Earthborn Alliance

by Matthew DeVore

  “Has she gone crazy?” Rayland asked.

  Meghan jammed her heel onto his toes. “Shut up!”

  “Aleena,” Allison said cautiously, “what does it say?”

  Aleena turned around, and Ethan had never seen her look so happy. It was how he imagined she looked before the war—relaxed and exuberant.

  “It tells you the pilot’s name and call sign.”

  “Okay?” Conner said. “And that’s interesting because?”

  Now Meghan smacked Conner.

  Aleena looked directly into Ethan’s eyes and chuckled. “It says Capt. Ella Laven of Resfenlé.”

  Ethan was shocked to see Meghan, Conner, and Rayland’s demeanors immediately shift at the name. They were blatantly star struck.

  Aleena continued, “And her call sign was—”

  All three of them interrupted her in unison. “Red Fury.”

  CHAPTER 12

  Aleena stopped midsentence. “How did you know that?”

  Meghan stepped forward. “All of us know about Red Fury. She was first generation—a survivor. She helped form the foundation of our society. She was fearless.”

  Her cheeks felt warm. Am I blushing? Excitement coursed through her veins. This was the best news she could’ve heard. Well, best news given the circumstances.

  Her best friend. The person closest to her in the entire world had survived.

  Aleena felt a little light-headed. She made it. Then reality hit her hard. Ella was still gone. Even with an Elvish lifespan, her sweet, intoxicating, ridiculously funny friend would’ve died thousands of years ago. Her heart sank, overwhelmed by a complicated mixture of sadness and joy.

  “She was my best friend,” Aleena said quietly. “How did she die?”

  Conner, evidently realizing that a bit of tact was needed, answered with a bit of compassion seeping into his words. “Old age. In her last few years, she went on some secret mission, but it didn’t work out.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Meghan’s voice was soft and sympathetic. “People said she went crazy. She went looking for something, scoured the countryside. Her own kids thought she’d lost it.”

  “What was she looking for?”

  Meghan gasped. “They say she was looking for someone. Another Elf. But that was just a rumor. The Royals won’t admit to anything.”

  Aleena felt a stab of joy and shame pierce her heart. Could it be? Did she know?

  “Look, I’m sorry to break this history lesson up, but we need to figure out what we’re going to do and get out of here before someone decides to come down,” Rayland said.

  He was nervous. She could sense it.

  Nodding, Aleena climbed down the ladder. Allison met her with a friendly hug.

  “Thanks,” she told her. War sucks. She moved her eyes to Ethan, who was watching them. They had all lost so much, and it was all because of the Urlowens.

  I’m going to rip them apart, she thought, pushing aside her sadness.

  Letting go of Allison, Aleena turned to inspect the ship. It looked like an armor-plated fuselage. There were no wings, rudders, stabilizers, anything that a normal plane would have, but that was normal.

  “She looks like she’s in perfect condition,” Aleena said, walking slowly around the craft and running her hand against the cool Elven metal. The ship wasn’t white, but it certainly wasn’t the bland gray of Human steel. The metal had a sheen that seemed to shift and shimmer upon close inspection.

  “How’s this thing supposed to fly?” Ethan asked.

  Rayland slapped him on the shoulder. “Oh, don’t spoil the fun.”

  Conner was staring into the hull and rubbing his hand back and forth on the surface. “I’ve only seen one of these in textbooks. I didn’t know they still existed.”

  “So what do you think? Will she fly?” Rayland asked. He was staring directly at Aleena.

  “I don’t know. It looks fine from the outside, but we don’t know what the systems are like. We don’t even know if it still has power.” Her former excitement began to return. She looked straight at Ethan, then Allison.

  Allison giggled. “I know that look.”

  “Let’s find out,” Aleena said. “I’ll be right back. Everybody wait here.”

  She ran to her room, opened the closet, and pushed all the clothes Meghan had given her aside. Sitting neatly at the bottom of the suitcase was her armor. She slid out of the silky pink pj’s she’d been wearing and into the brilliant green bodysuit. The feel of the material on her skin was comforting like nothing else. It was like home.

  Not bothering to close the suitcase or clean up the clothes she’d thrown on the floor, she ran back to the underground hangar where everyone was waiting.

  Conner was leaning against the wall when the elevator doors opened and she walked onto the catwalk, but as soon as he saw her, he pushed himself upright.

  “Whoa.” The word poured from his lips. He’d been told she was Earthborn. Meghan said in the car she was wearing armor, but it’d been mostly covered by clothes. He saw her fight and use magic, but Aleena could sense the full depth of her story finally sink into his mind.

  Rayland, on the other hand, was speechless, his jaw dropping toward the floor.

  She climbed down the ladder to the main floor, butterflies in her stomach. She hadn’t flown one of these since training, and now there was an audience.

  Allison put her hand up. “Aleena, wait. Is this going to wake everyone up?”

  She laughed, the nervousness leaving her. “I certainly hope so. It’s about time they realize who they’re dealing with. I’m going to meet the Royals with or without their permission.”

  “Yeah, now we’re talking,” Rayland shouted. “Let’s kick some Urlowen ass.”

  Ethan held his hand out to Rayland. “Welcome to the team.”

  “Oh, we’re getting initiated?” Conner asked. “Count me in.”

  Aleena nodded. “Happy to have you both.” Then she looked to Meghan. “What do you say? I really like having you around.”

  Meghan’s lips slowly rose, exposing her brilliant white teeth in an enormous smile. “Daddy’s not going to be very happy.”

  Aleena returned the smile. “Sometimes you have to do the right thing, even if those close to you aren’t thrilled with it.”

  “I’m in,” Meghan said.

  “First things first. Let’s see if this thing can still fly.” She approached the vessel and lifted her hand to lay it on the fuselage just behind the cockpit. Right before she touched it, the armor on her forearm extended to form a tight-fitting glove over her hand. As she touched the metal, a yellow light flared to life below her hand, escaping between her outstretched fingers.

  To her right, a door materialized and slid open. A portion of the metal, just below the opening, appeared to liquefy and drop down into a runged ladder before re-solidifying.

  “Wicked,” Rayland called out.

  “Dude, you’re as giddy as a schoolgirl,” Conner laughed.

  Meghan turned on Conner. “Hey! What’s wrong with that? I’m a schoolgirl. And what that ship did was sick.”

  Aleena stepped back a couple of paces, then turned to face them. “Boys, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” She started up the ladder, then stopped and looked back. “Oh, and you should all move back—way back.”

  She entered the cockpit and sat in the center seat. Sprawled in front of her was a dark panel that housed a few buttons, but mostly dark screens.

  Well, it’s now or never.

  Placing her hands on the armrest, she focused her thoughts to the core of her power. Instantly, the screens all flashed to life, displaying everything from her current planetary and solar system location to the power available to the ship.

  She chuckled. The reactor was still at half power, more than enough for several years of travel. Switching on the navigation system using magic and bringing the engines online, the ship began to hum. A control stick grew out of the right armrest directly into her hand.


  Through the windscreen, she noticed Allison point up at the ceiling. Switching the far view screen on the panel to the top exterior cameras, an image of the underground’s ceiling was displayed. The crack in the ceiling had grown to the width of a person and was getting larger.

  She pulled up the ship’s log files and quickly skimmed them as she waited for the roof to finish opening. One file in particular caught her eye—the last entry attributed to Red Fury. Aleena played it.

  An image of her friend’s head jumped to life above the far-right console. She looked old, her blazing red hair having turned silvery, her smooth skin showing more than a few wrinkles.

  Aleena wiped a tear from her eyes. Ella was still as beautiful as ever. She couldn’t help but dream of all the things she’d missed in her bestie’s life.

  As Ella began to speak, her first word rocked Aleena to her core.

  “Aleena, I’m so, so sorry that I failed you. I found you. You’re sleeping, even now. Even as I record this, you’re safe, hidden from the world beneath a mountain.” A tear rolled down Ella’s cheek. “It took me years. Everyone said it was destroyed. They said it was impossible that the Urlowens wouldn’t have found it. But they were wrong. I finally found you.” She sniffled as another tear rolled down her cheek. “But something’s wrong. I can’t wake you. The system malfunctioned.”

  Ella took a deep breath. “The sleep will continue. I don’t know how long. I want you to know that I made it. I’ve had a good life. A happy life, despite the terrors of the past. But I have this feeling, a feeling I can’t ignore.”

  Ella’s intensity grew. “They’ll come back, Aleena. They’ll come back, and you have to stop them. You have to guide our people, what remains of them, to victory. Don’t let this happen again. I know you can do it. I’ve always believed in you.” Ella wiped her eyes. “I won’t tell a soul of your existence. I’m convinced your safety depends on it.”

  A soft, warm smile spread across Ella’s face. “Goodbye, my friend.”

  The log ended, leaving Aleena staring into the space the hologram had just been. “Goodbye, Ella,” she whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks.

  After taking a few minutes to regain her composure, she activated the flight sequence. A soft whine ran through the vehicle as the drive spun up and magical energy collected within the ship’s power core.

  A holographic representation of the craft jumped to life in the corner of the view screen. Energy rolled across the ship, taking the form of iridescent forward-sweeping wings. On top, an aerodynamic stabilizer rose from the tendrils of power.

  Aleena eased up on the vertical lift control and the ship shot into the night sky like a bullet. She lowered the inertial compensators just a bit so she could feel a bit of the force that desperately wanted to flatten her against the seat.

  She opened up the throttle a bit and banked hard to the right. The ground zoomed past her in a blur. Keying the navigation screen, she instinctively set the craft to scan for contacts.

  Two ships appeared on her scopes. They were small, probably fighters.

  Crap.

  Pulling the ship back around, she visually scanned the woods for the house and the clearing. There you are. Light from the underground illuminated a patch of the forest a few miles ahead. Relinquishing manual control, she set the course into the ship’s flight computer. Her best bet was to land as fast as possible and hope they hadn’t seen her.

  The navigation signaled it was ready and she engaged the autopilot. The ship screamed forward, slamming her back into the seat, knocking the wind out of her. She used magic to reengage complete inertial compensation, then gasped as the force on her body disappeared. Before she caught her breath, the ship was hovering motionless just above the underground’s concrete floor.

  Aleena engaged the landing protocol while laughing out loud. She hadn’t had that much fun in far too long.

  One last thing. She moved the mapping and navigation interface to the center screen. Let’s see where you are. She pulled up the registry of Earthborn bases across the planet. Over a hundred little red dots flashed to life on a 3D Earth projected before her. Using her armor’s interface with the projection, she turned the globe.

  Got you.

  A single green dot was positioned in the Alps in southern Europe. She’d never heard of the base designation before, Arc, but figured it’d been classified just as her own stasis chamber would’ve been. She figured it only showed up here because the ship must’ve originated from there.

  She shut down the navigation system and started the power-down protocol. The seat released the restraints that’d fused into her armor, and she opened the hatch.

  Everyone was staring at her. Not just Meghan, Allison, and the boys, but everyone: Rayland’s parents—a rather rotund, sweet-looking woman clad in an unflattering bathrobe, holding an infant, next to her chiseled, militaristic husband—Norman and Needa, and all of the kids.

  No one said anything. Valaan, who was standing behind the group, winked at her, which took her aback. He wasn’t one to show much emotion.

  She thought for a moment about what to say and finally settled on, “Well it flies just fine.” She climbed down the ladder and turned to face everyone. “Now as I said before, I want to meet the Royals. Take me to your leader.”

  Rayland started laughing. “Take me to your leader. Brilliant.”

  “What?” she said.

  Rayland made a poor attempt to suppress his laughter. “Oh, never mind.”

  The awkward moment was shattered by the piercing scream of two Urlowen fighters buzzing over the underground’s opening.

  “Shit!” Norman yelled, running toward the room Rayland earlier dubbed the armory. Rayland’s dad followed close behind.

  “Valaan,” Aleena called out as she climbed back into the ship.

  “Right behind you,” he replied.

  Aleena could hear Norman shouting instructions to the wives and children as the cockpit door slid shut, plunging the cabin into silence.

  Aleena started the spin-up sequence as Valaan strapped into a seat a little behind her.

  “Good work,” he said.

  “For what? Bringing the Urlowens down on us?” she asked, not attempting to hide her frustration.

  “For giving them a reason to believe you. I hadn’t been able to convince Norman and Robert that we are who we claim. I don’t think we’ll have a problem with that now.”

  The moment all the ship’s systems registered as active, Aleena pulled the craft straight into the dark sky.

  “We’re exposed in this. The shielding is minimal at best,” Aleena said, coming about on an intercept course with the fighters. They doubled back, most likely for an assault.

  “Very well,” Valaan replied. Aleena glanced back to see him close his eyes.

  Punching the throttle, she made straight for the lead craft. Each released a missile that careened toward her. Pulling up the ship’s complement, Aleena was relieved to find six intact AI hull crusher missiles.

  “Two inbound,” she said.

  “I can handle two,” Valaan replied. “Wait until you’re close. Split the middle and don’t give them time to break.”

  Aleena aimed the ship directly between the enemy formation. Just before the missiles hit, a thick purple translucent shield materialized around the craft. The explosions made the barrier shimmer, but it rendered the attack useless.

  Aleena opened the throttle, swiftly placing her directly between the Urlowen fighters as they passed in the opposite directions. She fired two hull crushers and the missiles dropped from their compartments, spun on their center axis, and launched in the direction of the fighters.

  The distance between the missiles and the Urlowens was far too close for the pilots to maneuver before the blistering speed of the hull crushers allowed the ordinance to smash unyielding into their ships and explode.

  The enemy fighters disappeared from Aleena’s scope. She brought the nose around to see their debris fall
ing to the ground below.

  “Well done,” Valaan commended.

  “Thanks, you too.”

  “I fear they’ve contacted their command.”

  “I was thinking the same thing. We’ve got to get everyone out of here. Looks like we’re going on a trip.”

  After double-checking the sensor scope, ensuring there were no imminent threats, she laid in a course back to the underground.

  The computer gently landed the vehicle. Aleena didn’t bother to power it down.

  “Open the back-cabin hatch,” Valaan told her.

  “Done.”

  A second door near the rear of the ship opened and extended a ladder. Opening the cockpit door, she released herself from the pilot’s chair, looking at Valaan through the narrow cabin interior. “I’m going to grab my clothes.”

  “I’ll round up the others. And Aleena?”

  She paused halfway out the door. “Yeah?”

  “I mean it. Good job out there.”

  A small smile crept across her lips. “Thanks. Flying’s never really been one of my strengths.”

  “I don’t think those two Urlowen pilots would agree with you.”

  Her lips spread wider. “Probably not.”

  CHAPTER 13

  Ethan stood by the door of the first floor sitting room, plasma rifle at the ready, staring down the hallway. Across the doorway, Allison mirrored him.

  He turned to look behind. Needa and Rayland’s mom, Trish, were huddled over the smaller kids in the middle of the room. They’d toppled all the furniture and built a small barrier around themselves.

  At the other entrance, Rayland and Conner stood guard. Conner shook his head. Ethan acknowledged with a nod.

  Nothing yet.

  They’d heard explosions a long way out but couldn’t be certain exactly who exploded. Though if Ethan were a betting man, he’d put his money on the Urlowens. If Aleena and Valaan had taught him anything, it was that they were more than capable of taking care of themselves. Still, everyone got a lucky shot off at some point; he wasn’t going to risk the others on the assumption that the threat was gone.