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~A month later~

"Commander, what's the status report on the Captain"? Chief Makaizul asked. For the past month, he had been serving as the impromptu Captain once again ever since Kazaliur had been put on stasis.

Captain Kazaliur has been recovering in stasis for a quite long time as of now. The Somatic Replicator was working, however it was working slowly. After a whole month only 50% of the damage had been corrected, 50% was yet to be done. And that is exactly how Commander Nexer replied to him, "I am aware you are concerned for your Captain,'' He began but Chief prompted him before the commander could proceed.

"I am not concerned. There is nothing to be concerned about since he is recovering successfully. It's my duty to keep a status report, which is why I am asking." Chief Makaizul corrected him.

"Noted" The Commander nodded. "As I was saying, your Captain still has a while till he recovers fully. The progress of his recovery is not linear, which makes it a bit harder for me to give you an exact time of his complete recovery, but at this rate, he will recover fully, sooner or later. In fact, if he reaches the point of spontaneous healing, we might take him off the Somatic Replicator," The commander explained.

"That won't be necessary. The Captain was clear about him reaching the full active state, therefore he must be fully recovered" Chief responded.

"Fair enough" The commander nodded flatly, "Well, I must go. I assure you that the Somatic Replicator will work fine in my absence. I have other business to attend to for now". The Commander declared.

"Thank you, for all your help" Chief prompted, did a little bow of respect and left.

The commander had to oversee a maintenance check at the landing port for the day, making his schedule extremely packed. On his way to his destination he heard all the alarms go haywire. Therefore, he contacted the only person available at the spot at that moment. "Vinah, what's the peril"?

"Sir, we have an unidentified vessel courting towards us. I am not sure of the species but they might just collide with us."

"Activate the shields" The commander ordered.

"Sir, the maintenance..." Vinah trailed off.

"Right" Commander panicked. Due to the maintenance the shields have been disabled temporarily from the main switch. Which means to turn them back on, it would take almost a day before they could control it through the software. "Give me the probable location of their landing. Accumulate everyone" He ordered.

Vinah agreed as she was asked. There was only one ship which meant that this might not be an act of invasion. Simple space exploration maybe? But still, to land on their planet they must take permission from the commander.

Commander Nexer hurried to the control room and tried to send a communication signal to the vessel. A moment later he had a visual of the inside the ship. "*&*^&$%*&" One of the people said something which Commander Nexer failed to understand. Luckily, he had a translator installed and therefore he activated the switch for effective communication.

"Who are you"? Asked one of the beings present on the ship.

"I can ask you the same thing" In a threatening manner, Commander asked. The commander wasn't always this hostile, until things changed when his home planet was attacked.

"We are running away" The one who seemed to be driving the ship answered. "Our planet is in danger, we managed to escape but we are running out of fuel."

"Which planet do you originate from"? Commander Nexer adked.

"Earth," The same person declared. The commander froze as soon as he heard this. He had suspected that these were humans based on their appearance, but due to hazy feed he didn't assume directly. After all there are other species who resemble humans, like a Lysserion.

"Earth's under attack"? Commander failed to believe it. "It's one of the most protected planets known to the entire galaxy. Not only is it protected by it's toxic atmosphere, but also its inherent multispecies ecosystem. Even the humans have high scrutiny for any alien activity. How can it possibly be under attack".

"It's a long story. If our lives weren't under threat, we wouldn't have come here, travelling galaxies away." The same person answered. "Can we land on your planet"? The person asked.

"Are you crazy"? One of her shipmates shouted at her. "We don't know what kind of aliens are there? What if we become someone's lunch"?

"If we stay out here any longer, we are as good as dead anyways. Might as well become someone's lunch and satisfy their hunger" the one driving the ship snapped.

"I can understand everything you speak" Commander Nexer prompted. "In case you don't know, this is planet Zato, a planet of refugees, who had lost their homes. If you are human you might not survive this atmosphere, so if you land you must not leave your ship."

"You won't eat us right"? The same person who was worried about becoming a lunch asked the commander directly.

"As delicious as you look…" Captain paused to observe the horrified reaction of the person, "I can assure you we won't. But first, I need to know how many of you are there"?

"We are five" The lady driving the ship answered. That vessel was way too big for just five people, so it was obvious the commander wasn't convinced. Sensing the dilemma she continued, "This was the only vessel which could make such a long trip, so we escaped in this".

After a long minute the commander sighed, "Fair enough. You have permission to land."

The connection disappeared and soon enough the huge vessel landed on their planet. Since Vinah had already gathered everyone, the huge ship was surrounded by a swarm of army. Seeing all kinds of creatures surrounding them they started to worry. "Stand down," The commander declared from the cabin. "They are our guests, let's welcome them," he declared.