Commander Deena Larson had been in deep space for three years and in all that time she had not encountered an alien spacecraft... until now. Ship sensors detected an unidentified craft about six hundred thousand kilometers away and closing fast.
Deena shut down most of her engines and only maintained enough power to keep her ship more or less stationary. The alien spacecraft arrived at her location in about twenty minutes. The unidentified vessel was slightly larger than her own ship with several large domes running the length of its rectangular body.
Her ship's computer informed Deena that the alien craft was trying to communicate, and she gave assent to play the message. A hideous creature with eight limbs and several eyes filled her video screen. According to the computer's universal translator the alien sent greetings and referred to itself as something that sounded like "Mek."
The creature had all kinds of questions about where Deena came from and what her mission was, but she only gave vague general answers. There was something about the alien that Deena did not trust. After several minutes of conversation between the two ships, Mek admitted that he was roaming space looking for a suitable mate, and he thought that Deena was the perfect candidate.
Deena checked to make sure the translation was correct and then quickly shut down any notion that she was going to be Mek's wife. The creature reacted with anger when he heard Deena's answer, and she decided it would be a good time to say farewell to the alien ship.
Deena engaged her ship's engines and sped away at six times the speed of light. According to ship sensors the alien craft did not follow, and she was relieved to be away from the ugly beast.
Deena went to bed at her usual time but was awakened suddenly by a feeling that something was wrong. "What is the ship's status?" she asked the computer.
There was nothing but silence. Deena jumped out of bed and put on her uniform and as an afterthought grabbed a laser weapon. Entering the corridor outside her room, she saw with horror that Mek was rapidly advancing toward her.
Deena raised the weapon, but a blast from Mek's own device destroyed her pistol. The creature kept advancing and was nearly on top of her when Deena pulled a long knife from an ankle sheath and plunged it into the soft underbelly of the monster.
Mek howled in pain and his yellow blood poured from the wound. Deena continued to stab the creature until it was clearly dead. She later found out that Mek had somehow disabled her defense systems and gained entry to the ship while she was asleep.
Even though Mek was an evil being, Deena regretted the killing and made a note to herself to be more careful in the future.
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