So the name of the place was 'Teskor', or that's what the translation sounded like. We hadn't been able to read the Ruhar script on the map. I pointed to my chest. "I am Joe Bishop." My rank I left out, not sure if 'sergeant' would be meaningful to aliens.

The hamster nodded. "I am called Lester Cornhut."

"Lester Cornhut?" I asked, surprised, I swear to God, that's what the translator said in my ear. We'd been told that names were not translated, so the sound of  'Teskor' and 'Lester Cornhut' came through just the way he said them, in the slightly squeaky Ruhar voice.

The hamster said "Yes", and smiled.

Baker asked me on the tactical channel "Did he just say his name is Lester Cornhut, or Cornhole?"

"Cornhut," I replied, with the translator function paused, "there's a 'T' sound on the end of it." The four of us got a good chuckle, and agreed that 'Cornhut' an excellent name for a hamster farmer. I turned the translator back on. "You are the leader of this village, the leader of Teskor?"

"No leader, no government here." He pointed from one end of the village to the other, I guess he meant a place that small didn't need any form of government. "I was chosen to speak with you. We will cooperate as instructed by," my translator made the humming sound it did when it didn't understand something, "and we hope your time in Teskor is pleasant. This is a good place."

Enemy species or not, Lester hadn't personally attacked Earth, may not have ever heard of our home planet. Hearts and minds, I told myself. We had a brief discussion, confirming he understood the date the people of Teskor would leave for the trip to the space elevator, and that we would be commandeering a farmstead on the outskirts of town. Lester told me they had already cleaned the place in preparation for our arrival, the family who had lived there lost a son when the Kristang took the planet back, and had moved away months ago to live with relatives. We put up our posters, drove to the other end of town and back, and the drove out to our makeshift Command Post. All in all, our entrance to the village was anticlimactic. After we got to the house where we'd be staying, I waved the Chickens off, and we started unpacking our hamvees. I left like we were children playing House. I sent a message to Shauna, but it didn't connect, possibly she hadn't landed yet.