Star Wars: the Covenant

Chapter 6

"Helen! What are you doing?" Cris yelled. Helen ignored her brother and just kept on driving. When they reached their farm Helen didn't even bother opening the gate, she revved the speeder's engine and blew right through the wood and onto the long stretch of road leading to the house. She could already see her parents running toward them from the farm house. She pushed on the breaks and the repulsers answered with a screech and a lurch.

Helen's father ran to her window, clearly confused and worried "Helen, what's going on?" he asked softly. Helen's mother stood silently behind her father, also awaiting an answer.

Helen took a deep breath and looked her father square in her eyes. "Dad, remember that alien ship I told you about?" Helen asked quietly. Her father nodded. "I think they are coming to invade the planet. Which is why we need to take what we can and get out of here."

Helen's mother turned away shaking her head, her father only stared at her with disappointment. "Helen" he said, his voice still soft, she always did like it when he talked like this. "There are thousands of intelligent beings in the galaxy. Why would an advanced alien race want to invade a simple farming planet? It just doesn't make sense"

Helen tried to argue but her father cut her off, his voice now stern."Now we are going into town to get some supplies, we need more seed after the next harvest and you'll need more wood if you're going to make a new gate to keep the animals from getting out. Do you understand?" Helen only nodded. "Then both of you get in the back and wait for your mother and I."

Helen did as she was told and sulked as she climbed into the backseat with Cris. She watched as her parents walked back into the house

"Helen you can't know for sure if those things you saw were drop ships" Cris said, "They could have just been some space junk that happened to cross in front of the alien ship"

"I know what I saw, they were ships not space junk" Helen mumbled.

Cris shrugged "whatever, If you want to believe we're being invaded then be my guest." Helen was about to argue back but came up short when her parents got into the front seats.

The trip into town was quiet and largely uneventful, but Helen wasn't wasting her time. Her mind was racing with plans on how she could get her family to safety.

When the speeder entered the town her father spoke up.

"You two are going to have to get the supplies on your own, so Helen I'm going to give you fifty credits and you better spend it on what you need to rebuild that gate, understood?" Helen nodded. The speeder came to a stop outside the town's only hardware store where Helen and Cris crawled out of the speeder. They shut their doors and turned to the hardware store.

"I still don't see why I have to come with you," Cris whined as their parents drove off. "I mean you were the one who totalled the gate"

Helen turned to her brother, knowing she might regret her next choice "Cris I hope to the force I'm wrong about this. Come on, we're not getting supplies"

Her brother stood there confused, "What? You destroy the gate and now you're going to spend dad's money on... Wait, what are you going to spend it on?"

Helen stated walking down the side walk, "come on and I'll show you"

The two siblings walked several blocks to the edge of town before reaching their destination.

"Why are we going into a hunting lodge?" Cris asked.

"Because they have what we need" Helen replied.

Helen led the way into the lodge. Inside there was a small indoor cafe off to the right. Lining the ceiling sat several hunting trophy animal heads. A dozen or so off worlders conversed about hunting opportunities on Vespae and other nearby worlds.