leave. I would need to get a passport to come to America."

"No, were getting married in space. You saw the shuttle. I'm not an American anymore, I joined the Federation."

"I wanted to ask you about that. How ... what is going on?"

"Girl, I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself. So, let's get your stuff and get you out of the city, and away from that jerk. You never know, Ted may like you enough to take you as a second wife, and I would be thrilled to have you as my sister wife. Ken, you remember him? He is engaged to three women right now."

"Your brother? That ... that cheating bastard. I thought he was so nice. He seemed," Carla stopped talking as she saw that Jenny was smiling at her.

"What's so funny, Jenny?"

"You're. Ken is deeply in love with Tammy, and two other women. They all love each other as well."

"Miss that will be one hundred and ten pounds, or two hundred and nineteen dollars and fifteen cents," said the sales woman.

Reaching into her pocket, Jenny pulled out her wallet and extracted three one hundred dollar bills. "Here you go, and keep the change."

"Why thank you miss. Here is your package. Once more congratulations. Before you go could I ask a question?"

"Yes, you may." Jenny said as she took the package.

"What is this Federation? I saw the huge ship land in the park. Have we been invaded?"

"Goodness, no. Do you have a laptop here with internet access?"

"Yes, I do."

"Good show me to it, and I will load a web page for you and you can read about us."

"Okay. That sounds good, please follow me."

The sales woman led the three women to the back of the store and pointed to the laptop behind the counter.

"There you go," she said.

Jenny stepped around the counter, activated the web browser, and started typing the web address into the system. When finished she stepped back, leaving the page up for the woman, after book marking it.

"Enjoy and I hope you decide to join us ... Miss, ahh..."

"Mary ... Mary Worthington. I used to be a nurse, but was fired because of seizures."

"Mary, if you decide to join us. We will cure anything you may have, including seizures. If you want to be a nurse again, you can. You can even be a doctor if you want to be."

"I will study this and think on it. Can I email you if I have more questions?"

"Yes, you can, put in the header for my eyes only. My name is Lieutenant Commander Jenny Thompson and I will get it. Now I need to talk to my bridesmaid and then get to Bogotá to get my other bridesmaid."

"Thank you and once again congratulations."

Jenny and her companions walked out the door and headed down the street. The Marines spread out and flanked her while they walked. Coming to an intersection Carla turned right and came to a dead stop. Her dark completion went to a ghostly pallor, as she watched a man coming towards her.

"Carla, what's wrong?"

"It's him!" Carla whispered.

Jenny's enhanced hearing caught the barely spoken words, and she looked at the huge man coming towards them.

Mark 'Mutt' O'Bannon tossed his empty beer bottle in the alley and belched. Looking up he saw his cunt coming towards him. With a sneer, he saw her flinch, and then he noticed the two other cunts with her.

"Damn bitch, she was supposed to be working. I'll teach her to lie to me."

Clenching his fists, he stomped towards her.

Carla started to back up. Jenny startled her when she stood in front of Lori and her.

"You must be Mutt."

Mark blinked as the small woman stepped forward.

"Ya I am, now get your ass out of my way. I have some whipping to deliver to my cunt."

"You will never lay a hand on her again."

Mark swung his massive fist at the small woman.

"Bitch you don't tell me ... ayiiiii."

Jenny moved quickly. She had the bastard's hand and using her enhanced strength she dropped and her right foot came up catching Mutt in his balls. Mutt continued up and over the Mercedes Benz parked at the curb.

Mark slammed into to the street's pavement, and jumped to his feet. Growling in anger, he turned and charged the woman and smashed into the wall, hard enough to make his knees sag.

Jenny watched as Mutt charged in and reacted, turning with him. She released his arm after grabbing it and swung him into the wall.

"Had enough, Mutt? I don't want to kill you."

Turning around quickly, his speed startled Jenny as his hand came up and slapped her across the face. Jenny flew backwards and onto the Benz. Shaking her head, she rubbed her jaw.

"Asshole! That hurt," Jenny said as she moved back in.

"Come on, bitch, I'll 'bitch slap' you some more."

With his final word, he lunged at the woman, and grunted in pain. The air left his lungs as he was punched in the stomach. He felt her small fist hit his backbone. Bending over he threw up the beer and mutton he had for lunch, all over the sidewalk. Going to his knees, he gagged, trying to catch his breath, as stars came to his eyes. He lifted his head and looked at the woman standing three feet away, and then he toppled to the sidewalk, out cold.

Jenny watched as Mutt fell to the pavement.

"Medic, check him out."

Turning to her friend and cousin, she saw that their mouths were open in shock.

"Come on. Let's get your stuff, Carla. You're not coming back here. I don't trust him not to kill you when I'm gone."

Carla followed Jenny in shock. They arrived at Carla's apartment building, and went up the stairs. One of the Marines followed as the other turned and ran back to the park.