Striker (The Alien Wars Book 2) (13 page)

As the teens
followed her, Frank sighed and followed. “Okay, we’ll try something.”

As soon as the
Striker powered up, Frank pulled the controls up and the aircraft started
gaining height. “There’s only one thing that I can think of, but it may not
work,” he muttered.

“Just try it!”
Lucy said, strapping herself down. “I can’t see them surviving for much longer.”

Derek looked
through the binoculars and saw that the group was still being blasted by red
bolts. He kept his eyes glued to the people as they raced across the snow,
swerving to and fro as they tried to avoid the red bolts. As they fell, he
cried out, “Oh no!”

“What happened?”
Lucy asked, worried.

“Someone got hit.
I can’t see who it is at the moment. Just wait while …” Derek lost sight of the
group as the Striker continued climbing.

“You’d better sit
down,” Frank suggested. “I’m going to give this aircraft some serious speed.”

Derek hurried
back to the others and sat down. He had just put on his strap when the aircraft
shot forward, climbing upward.

“How come you’re
climbing so high?” Lucy clutched her seat and kept her eyes dead ahead.

“The higher I go,
the greater chance I’ll have of hitting the other craft when I shoot,” Frank
shouted back, finally
leveling
off.

“What does he
mean?” Molly asked, looking at Lucy.

“I … I’m not sure.”

“Hang on tight!”
Frank pushed the controls down as far as they would go. With a sudden burst of
speed, the aircraft tilted on a sharp angle before hurtling downward.

Far below them, a
speck in the sky, the other Striker, was just visible. Frank pressed a small
round button on the controls and held it down. Red bolts shot out from the
front of the Striker and tore through the air, heading for the other aircraft.

The aircraft
shook from side to side as he headed downward and gradually gained speed as it
reached
Mount Shasta
.

“We’re going too
fast!” Derek clutched his harness until his knuckles burned white.

“The controls are
stuck!” Frank shouted. “I can’t turn left or right.”

“We’re all going
to die!” Molly screamed.

“Do something!”
Lucy shrieked, shutting her eyes.

Frank did the
only thing he could think of. He pressed a small, green button. “This is going
to be close.”

Everyone gazed
downward at the other Striker as it came closer and closer. Suddenly, a
missile-type object appeared and shot toward the enemy aircraft. It hit the
Striker in the same spot that had been damaged by the red bolts.

Everyone waited
for something to happen as Frank desperately tried to get the controls working
again.

“It didn’t work!”
Lucy screamed. She watched in horror as the Striker began to fill up the
screen. In just a few seconds, they would collide.

Before Frank
could reply, the enemy Striker blew up, producing a massive explosion. The
aircraft split in half and crashed toward the snow.

Frank desperately
tried to pull the controls up as their craft shot through the space where the
other aircraft had been moments earlier. Just as the snow came into view, the
controls responded.

“Yes!” Frank
cried out as the Striker
leveled
out, just barely
missing the snow below. For just a second, he caught a glimpse of the others
huddled next to a rock.

Molly smiled from
ear to ear. “We’re alive!”

“Thank God,” Lucy
said. “I was really worried.”

“Me too.
If that missile thing hadn’t
worked …” Derek edged closer to Lucy. “Why didn’t you use it earlier?”

Frank waited for
a moment as he slowed the craft down to a standstill. As soon as it was
hovering on autopilot, he jumped up and stretched out the cramps in his palms. “Now
that was tight!” He shrugged at Derek. “I only had one left and wanted to make
it count. Also, I had to weaken the
armor
first for
it to be most effective.”

“Hey, we didn’t
see if everyone is all right,” Lucy said. “Can we check?”

Suddenly, a red
bolt shot toward them.
Before they could do anything about
it, it slammed into the glass screen.
The
armored
glass held, but the bolt caused a small fracture, one that kept growing.

“What was that?”
Derek said, glancing down.

Frank hurriedly
scanned the nearby area and cursed as he caught sight of one of the weapon
emplacements hidden deep in the mountain. As he watched, another red bolt
screamed toward them. “They know we’re here.”

“Can you take
them out?” Lucy asked.

“I could try, but
if …” Frank spotted another red bolt, this one coming from a different
direction. “We have to flee.” He adjusted the controls, spinning the Striker
around. The aircraft shuddered as two red bolts struck the back of the
aircraft.

“How many hits
can this machine take?” Lucy asked, not sure how worried she should be.

“Plenty.
Just not
too many in the same place.”
Frank
maneuvered
the Striker until it was out of harm’s way.

Frank had just
slowed the aircraft down to a hovering position when Molly pointed to an
aircraft that had appeared through the clouds. “Look!”

“It’s the same
one that appeared over
San
Francisco
,” Lucy said.

“A Conqueror,”
Derek muttered.

Lucy frowned as
she studied the sleek, black aircraft as it slowly made its way across the sky.
“How did you come up with that name?”

Derek studied the
aircraft. Similar in shape to a B-2 Stealth Bomber, it was the length of three
football fields and triangular in shape. It was also taller as well, perfect
for carrying cargo. “I didn’t. Kenneth did. We saw one at
Lake Tahoe
one night and he
called it that.”

Lucy stared at
the aircraft. “The Conqueror is a good name for it. It looks like it could
conquer anything.”

Frank
nodded,
his face grim. “It’s an impressive aircraft.” He
adjusted the controls and the Striker started to climb.

“What are you
doing?” Lucy asked.

“Getting out of here.
That aircraft
could blow us out of the sky,” Frank replied.

“But what about the others?”
Molly
said.

Derek leaned
forward. “We can’t leave them behind.”

Frank put the
aircraft on autopilot and twisted in his seat. “What do you want me to do, Lucy?”

“Go back and
rescue them! You can lower some kind of rope, and—”

“But they haven’t
finished their mission yet,” Frank muttered. “Mike would want—”

“If the military
is wiped out, what’s the point of blowing up the emplacements?” Lucy asked. “Won’t
your people rebuild them?”

“Yes, but Mike
and I made a promise to stick to each other until the very end.” Frank
hesitated. “I’m not supposed to tell you this, but in light of the
circumstances, maybe I should.”

Lucy glared.
“What? Is there something you and Mike are keeping from us?”

Frank reluctantly
nodded. “Mike and I suspect that someone at
Mount
Shasta
is building something deadly.”

“What are you
talking about?”

“Well, it’s what
you humans would call a chemical bomb,” Frank explained. “It’s released into
the atmosphere, and at a certain altitude it explodes. A shower of dust
particles is then spread over a huge area.”

“What’s so deadly
about that?” Molly said. “Dust isn’t harmful.”

“The particles
are toxic. If someone breathes it in for a sustained amount of time, they’ll
die.” Frank looked into the shocked faces of everyone. “Now the only reason
we’re not sure if this is being built or not is that this type of weapon hasn’t
been used for a long time. But if this is used, it will kill everyone in a
massive area.”

“How large of an
area are we talking about?” Lucy asked.

Frank hesitated.
“It depends on how big the bomb is. If it’s small, it might only kill a few
thousand people.”

Molly gasped. “What
would a big bomb do?”

“Well, it all
depends. It could vary from a million to twenty million.”

Lucy’s blue eyes
bulged as she thought about what this could mean. She gingerly sat down. “How
big a possibility is it that this weapon is being developed at
Mount Shasta
?”

Frank shrugged. “I
don’t know, but we can’t take the risk. There’s no way peace can happen if
something like that occurred.”

“You’re right.
Absolutely right.”
Lucy stood up and stared at the
Conqueror.
“Can that aircraft hover over the same place for
long?”

“You
betcha
.
In fact, it hardly ever needs to land. Why?”

“Is it just me,
or is it heading for
Mount Shasta
?” Lucy asked.

Frank muttered to
himself.

“What’s wrong?”
Molly asked.

“Look, if that
aircraft is heading for
Mount Shasta
, it’s all over.”

“What do you mean?”
Derek said.

“Once that
aircraft is in place directly above the mountain, no one, not even us, will be
able to get close to
Mount Shasta
. The weapons on that thing are vastly superior to everything
around, including the mountain’s
defenses
. And don’t
forget they can also call in as many smaller aircrafts as they need to destroy
us.”

“Maybe our
military can take out the Conqueror,” Lucy suggested.

“No,” Frank said.
“That ship is impenetrable. For one thing, the
armor
is too thick. And when I say thick, I mean like a flying tank. The chance of a human
ship, or even an armada, knocking it out of the sky is one in a billion.”

“Then we’ll have
to attack it ourselves,” Derek said.

Molly stared at
her brother. “Are you crazy?”

“No, I’m not,”
Derek replied, defending
himself
. “I want to find Mom
and Dad after this, and I can’t do it if the air is thick with toxic dust. So
if I have to blow up that aircraft before I find them, I will.”

Molly hesitated
for a moment and then nodded. “Your right, but I’m coming with you.”

“Wait, hold on.”
Frank put up his hands. “No one is going anywhere. Attacking that monster of an
aircraft by ourselves would be madness. Utter madness.”

“But what if it’s
the only way?” Lucy questioned.

“I’ll contact the
members of the
Alliance
and see what they have to say. We should be able to organize
something in twenty-four hours—”

“But it might be
too late by then,” Derek interrupted. “If that chemical bomb is nearly finished,
we four might be the only shot to stop it.”

Frank stared at
the teen in disbelief. “Are you serious?” He gawked at Lucy and Molly. “Do you
really think that we have a chance at destroying it?”

Molly and Derek
eyed each for a long moment. “If my brother thinks that we do, then I’m going
to stick by him.”

Frank looked at Lucy.
“And what about you?
Are you as foolhardy as them?”

Lucy looked at
the teens. “I don’t know. I haven’t known them for that long, but from what
I’ve heard from
Logan
, they’re great children.
Children that would do
anything to find their parents.
And for that, I have to admire them. So,
foolhardy or not, I have to stick by them.”

Frank paced back
and forth, pausing every now and then to stare at the trio standing side by
side. “We might have a chance if we had five or six Hybrids. No, instead we
have two teens, a woman, and
myself
. Not exactly SEAL
Team Six here. How the hell can a team like us attack—
”

“We blow it up
from the inside,” Derek said. “It’ll be easy. Well, not easy, but way easier
than trying to pierce through the
armor
. What if we
blow up the control room? Then they won’t be able to control the aircraft and
it will crash.”

Frank shook his
head. “That won’t work. There are too many guards that we’ll have to pass
before we can get there. Besides, the
armor
in and
around the control room is very thick.”

“What about the
armory
? Isn’t there some place where all the weapons are
stored?” Lucy asked.

Frank nodded. “We
do have such a room—”

“So we blow it
up,” Derek interrupted.

“You’re like a
broken record. Do you have some explosives stashed around, ’cause I’m fresh
out!
” Frank patted his empty pockets and threw up his hands.

Derek’s face fell.
“Well, I guess we’ll have to think of another idea then.”

Frank stopped
cold and stared off into the distance. “Hmm, actually, that idea might just
work.”

“But you just
said—” Lucy said.

“I know what I
just said.” Frank sat back down and placed his head in his hands. “Just let me
think for a few minutes.”

The others were
silent as Frank mumbled to himself. He then got up and walked to the other room.
When he returned half a minute later, he smiled. “It’s going to be tough, but
we could just do it.”

“Did you find
some explosives?” Molly asked.

“A small amount.
It’s not much, but
if I get setup just right in the middle of the weapons pile, it could be enough
to blow the nearby rooms.” Adjusting the controls, Frank banked toward
Mount Shasta
. By now, the
Conqueror was almost at its destination. As they watched, one of the side
panels of the aircraft slid open.

“What are they
doing?” Molly questioned.

“What they always
do whenever the aircraft is going to stay for a period of time.” Frank glanced
around and, spotting a bank of clouds, aimed the Striker right into them.

“What are you
doing?” Derek asked.

“What I should
have done a long time ago,” Frank muttered. The Striker shot up toward the
clouds and went through them. As soon as it reached the other side, he slowed
to a standstill and worked his jaw. “Several crafts, the same type as ours,
will be flying out of that ship within moments. They’ll then do a search of the
surrounding area.”

“And you don’t
want them to see us,” Lucy said.

“I don’t believe
the person in charge of that thing knows we exist, but I want to make certain.”

“But one Striker
looks the same as another Striker,” Molly said.

“Yes, but there’s
an identification number on the rear of the aircraft,” Frank explained. As he
stood, a Striker flashed below them. He wondered if it would notice them. It
didn’t appear to.

“So what’s the
plan?” Lucy asked.

Derek suddenly
grinned. “I think I know. You’ll wait until they all fly back to the Conqueror
and then you’ll join them, hoping that no one will notice that there’s one
extra aircraft going back with them.”

Frank nodded, his
eyes glued to the aircraft down below. “As soon as this one turns, I’ll follow.”

“So once we get
into the hangar, what then?” Derek asked.

“I’m still
thinking, so bear with me,” Frank muttered. “I know that …” He paused as the
other Striker swooped around for another pass. “Okay, here we go.”

The others waited
in anticipation as the Striker flew below them. As soon as it did, Frank pushed
the stick down, and the aircraft swung down through the clouds. They emerged on
the other side a few seconds later, heading straight for the Conqueror.

Frank slowed down
and let two of the other Strikers pass him. Lucy and the others held their
breaths as they closed in on the massive ship.

~*~*~

Logan
finished
bandaging Jet’s leg. “It’s not that serious, but if you’d rather walk back—”

“I’m not leaving
now,” Jet interrupted, standing up, defiant. “I came to help you and that’s
what I’ll do.” He looked at Mike.
“How long until we reach
the entrance?”

“Not long. About
five minutes,” Mike replied.

“Let’s get going
then.” Jet took one last look up at the sky to make sure that no aircraft was in
the nearby vicinity before he followed Mike.

Kenneth trudged
along at the back, looking around every minute or so. He felt that he was
partly to blame, as he hadn’t spotted the Striker earlier, and he didn’t want
that to happen again. Luckily, they reached the secret entrance without any
further disturbance five minutes later.

Mike felt along a
portion of the rock in front of him and pressed a particularly smooth, recessed
stone. The boulder creaked open about a meter. Stale, but warm air poured out. Letting
the others enter the dark chamber, Mike gazed at the Conqueror. “Let’s move!”
He put his arm behind the rock once more, snapping the fake boulder back into
its original position, and then switched his flashlight on like the others.

“How long do we
have until this tunnel merges?”
Logan
asked.

Mike switched on
his flashlight as he answered, “Five minutes of brisk walking should get us to
the first intersection. From there, we’ll head right and continue until we
reach a cave where my contact should be waiting for us.”

“You didn’t tell
us we were meeting someone,” Kenneth said, surprised. He glanced at Logan, who
only frowned and stared at Mike.

“Can this contact
be trusted?”
Logan
asked.

Mike advanced down
the tunnel. “I’ve known him a long time. I’m confident he won’t betray us.”

“Confident?
How confident?”
Jet called after him in his loudest whisper.
“I thought we were going to come here and blast everything apart so that the
military could get in. Not to rely on someone—”

“He isn’t just
someone,” Mike interrupted. “I’d trust him with my life. Now, if we’re quite
finished discussing this, I need to talk to you about where to place the
explosives, okay?”

“Okay, okay, no
need to get all worked up,”
Logan
replied. “I just like to know what’s happening.”

~*~*~

The Striker flew
inside the Conqueror and slowed down as it followed another Striker through a
fairly wide area. Frank found a quiet enough landing spot between two other
battle-scarred ships.

Frank let out a
ragged breath. “We’re in. I can’t
friggin
’ believe
it.”

“So what do we do
now?” Derek asked.

Frank looked out
of the glass screen and watched as the pilots climbed out of their Strikers and
headed for the doors that led out of the hangar. “We wait until everyone is
gone. We can’t afford to be seen leaving the hangar. If we’re seen now, we’ll
never complete our objective.” Frank fussed over his watch. “But we don’t have
much time to play with. A maintenance crew normally comes along ten minutes
after everyone has left and checks out each aircraft, so we’ll have to be out of
here by then.”

“But won’t we be
spotted when we leave the hangar and go into the next room?” Molly asked. “It’s
not like we look like everyone else.”

“I know. I’m just
trying to think of a solution to that.” He gazed down at the floor and closed
his eyes.

Derek looked at
the few remaining Seods still talking near the hangar door. “If only we were
invisible.”

Frank perked up
and looked at Derek. “What did you just say?”

Derek hesitated. “What?”

“Just repeat what
you said just then!”

Derek made eye
contact with the others before clearing his throat. “If only we were invisible.”

Frank stood up
and looked through the glass at the Seods by the door. “Why didn’t I think of
that earlier?”

“Think of what?”
Lucy asked, not quite sure what Frank was talking about.

“We can be
invisible. At least, not all of us, but Molly can,” Frank said.

“I don’t
understand,” Molly said, confused.

“Yeah, me too.
Molly looks a lot
different from a Seod,” Derek said.

Frank nodded. “She
does now, but she won’t soon.”

“What do you
mean?” Molly asked.

Frank left the
cabin and went into the other one. He came back half a minute later with a
white suit, just like the ones that Seods wore. “These are specifically
designed for the height of our species, which, in your terms, is around five feet
one
inches
.”

“But I’m a bit
taller than that,” Molly said.

Frank shook his
head. “That doesn’t matter. Just try to slump a bit. As long as you look
relatively the same as everyone else, no one will take any notice of you.”

“But what is
Molly expected to do?” Lucy asked. “She doesn’t know the first thing about the
Conqueror. None of us do.”

“That’s why I’ll
be with her,” Frank answered.

“Will you be
wearing a suit as well?” Lucy asked.

“No, I only have
one,” Frank said.

“Then how can
you?” Derek asked. “You look like a human.”

“I know.” Frank handed
the suit to Molly.
“Just try putting it on.”

As Molly
attempted to put the white suit on, Lucy looked at Frank. “What about Derek and
me?”

“Stay here,”
Frank said. “The maintenance crew will come—”

“So what do we do
then?” Lucy said. “It’s one thing to stay here and hide, but if someone’s going
to come—”

“They won’t find
you if you’re quiet.” Frank dashed to the middle of the cabin and knelt down.
He plucked at something in the floor, and for the first time, the others
noticed that there was a hatch. He pulled up the hatch. “This is where the hand-held
weapons go. For now, it is empty. And that being the case, there should be
enough room to fit the both of you.”

“Should?” Lucy
peered down into the dark expanse. “I don’t like small spaces.”

“Good thing there
are two of you then,” Frank replied, smiling and trying to lighten the mood. “Anyway,
it’s the best we can do under the circumstances.” He turned to Molly, who was now
dressed in the suit and looked like any other Seod. He grinned. “That’s pretty
good. It should pass most tests. Now put the helmet on.” As Molly put the
helmet on, he whistled. “You look just like the real thing.”

“What if someone
talks to her?” Lucy said. “She can’t speak your language.”

“That’s why I’ll
be there,” Frank said. “Now, before you wonder why I don’t go by myself, I want
to say that I might require the help of someone if things don’t turn out the
way that they should. And, as you two are too tall, Molly is the only choice.”

“But how can you
be with her?” Derek said. “You told us that we can’t go out there because of
the way we look, so how can you?”

Frank pressed a
button and a slot in the wall opened up. He took out a silencer and handed it
to Molly. “Be careful with this. Whatever you do, don’t press the trigger.” As the
girl took the weapon, Frank explained. “Molly will be transporting me as a
prisoner.”

“A prisoner?”
Lucy frowned. “Do you
mean that there are other humans on board this aircraft?”

Frank hesitated for
a moment before he replied, “Yes.”

“Why didn’t you
tell us that earlier?” Lucy said. “There’s no way we can blow this aircraft up
without rescuing them.”

Frank shook his
head. “No, we don’t have time. We’re late enough as it is.” He turned to Molly.
“Let’s get going before the maintenance crew arrives.”

Frank covered the
door and peeked out, but he snapped his head around as Molly just stood there
like a statue. “What’s wrong now?”

Molly took off
the helmet and looked back at the others before turning to Frank. “Lucy’s
right. We have to rescue the prisoners.”

Frank stared at
the three of them. “Are you serious? Do you know how much chance of success we
have now? There’s no way we’ll be able to destroy the
armory
and rescue the prisoners. Besides, I don’t even know how many there are.”

“Why were they
taken prisoner in the first place?” Derek asked, curious.

“I don’t know,”
Frank admitted.