"Here they come," thought Luca as he watched the Asteroid Mining Corp. space shuttle touch down on the company's landing strip on Earth.

 

He surveyed the room and decided there was nothing more he could do to prepare the place – or himself – for the imminent onslaught.

 

Luca adjusted his Santa hat and fake white beard like a trooper checking his weaponry for the last time before battle. And like a military man, he mentally ran through his battle plan and compared it to the experience gained during past conflicts.

 

After arriving, most of the company’s asteroid miners would be hopelessly drunk within an hour or two and easy to handle. It was the ones who were still sober enough to cause mischief he had to worry about. Like Zelotoff, the explosive expert from Sector Seven, who blew up a latrine last year. And the energy beam specialist Borinda from a fiery world on the other side of the galaxy who liked to ignite things.

 

But the visitor he feared most was Milanda the ore pulverizer operative who had a crush on him – literally. Last year the seven-feet-tall native of Planet Enormo decided to take the company’s hapless director of training as her mate. As is the custom on her planet, Milanda’s marriage proposal consisted of a long bear hug that almost crushed the life out of Luca. He was saved by the fire alarm – courtesy of Borinda – and the ensuing chaos that enabled him to escape.

 

This year his plan was to deploy a diversionary tactic. As the inebriated revelers became difficult to control, he would get a call from HQ requesting his presence at an urgent meeting. In the heat of battle when drinks are flying the ruse could go awry, but Luca hoped it would at least enable him to avoid Milanda.

 

A commotion outside pulled his attention back to the conference room’s double doors. Any minute a mob of miners would fling open the doors and invade the specially decorated room.

 

He would get through this, Luca promised himself. After all, the company Christmas party only happens once a year.