The Hybrid

Chapter Three - Welcome

As the elevator goes downward, Zachary and Anna felt much more safer after being on the run while escaping from the trap. They were glad that they were going somewhere safe like an underground base until they can figure out a way to rescue the team from The Leader. The glass doors gave them the perfect view as they see a small city as the elevator is almost arriving towards its destination. It looked amazing, it's almost like any other small towns back in earth.

Once the ride was over, they followed Kalle as she led the way. The aliens stared at the humans out of curiosity and interest, Zachary and Anna felt the same as they noticed the Yunis staring at them as they walked by, they were very thankful that the people are not as hostile as The Leader and his troops.

Kalle took them to a small meeting room where a woman turns around to greet the humans.

"Well done, Kalle. I see that you managed to get the humans here safely."

"Well, I managed to get to them before The Leader's troops did. I'll leave them to you now."

Kalle leaves the room.

Zachary and Anna took their seats as the leader of the rebellion gave them introductions.

"You've already met Kalle, she is my daughter and is very good at sneaking even though I worry about her since she can be reckless sometimes. My name is Ladi, I am the leader of this rebellion against our enemy."

"I'm Zachary Morton and this is my friend, Anna Newton."

They turn to face the three members of the rebellion that was sitting on the other side.

"I'd like you two to meet Xilqon, Alvoirs and Focrill. They are the best when it comes to combat and other skills that they have as well. The rebellion is like family. Once you get along with them, they will always be there by your side." said Ladi.

"I wanna say thank you for helping us, we would've been captured if Kalle hadn't found us. But what is going on? What do they want with us? Our captain and the other members are being held captive right now, we got away before they had a chance to catch us." said Zachary.

"The Leader has a desire for power and he has his own intention to dominate his own home planet to keep it as his own utopia, he has a deep hatred for other aliens from other planets like you two. The people in the city are afraid to stand up to him because anyone who tries will end up dead." said Ladi.

"How long has The Leader been doing this? How long have you been living in this base?" asked Anna.

"He's been doing this for four years. We escaped from the city when he discovered our rebellion, we found this base while we were searching for a place to hide and prepare for any battles ahead. This base was abandoned for a long time, we fixed it up to perfect shape and been living here for three years." Ladi replied.

After the meeting, Zachary and Anna got themselves cleaned up and were given fresh clothes to wear and then taken to their living quarters.

"Besides how amazing this place is, I just hope that Captain Manson and the rest of the team are okay back there since we couldn't get them out yet." said Anna.

"I'm sure they will be okay since we've been trained on how to handle situations like being held captive by hostile aliens. Just didn't expect this whole thing to turn into a trap that was meant for us." said Zachary.

"What do you think we should do for now?"

"We help the rebellion out, train harder, figure out a way to send a message to the commander without the drones noticing it, figure out a way to save the captain and the others."

The next day, the rebellion had some drones to observe the city in order to plan the attack to get rid of The Leader once and for all. Luckily the rebellion made sure to have their drones blend in with the other drones in the city to avoid suspicion and raising the alarm, the ground troops were still searching for the humans in the city. Right now, it's too dangerous to start an attack soon. They knew that they will have to train harder before declaring war to take back the city.

During a meeting, Zachary gave them an idea on sending a message to the commander of The Leviathan while having it undetectable from the drones in the sky. Luckily, the scientists in the base's lab did invent a device that will help them send the message without the drones even noticing.

The last thing that the members of the rebellion did for today was training. First it was exercise, then it's the shooting simulator where the members have to only shoot at the enemies and not hit the civilians. Throughout the exercise section, it reminded Zachary of the days at the academy when they always have to work out to stay in shape. After working out, Zachary moved on the shooting simulator after other members took their turn.

"Now you know the rules since you've gone through this training back in earth. It will look real to you, but remember that it's only a simulation and we will determine how good you are while we are watching your performance." said Ladi.

"I have pretty good scores from my training on earth, I hope I do as well here." said Zachary.

"Definitely can't wait to see that. Are you ready for this?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

As soon as the doors open, the simulator began its programming. It was a simulation of the city streets with The Leader's troops on patrol, Zachary immediately fired his weapon when a holographic troop member tries to kill him. Zachary did everything right in training when it came to defending himself, finding a safe place to cover when it gets too dangerous, saving innocent people without hurting them. The last thing he had to do in training was kill the last troop member that was holding a young boy captive. He quickly fired and the holographic troop member instantly vanishes, the boy was thankful for the rescue.

"Thank you, human." The boy said.

Before Zachary can say anything, the boy immediately ran towards him to hug him. Even though Zachary can't feel him, it felt so real when that happens. It made him remember the time when he gave his younger brother a stuffed animal as a birthday present. His brother hugged him after thanking him for the present, the memory faded away as the simulator started to glitch.

"What happened?" asked Zachary.

"No need to worry, it was just a glitch. You did very well today, we are done for the day." Ladi replied.

Around dinner, the food was delicious. They tasted different than what they have on earth, they had berries, meat that tasted like chicken and other meat flavors that they had back on earth.

Throughout the day, Zachary noticed that the base has a holographic sky in order to keep track of when it's day or night. Right now, it was night time. When he looked up at the stars, he was amazed with how real they look even though the sky was holographic. He remembered when he was a kid, he looked at the stars with a telescope when he got bored that one night. While looking at the stars, he found the inspiration to travel across the stars and explore new planets. It was one of his happiest memories that would always cheer him up whenever he feels sad and lonely.

Anna noticed that Zachary was staring at the holographic sky, she knows that Zachary usually does it whenever he feels sad. She decided to join him.

"Are you okay?" asked Anna.

"I want to say yes, but I would be lying to you if I did. Something happened to me during the simulator. When the holographic boy hugged me, it made me remember the time of when my brother hugged me after a present that he loved so much, he hugged me while thanking me for the gift. While it felt amazing to remember a good memory of my brother, I feel sad because I miss him very much even though he can be annoying at times." Zachary replied.

"Happy memories are good. They remind us why we are here."

He knew that she was right. Remembering a good memory can be a reminder of where he is right now. Every day when he goes to explore a new planet with the expedition team, he would always dedicate each journey to his parents and brother since they died two years before he joined the academy. While it was hard for him to try to move on at the beginning, his friendship with Anna had helped him out a lot. He was very lucky to have a friend like her in his life.