Chapter 9: The Hall

"Ohhh..." Dregg mumbled as he opened his eyes, then quickly closed them again from the glare of the white light above his head.

"What happened, where am I?" he asked in a stronger voice.

"You're on the Falash, my friend, It seems you fainted from over exertion," Tom said as he helped the gray alien sit up on the bed.

Dregg rubbed his eyes and smiled at the concerned human's face. Tom was giving Dregg an attempt to find another reason for fainting than the obviously true one.

'I was literally scared to death, at the thought of sparring with Bets!' he thought to himself looking at the worried expressions on all three of the human's faces.

Standing up Dregg bowed to the smaller but most definitely greater warrior and then took Bets hand.

"I most humbly asked your forgiveness, my dear friend. You have taught me all too well that I still have much to learn. I will seize each and every opportunity to do so no matter what the source may be," he said and then kissed the redhead warriors hand.

The little redhead's jaw dropped as her face turned as red as her hair. She never had felt so bad about putting someone in their place, as she did, now. The little guy was indeed a true gentleman, and showed honor and diplomacy, as well.

"Thank you so much my friend Dregg, I only ask that you forgive me for letting my temper come between us. I promise it will never happen again, as long as I live," Bets said softly.

Dregg shook his big head profusely. "No, no, no, the fault was indeed mine my lady. I am appalled at my lack of tact. I deserved anything you might have done to me. I consider myself truly fortunate that you showed such restraint, after my harsh and idiotic words."

"OK! We get it, guys!" Tom suggested, finally.

He knew this back and forth could go on forever, and there was way too much work to be done before their departure.

Bets winked at Dregg admitting, "He's right, of course, my friend. Let us put this behind us, and move on to a better understanding of each other."

Dregg smiled at her and took her arm leading the way out of the regeneration chamber.

"It's true you know, we really need to get to know each other better, since you seem to be the one with all the brains in this outfit..."

Tom watched the two of them take off like they were old friends leaving him and Tommy standing there gawking.

"Ahh ... Well at least she's not trying to kill the little guy now," he remarked, grinning at his son.

Tommy nodded, mesmerized at what had just happened. He shook his head in confusion.

"Dad, did you follow all of that fancy talk they were doing?"

Tom frowned at his teenage son.

"Nope not really, but knowing the workings of the female mind is something no man can really understand totally. And if a guy tells you different he's either a liar or a fool so stay away from him," Tom advised ruffling his son's hair as his frown turned to a grin.

"Well, they should be busy for a while planning, and sucking up to each other. Want to go try out the new Dregg AI's?" Tommy asked hopefully.

Tom laughed at his son's question; he had already anticipated the boy's endeavor to get back to what was really important. Shooting a new toy!

"You got it, bubba. We'll sneak out of here, as soon as I can find out where the guns are on the ship, from Miss Falash. I don't want to go anywhere near the house right now, just in case your mom wants to sidetrack us again," Tom elaborated to his son.

"I have six more of the redesigned AI Super Mags waiting for you at the transfer station, Tom, along with two cases of the .30 caliber rounds and a case of what Dregg calls his 'new and improved show stoppers', whatever that is," Falash informed both of them from the hidden speakers in the room.

Tom's eyebrows went up in surprise at the last part of her announcement. He wondered just what ole Dregg had cooked up now.

"Thank you Miss Falash, you have helped a poor old man avoid a certain arch enemy that would keep myself and my son from having a few moments of true joy."

Tommy elbowed his dad in the ribs as they walked to the transfer room.

"Geeze Dad, she's not that bad," he replied sarcastically, that was until his eyes caught sight of the weapons leaning against the wall of the room.

"Maybe we should let Mom and Dregg be alone for a while huh?" he said fervently nodding his head as looked at the weapons in front of him.

Tom grinned back at his son and handed him one of the Dregg AI's.

"Well, sure, boy. You know how I hate to interrupt your mama when she has company," he said winking at Tommy.

They each grabbed a case of the two different rounds and walked into the beam grinning at each other. Tommy's face dropped the grin for a second as he looked at his Dad.

"You know she's gonna be pissed about this don't ya?"

Tom winked at his boy as the light enveloped them and their bodies started to shimmer.

"Well, of course she will, bubba. But for once, we men have the real advantage in this scenario."

Tommy did the Groucho thing with his eyebrow. "And what's that, Dad?"

As Tom started to answer the blue light locked their bodies motionless so Tom could not answer for a second. Then the beam was gone and Tom and his son were in the backyard again.

"She can't say anything, 'cause, we'll just mention how she almost killed a poor defenseless, 80lb bony assed alien," he divulged smiling as he nodded his head at the barn in the back of the yard. "Now let's move before the enemy discovers our location, sailor," he ordered, grinning.

The two of them quickly made their way to the barn and not relaxing until they were inside. Letting out a sigh, they loaded the rifles and ammo onto the back of the two ATV's they used for hunting and covered their gear with the cammo tarps on the rear racks. Quietly they opened the rear door of the barn, and begin to push the bikes down the slope to the ravine in the distance.

"We going to Jesse's place, Dad?" Tommy inquired huffing a little from the exertion of pushing the big ATV.

'This dang ATV is a bitch to push very far, but if it keeps Mom from coming out, I'll push it all the way to the danged range!' he thought to himself.

"Yep, that we are, boy. But we're not going to the regular range, this time, so you're in for a little surprise," Tom predicted as he pushed his four wheeler into the old drainage ravine.

A few minutes later they were a good half a mile from their house, and figured it was safe to start the bikes up. Tom cautioned his son to wait, as he needed to call Jessie on his cell phone, to let him know they were coming over.

Tommy listened as his dad explained that they needed to use his real range.

The boy's heart rate shot up to a mile a minute as he realized what his dad was talking about. They were going to the REAL range!

It was not common knowledge to most people, but the retired General had an underground range on his vast ranch.

With all the contacts the old man had from his past life, he managed to get his hands on some of the most advanced weapons and prototypes from all over the world. Jessie was a rancher that offered his expertise as a consultant to the different weapons manufactures around the world. Thus the need for the hidden range that very few people knew about.

There were only a handful of men in Texas that knew about the special range and luckily Tommy's Dad was one of them.

'Boy is Jesse in for a surprise! I'll bet he's never shot an alien rifle before!' Tommy thought as they crossed over the cattle-ramp, and into the back pasture of the Circle J ranch.

Tommy had never been to the secret range, before. He had only been to the big open range against a tall hill, that most of Jesse's friends used. This would be his first time into the secret range, and his last, since they would be leaving soon. His eyes watered a little bit either from the wind hitting his face or from thinking about all he was leaving behind.

They drove through a herd of cattle as carefully as they could, and came out beside a small lake. Circling the lake slowly, the two drove up to the small red barn in the middle of the pasture.

Tommy looked around a little bewildered. This is it? He thought to himself then realized that a damn secret range wouldn't have a friggin neon sign on it saying 'SECRET RANGE IS HERE!' Laughing at himself, Tommy spotted Jesse's old truck and knew this was, indeed, it.

The old 1970 Ford F100 sat outside the barn and Jessie stood waiting for them, smiling. He really only had one rule about the use of the range and that was you left something there for his collection.

'I wonder what they're bringing me, I sure hope it's not another damn M-16, ' he thought, as the two rolled up beside him.

Tom nodded at his friend.

"Well, old timer, how's the world been treating you?" he asked, grinning at his friend of twenty-five years.