Alien Attack

by Max Chase

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Star Fighters

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Copyright

  Special thanks to Tom Genrich and Michele Perry

  Only the best cadets become

  Don’t miss a single mission!

  #1 Alien Attack

  #2 Deadly Mission

  Coming soon:

  #3 The Enemy’s Lair

  #4 Crash Landing

  An elite fighting team sworn to protect and defend the galaxy

  It’s the year 5012 and the Milky Way galaxy is under attack …

  After the Universal War—a war that almost brought about the destruction of every known universe—the planets in the Milky Way banded together to create the Intergalactic Force, an elite fighting team sworn to protect and defend the galaxy.

  Only the brightest and most promising eleven-year-olds are accepted into the Intergalactic Force Academy, and only the very best cadets reach the highest of their ranks and become …

  To be a Star Fighter is to dedicate your life to one mission: Peace in Space. Star Fighters are given the coolest weapons, the fastest spaceships—and the most dangerous missions. Everyone at the Intergalactic Force Academy wants to be a Star Fighter someday.

  Do you have what it takes?

  Chapter 1

  “Eat dust, alien invader!” Peri shouted as the asteroid shattered into a million glittery pieces.

  This sure beats the simulator, he thought as he swerved left then jetted upward to avoid the asteroid’s fiery remains.

  He was millions of miles from the Intergalactic Force Space Station and even farther from planet Earth. Up ahead was a bright-blue planet surrounded by shimmering ice rings … Saturn! Peri could barely believe his eyes.

  Ping! The sonar let him know that their last target was within firing range. It wasn’t as good as saving Earth from an alien attack, but blowing up cosmic trash was still way better than any 3-D game he’d ever played. He’d blasted an ancient TV satellite and zapped an old rocket booster. And that asteroid had been totally obliterated.

  “Try to keep the pod steady this time, you lamizoid,” Diesel said.

  Peri glanced over at Diesel, who was swiveling the D-Stroy lasers in the weapon turret. He noticed the gunner wasn’t wearing his astro-harness, so any sudden turn would knock the big lug right off his seat. Peri grinned. He banked as hard as he could. “Woo-hooo!”

  Whack-slam! Diesel flipped out of his seat. “Ch’açh!” he shouted. Diesel always spoke his native language when he was angry—which was most of the time. The gunner’s yellow eyes were flashing. The band of hair that stretched across his head was bristling. When he was mad, Diesel looked more Martian than human, though in fact he was both.

  “You made me miss my target!” he yelled. “I told them to give me a second-year pilot. But instead, I get a newbie who knows less than nothing!”

  “Chill,” Peri said. “I’ll get us back on track.”

  Peri chuckled to himself. A few bruises served Diesel right. That morning he had thrown a galactic fit when he and Peri were paired for a rare Intergalactic Force Academy training mission. The half-Martian was a second-year cadet, a weapons ace, and a 3-D gaming champion, but he wasn’t the brightest star in the constellation.

  Peri agreed with Diesel about one thing—it was odd that a first-year IFA cadet had been chosen. And Peri wasn’t even the best in his year; he ranked fourteenth in rocket science and tenth in cosmic combat. So why had they selected him?

  During the past two weeks he’d pretty much lived in the flight simulator. He practiced over and over again until his vision became blurry. But nothing could compare with the real thing—looping the rings of Saturn or whipping around Pluto.

  Suddenly, the pod jerked sharply to the left. Peri’s astro-harness snapped him to his seat. Peri struggled to regain control of the steering as the pod looped in a broad U-turn and accelerated.

  “What’s happening?” Peri’s fingers darted over the screens. He engaged the flight stabilizer, checked the energy gauge, and tapped the hologram route finder. “Nothing’s working,” he called to Diesel. “It’s like somebody else is controlling the pod!”

  “They must be bringing you back to the space station,” Diesel jeered. “I bet you’re in trouble for that silly stunt you—”

  But before he could finish, the pod rocked again, even more violently than before. There was a dull thud beside Peri.

  “Aaargh!” Diesel roared in pain as he staggered back to his seat clutching his chin. “I bib ma dung!”

  Peri ignored him. He had much bigger things to worry about.

  His muscles strained as he wrestled with the antidrift levers, trying to keep the pod on a steady course while it was batted around like a spaceball. His eyes were drawn to a flashing light on the control board—the red light that signaled a problem with the nuke-fusion engine. His ears rattled with the piercing robotic voice that warned: “Danger! Temperature shield overheating. Danger!”

  Between jolts, he was able to flip on his com-unit. “Mayday! Mayday!” he called. “IF Space Station—this is TP2-7. Do you copy?”

  There was no reply. All Peri heard was a rush of static.

  Then, as they rounded Mars, Peri saw something that made his heart nearly rocket out of his chest. Dead ahead, like a galactic roadblock, was a metal sphere the size of Earth’s moon. As he watched, thousands of large spikes sprouted from the hull. They were razor sharp, and at the top of each spike was a viewing platform that looked just like an eyeball. He’d never seen a spaceship like it in any of the textbooks he’d read. Not in The Big Book of Space. Or The Galactic Guide to Gizmos and Gadgets. Not even in The Awesome Anthology of Alien Attackers.

  Diesel started yelling in a mixture of Martian and English.

  Peri gulped down his fear. “B-buckle up … and shut up!” he snapped.

  “You don’t give the orders around here! I’m the—” Diesel stopped and gawked at the alien ship. “S’fâh,” he muttered. “That’s not from this galaxy.” Diesel scrambled back to his seat and, finally, strapped himself in.

  All the navigation systems said the same thing: they were on a collision course with the alien vessel.

  “I can’t stop the pod!” Peri shouted. “We’re going to crash!”

  Chapter 2

  The pod hurtled toward the alien ship. Peri and Diesel were helpless. They could only stare in horror as hatches opened on the biggest spikes, revealing mighty pulverizers. Each pulverizer was studded with laser barrels, their tips glowing molten red with heat.

  “DeathRays!” they shouted together.

  All of the deadly lasers were aimed at a familiar blue-and-white planet in the distance.

  Planet Earth.

  The guns let loose with an almighty boom! Lances of fire lit up the darkness as the laser beams streaked straight toward Earth. When they reached their target, there was a huge flash of white, hot light. Earth’s force field sizzled and sparked as it absorbed most of the blow. For a moment, Peri thought the planet might survive, but the force field began to pulse with a dull red glow. The glow turned to a hazy purple. Peri balled his hands into fists.

  “No!” he cried, thumping the console in anger. With a sudden beep! the system responded. He threw himself onto the navigation stick, gritted his teeth, and pulled up hard. The pod swerved into the slipstream of the giant vessel, its engines howling like a space-wolf.

  The closest eyeball swiveled toward them. Orange light
beamed out and scanned their pod from side to side. Peri’s pulse was racing like a turbo engine. Then the socket rotated away again.

  “Uh, why aren’t they firing on us?” Diesel asked.

  “I guess we don’t worry them,” Peri replied.

  “Ýņoĝr!” Diesel shouted. “I have a ninety-nine percent hit rate. I’m the best cadet gunner in IF history—and they’re not even worried! Well, I’ll show them!”

  “Yeah, those dumboids are making a big mistake,” Peri hissed. “No one attacks Earth.” As the alien ship fired on Earth again, he used the pod’s radar to pinpoint the nearest pulverizer.

  “Diesel,” he called over his shoulder. “Ready to dish out some payback?”

  “Bring it on!” the half-Martian yelled. Peri heard him cracking his knuckles.

  “Target is enemy pulverizer!” said Peri. “Uploading coordinates to you now.”

  “Roger that!” his gunner replied. “Locked and loaded. We’ll blast them into outer space!”

  Peri took a deep breath and tried not to panic. He knew they did not have enough firepower to do that. They had taken off that morning equipped for target practice, not for an all-out battle. But if he could get their pod close enough and aim just right, then maybe they could buy Earth some time.

  Peri skillfully steered the pod to within a few hundred space-meters of the pulverizer. “Ready and … fire!”

  Diesel’s lasers streaked toward their target. There was a blinding flash. An instant later a giant fireball exploded from one side of the enemy ship. Chunks of burning metal rained on the cadets’ pod, clanging loudly.

  “Yes!” Peri punched the air. “Nice shooting, gunner!”

  Diesel smiled a rare smile. “Not bad steering either, newbie.”

  Then they froze.

  Diesel cleared his throat. “Um, do you see what I’m seeing?”

  Peri let out a low groan. A fighter jet had emerged from the other side of the alien warship. It was heading straight for them. The pod’s warning lights began to flash.

  “He’s locked onto us!” Peri was light-years beyond fear and fast approaching all-out panic. A pod couldn’t outrun—or outgun—a fighter jet armed with cluster missiles. He closed his eyes and braced for an impact that would blow his pod to pieces.

  The explosion made his ears ring and his blood tingle, but there was no burning pain. Instead there was just a fizzing sensation, as if he were a well-shaken bottle of Saturn Soda.

  Wait! I know that feeling.

  His eyes flew open. They’d been transported back to the IF Space Station!

  “Phew! They beamed us down just in time,” he said shakily. He pulled off his flight tags and loosened the collar of his uniform. “I guess the pod is history, though.”

  Diesel said something, but his words were lost in the blaring of sirens. The launch bay was swarming with activity, looking like an anthill someone had rammed with a stick. Ground staff and flight crews were running this way and that. Spaceships, fighter jets, and troop carriers were jostling for takeoff. The noise was deafening.

  The intercom boomed. “All personnel to battle stations. Engage LR Scenario. Repeat: Engage LR Scenario!”

  Immediately, two Intergalactic Force sergeants rushed toward the boys. Peri and Diesel stood to attention. “IFA cadets reporting for duty,” Diesel said in his deepest voice. The sergeants grabbed them like a couple of empty spacesuits and hauled them away from the action.

  “Hey, wait!” Diesel protested, legs kicking the air. “I was the one who took out their pulverizer. I’m the best gunner in cadet history! I want to stay and fight! Do you know who I am?”

  Peri struggled to free himself. He had to do something. He couldn’t be sidelined as some alien bullies attacked his galaxy. But the sergeants held on to them tightly as they marched to an empty corner of the launch bay.

  “Where—” Peri began, but he couldn’t finish his question. The next thing he knew, he was being thrown clear off his feet by a shock wave from an explosion.

  Smack! Peri crashed into something hard and slid to the floor.

  “Ahhh …,” he groaned, sitting up slowly and looking around for whatever it was he’d hit. But there was nothing. Had he imagined it? He groped the air. His fingertips touched something cold and sleek—but invisible. He blinked with disbelief.

  He slid his hands over the invisible surface. Some sort of force field fizzled around his skin, flickering a few times.

  “Whoa!” Peri started, but his brain had no words for what was coming into focus.

  It was unbelievable.

  Chapter 3

  The spaceship seemed to appear by magic in front of Peri. It must have been there all along, hidden by some sort of cloaking device. The vessel was shaped like an egg and glittered like a thousand stars. Its shell was smooth; Peri couldn’t see a single door, window, rivet, or joint. He couldn’t even see where the engine would go.

  One of the sergeants pulled Peri to his feet and forced Peri’s hand onto the ship’s sparkling surface. A ghostly green light traced his palm, and he felt a prickly sensation as it gently scanned his flesh and bones. Instantly, a rectangle-shaped outline appeared. Diesel and the other sergeant had to scramble out of the way as a door swung open and a ramp glided to the floor. Bright light flooded out from the vessel. Peri looked over at Diesel. The second-year gunner stood openmouthed, looking just as stunned as Peri was.

  The sergeant gave them both a hard shove. “Get in!” he barked. The two boys stumbled aboard.

  “Last Resort Scenario has been engaged,” said the other sergeant. Then he stood to attention and saluted. “You have your orders.”

  “Uh, no, we don’t, sir,” Peri objected as the door snapped shut and immediately blended back into the wall, leaving no trace of an opening. He fumbled, looking for some kind of switch or handle, but there was nothing.

  “Well, they must have put us in here for a reason, right?” Peri said more to himself than to Diesel. “Come on, let’s get this thing fired up so we can join in the fight.”

  “Oh yeah,” Diesel grunted.

  They raced up the stairs in front of them and found themselves in a corridor with smooth white sides and mauve strip-lighting. Everything looked brand new, as if it had only just been built. A moving walkway started with a hum as soon as they stepped onto it.

  Robotic arms shot out of the walls and grabbed both boys. Diesel struggled, but the steel arms held them securely in tight pinch-grips. Peri was lifted up and lowered into coveralls. He heard the strange garment clicking, and a rustling as it tightened. Something solid was slipped onto his feet. Then the robotic arms released them.

  Peri looked down at himself. “Check it out!” he exclaimed. “Temperature-adjust suits! Mine’s already turning blue with the heat from my body. And real space boots with magnetic soles, in case we lose gravity. This is shrink-to-fit Expedition Wear!”

  “It’s almost as if the ship was waiting for us,” Diesel said, looking at his own jacket in wonder. When the walkway whirred up again, the half-Martian sprinted toward the double doors up ahead. They slid open at just the right moment, so he didn’t even have to break his stride. But he skidded to a halt anyway.

  “Oof!” Peri gasped, as he slammed into Diesel.

  The two boys stood gazing in awe at what was spread out before them.

  The ship’s bridge!

  Peri could feel its power. The room was oval and so vast you could have parked a whole fleet of training pods inside it. Every surface shone like polished moonstone. When Peri moved closer, he realized that the walls were actually floor-to-ceiling 360-monitors. All at once, they pulsed into life. He could see the launch bay outside so clearly it was like looking through windows.

  Then he spotted a wedge shape that hovered in midair in front of the screens. “The control panel!” he exclaimed and raced over to it. It was covered in dozens of mysterious buttons and levers and nano-dials.

  A hologram appeared above the panel. On it were written
two letters and three numbers. Peri had to read them twice before he could really take them in: LR-999. He was inside the fastest and most advanced spaceship ever built! In fact, it was nineteen times faster, thirty-five times more advanced, and about a gazillion times cooler than even an imperial star cruiser.

  “Wow!” he whispered. “It’s the Phoenix …”

  Diesel elbowed him to one side. His eyes lit up. “Klûu’ah,” he said in a hushed voice. “I always thought the Phoenix was just a myth.”

  “I knew it was real.” The words were out before Peri could stop himself. The existence of the Phoenix was super top secret; Peri was absolutely not supposed to know about this ship. But several times he’d overheard his parents whispering about it. They were the highest-ranking astronautical engineers with the IF, and they had worked on upgrading the legendary ship.

  Diesel gave him a sidelong look. “Yeah, well … I’ve known about the Phoenix my whole life,” he boasted.

  Peri shrugged. He didn’t have time for Diesel’s games. If he could work out how to operate the Phoenix, then maybe he and Diesel could help save planet Earth—or at least save themselves. He studied the control panel, with its maze of buttons, but it didn’t faze him. He felt strangely calm.

  Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! He jumped as an alarm rang out. Two chairs sprang up from the floor, knocking into the boys’ knees and forcing them to sit down. Floating astro-harnesses appeared, crisscrossing just in front of their bodies. Immediately, the ground shifted and Peri’s stomach lurched like he was going to be sick.

  “What did you do, you cosmic wastoid?” Diesel barked.

  “Nothing. I swear.” Peri scanned the control panel and gulped. “I think we’re lifting off!”

  As the ship went into launch mode, he could feel the engine’s vibrations even through the magnetic soles of his space boots. The lights of the bridge dimmed. The monitors started to glow, and within seconds the shell of the Phoenix had become completely see-through. Outside, the domed roof of the launch bay slid open. Now there was nothing between them and outer space. The calm, measured voice of the computer filled the bridge. “Good luck to you both,” she said. “Peace in Space.”