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Lost Friend

Chapter 1
The Move
A long time ago there lived a bunch of friends. Their names were Justin, Aaron, Mitchell(Mitch), and Daniel. They liked playing together, but Aaron's parents
wanted to move. Then one day Daniel went to Aaron's, but all there was was a for sell sign that had sold marked on it. For a while it was forgotten like Aaron
never was born.

Chapter 2
2 years later
2 years later though Daniel saw a guy at Wal-Mart who's name tag said Aaron. Then Daniel got a feeling he knew the guy and asked his last name and where he
lived. The guy said he lived on Robert C. Byrd Dr. and his last name was McDale. Then Daniel paid the guy and left. When he got home Daniel told Mitch and
Justin to come over to help him figure out why the guy seemed familiar. When Mitch and Justin got there Daniel told them the guy's name and where he lived. At
that moment no one could figure it out so they went home thinking about why the guy seemed familiar.

Chapter 3 Mitch Remembers
The next few days were school days, but instead of doing his work Mitch was thinking about what Daniel told him. The Mitch told Daniel and Justin to go to his
house with all their labeled pictures. So they found all their labeled pictures and went to Mitch's house. When they got there Mitch said for them to check their
pictures and if they found anyone they didn't know or remember to read what it said about it. So for a few hours they looked for something weird. Then Mitch
found a man by the name of Aaron. The man looked like the age they at that time. Then Mitch remembered playing with him and his last name. Then he told Daniel
and Justin this. So everyone tried to remember why the never saw him anymore. then Mitch remembered Aaron moving away 2 years ago.

Chapter 4
No!
Since Aaron was such a good friend everyone decided to look for him. So everyone decided to get their stuff and meet back there to start a search for Aaron. So
everyone left Mitch's house so they could get their stuff. when Daniel's mom saw Daniel packing though she asked what he was doing. Daniel answered by saying
I'm going on a search for Aaron. No your not. Your not old enough, don't have enough money, and you can't survive out there. Come on I'm eleven and I have
$50.00. But Aaron could live 400,000 miles or more from here. You wouldn't have enough food or warmth. Fine I"ll call Mitch and Justin and tell them to go on
without me and I'll meet them in a few years. Then Daniel unpacked did as he had told his mom.

Chapter 5
The search begins
Justin was just arriving at Mitch's house when Daniel's call got to Mitch's house. After he hung up the phone Mitch told Justin what Daniel said. Then they counted
their money. Then they added what they got together and their total was $80.00. Okay we probably should look in Charleston first since it's close. So Mitch said
bye to his mom and they left. Halfway there they saw a guy selling beer. Since he was so thirsty Mitch tried to get some, but Justin wouldn't let him because he
knew it was bad for people. By the time they got to Charleston it was getting late so they got a room in a Holiday Inn for the night. And they got something to
drink that is good for people.

Chapter 6
Wondering
Meanwhile Daniel had to go to school but he couldn't think about his work. Instead he kept wondering what Aaron, Mitch, and Justin were doing. He got in more
trouble than he was before. One day he even got yelled at because he got a note sent home. Daniel's mom didn't know why Daniel was getting in trouble or what
to do.

Chapter 7
Charleston
7 hours later Mitch and Justin woke up and ordered some room service. After they ate they checked out and still had $60.00. Then they started their search. First
they went to a pink house with a red car. When they knocked on the door a lady that looked 50 opened the door. Then they asked if she knew a person named
Aaron Calvert. She said no, but they should try to ask the governor. Then they asked how far it was. She answered 40 miles. Then they said thanks and started to
walk to the Capitol. After a little while they found a Burger King where Mitch got a Big Mac and Justin got a chicken nugget kids meal. After they ate they had
$44.00. At 6:00PM. they got to the Capitol.

Chapter 8 Finally
Meanwhile one day when Daniel came home from school his mom asked why he was getting in trouble so much. Then Daniel said because he was wondering
about what Mitch, Justin, and Aaron were doing. Then his mom said he could go. Then he called Mitch. When Mitch heard his cell phone ringing he answered it.
Daniel asked where they were. When Mitch said the Capitol Daniel told them to wait for him. Then Mitch asked if they could go in first. Then Daniel said yes and
hung up. Then he packed his stuff and left.

Chapter 9 The Capitol
When Mitch and Justin knocked on the door and asked to see the governor and the guards asked why. Then Mitch and Justin said to see if he knows where a
missing person lives. Then the guards said the governor was gone, but they could look in the files to see if he lives in Charleston. Then they went inside to where
there was a drawer with a lot of files. Then the guards asked who they were looking for. Then they said Aaron Calvert. Then one of the guards flipped through the
files. When he got to the end of the files he said he must not liven in Charleston. Then M8itch and Justin went outside and sat on the steps to wait for Daniel.

Chapter 10
Longcut
Daniel had a map he was looking at before he left and saw that there was a path through the woods that led to the Capitol. So he decided to take it. When he
entered the woods though he had to crawl through a lot of briers. But after a while he got out without too many scratches. But when he got up and walked a little
and found himself caught in a net.

Chapter 11 New Person
Meanwhile back in Crab Orchard Michael(Mike) Justin's, Daniel's, Aaron's, and Mitch's friend thought they were skipping school and went to Justin's house to
see what they were doing and Justin's mom said he went with Daniel and Mitch to look for Aaron. Then she said Justin said they were going to Charleston first.
Then Mike went home to get his stuff and left. When he saw the opening in the woods he went in and cut all the briers. Then when he saw Daniel he cut off the net
and asked where Justin and Mitch were. Then Daniel answered they are waiting for me at the Capitol. Then at 12:00 they were at the Capitol.

Chapter 12 Morgantown
When Mike and Daniel saw Mitch and jutting they woke them up and said they should to to the Comfort Inn next door so they did. Then in the morning Mitch and
Justin told Mike and Daniel what had happened. Next they all combined their money and had $137.00. Then they had some breakfast and left for Morgantown.
When they got o Morgantown they knocked on the door of a red house with a blue car. Then a man that looked about 40 opened the door. Then they asked if he
knew a boy about heir age named Aaron Calvert. Then the man said he didn't. Then they went to his neighbor's house and asked if he knew a boy about their age
named Aaron Calvert. Then the man said no, but he also said his neighbor had a list of everyone in West Virginia. So they went to his neighbor's house and asked
him if he knew a boy about their age named Aaron Calvert. he said if they came in he'd check the list of people who live in West Virginia. Then they went in the
house and sat on the couch and the man went in another room. Then they started to look around the room and saw a picture of the man and under the picture it
said Governor Underwood. Right about then Governor Underwood came back. Then Mike got his knife and tried to stab Governor Underwood, but before he
could Mitch pulled him down and took the knife. Then Mitch said you shouldn't of had that beer Mike. Then Mike asked how Mitch knew he had a beer. Then
Mitch said whenever you talked Mike your breath smelled like beer. Then Mitch put he knife in his pocket. next Governor Underwood said he couldn't find their
friend on the list of people in West Virginia. Then Mitch, Daniel, Mike, and Justin got a ticket for a plane to Virginia.

Chapter 12 Virginia
When they got to Virginia they decided to get on a plane to Washington D.C., but they got put on the waiting list. After for an hour they got on the plane. Then
about 30 min. later a guy came by that had a gun, and was about to shoot Justin, but before he could Mitch got out Mike's knife and stabbed the guy in the heart.
The guy dropped dead right when Mitch stabbed him. Then Mitch pulled the knife out of the man and put it in his pocket. A few minutes later they landed an d
there were a bunch of police and a news reporter from channel 13. When they got out the reporter ran up to Mitch and asked why he decided to kill Red Duke.
Then Mitch asked who Red Duke was. Next a policeman came over and said Red Duke is the robber that you killed. Then Mitch said in to the microphone that
he didn't want to watch a friend die so I just used my friend Mikes' knife to kill Red Duke. Then the reporter went to Justin and asked how Justin felt about his
friend now. Then Justin said in the microphone I fill a lot abetter about him now. Then a policeman came over to Mitch and put a gold badge that said courage on it
on Mitch. Then the policeman said he'd drive them anywhere. Then Daniel said that they'd like to go to the Wh8ite House. Then they got out and knocked on the
door. Next the guards asked what they wanted and they answered that they wanted to see if the president knew a boy named Aaron Calvert. Then the guards said
they could check the files to see if he lives in West Virginia or Virginia. So one guard went in the White House for a little while. Then he came back a d said he
lives in West Virginia. Then Justin said, but the West Virginia governor said he didn't live in West Virginia. Then the guard said, but I got a whole file on this Aaron
Calvery guy. then Daniel said we said Aaron Calvert no Aaron Calvery. Oh then he doesn't live in West Virginia or Virginia. Then Mitch, Mike, Daniel, and Justin
left. Then they went to the airport and got tickets for New York.

Chapter 14 New York
When they got out of the plane they noticed that they were in Las Vegas. So they thought they'd go in a casino and ask the owner if he knew a Aaron Calvert. So
they went in a casino and looked around and saw Bill Clinton. Then when they went up to him secret service agents surrounded him. Then one of the agents said
you can't talk to the president. Next Bill Clinton turned around and told the agent it's ok these are the kids that killed Red Duke. Then the secret agents left. Next
Mitch, Mike, Justin, and Daniel asked Bill Clinton if he knew a person named Aaron Calvert. Then Bill Clinton said he had memorized the files of who lives in the
United States and he d didn't know an Aaron Calvert. Then he handed them a phone number and said that it was his hotel phone number. Next he said he would
fly them to Canada if they wanted him to. Then Justin said that they'd like him to. so they gathered up the secret agents and got in Bill Clinton's plane. Then once
they were on their long trip Daniel got out their money to it and they had $107.00.

Chapter 15 Canada
When they arrived and got out of the plane they were next to the mayor of the town they were in. Next they asked if he knew an Aaron Calvert. Then the mayor
said he'd see if he could make their search quicker by seeing if he could get permission to look in the Canada files. So he went in his house for a little while. Then
he came out again and said that Aaron Calvert didn't live in Canada. next they went to the airport and got tickets for South America.

Chapter 16
South America
When they landed they were in Brazil. After they got off the plane they knocked on the door of a house with a green car. When the owner didn't answer they were
about to leave, but right before they could they heard a cry for help from inside the house. So they busted in. When they got in they saw a man with a gun pointed
at them and a gun pointed at a guy that was tied up. Next Mitch pulled out Mike's knife and ran toward the man, but the man shot him and Mitch lost the knife.
Then the man leaned over to get the knife, but before he could Mike slid to the knife and picked it up. Then the man noticed what happened and pulled out his gun.
Next Mike tossed the knife to Justin. then the man shot Mitch in the leg. Then Justin went over to the tied up man and cut off the rope while the man went over to
Daniel. Right before e the man tackled Daniel Justin tossed Daniel the knife. Then Daniel stabbed the man in the heart and he died right when he got stabbed. next
the police busted down the door. When they saw the man dead and the tied up man untied they ran over to Mitch and Mike where there was a lot of blood
around them. Then one policeman told another policeman to get an ambulance. A few seconds later an ambulance showed up and two paramedics put Mitch and
Mike in it.
Then a policeman put badges that said courage on them on Justin and Daniel. Then the policeman said thanks for killing Bloody Murder. Then a policeman came
over and gave them 1,000 dollars. Next Justin and Daniel went to a Comfort Inn for the night. Meanwhile in the hospital Mitch and Mike were in beds that were
in the recovery room when a policeman that had a badge that said chief on it came in and put two badges that said courage and one that said bravery on each of
them. Meanwhile back in the Comfort Inn it was morning and Justin and Daniel were having a feast at breakfast. When they were done eating they had $900.37
left. Then they checked out and right when they walked out the door they saw the building the president lives in while he is president. Meanwhile back in the
hospital Mitch and Mike were able to leave, but right before they left Mitch asked the doctor if he knew an Aaron Calvert. Then he said he did and that Aaron
lived in Sydney, Australia. Meanwhile Daniel and Justin had asked the president of South America if he knew Aaron Calvert and he said Aaron didn't live in South
America. So they were on a plane for Asia. Meanwhile Mitch and Mike had found Aaron's house and were trying to get them to move back into his old house
because the owner was saling it.

Chapter 17 Asia/Australia
When Justin and Daniel got off the plane they knocked on a door of a house that was pink withy a white car. A teenager answered the door and they asked her if
she knew an Aaron Calvert and she said yes and that Aaron lived in Sydney, Australia. So they got on a plane for Australia. A few minutes later they were in
Aaron's house and his family decided to go back to their old house. So a few hours later they were on they're way back to West Virginia.

Chapter 18
West Virginia
After a while they were at Aaron's house unpacked playing together.

My Weird Encounter

One night I was laying in my bed when I heard something rattle under my bed. Quickly, I turned on my light and looked under my bed. At first I didn't see
anything moving, but then I saw a small box, but not too small of a box moving from side to side behind a box of toys.
Quickly, I took the box of toys out of under my box and saw that the box had about 37 buttons. Each button had either a letter or
number.
Quickly, I tried to open it, but a little door opened on the box and revealed a computer screen that said "Please enter password." Quickly, I tried the
numbers 80215 and was about to push 7 when the box turned a bright red and a huge hammer came out of a very small metal door on the side of the box and
hit my knee making me jump back.
When the hammer had gone back into the metal door, I went back to where the box was and tried the password A2B80. This time the box turned blue, and
a grenade appeared from the door.
Quickly I ran out of my room. After I heard the explosion, I opened my door to find that there was just a tiny hole where the grenade had been.
Soon I had ran back in front of the box and had tried the password BDARI. This time the box started flashing all kinds of colors, and the lid opened just
enough for my hand to fit in. I was about to open the lid a little more when it closed on my hand.
Then once again I tried a password. This time I tried the password A1B2C.
This time the box did open and inside were two cats, but they weren't normal cats one was blue and the other was red. Quickly, they started talking not
meowing, but really English.
They said "We are the catonators. We were put
in this box by the evil dogonators. Thank you for freeing us." Then they said "Meeoow" and two cat sized U.F.Os appeared and they got in them and flew out
the window.

SECRETS 3: The Underground

Chapter 1
New Recruits
"What are you doing back so soon?" Daniel asked as Justin walked into his office.
"We lost half the team. The tunnel under the Sphinx caved in again."
"Why didn't you call me? I could have sent some more men. You didn't need to come all the way back here."
"That's the fifth cave-in. I was afraid the government was going to find out we were over there again so I pulled what was left of the team out before they
noticed anything."
"Well, you should have asked first. I want you to go back and this time I'm going with you to see what you keep doing wrong."
"Suit yourself," Justin said with an odd smile on his face as he walked out of Daniel's office.
Daniel was about to get up and follow Justin when the door closing behind Justin was suddenly pulled back open.
Through the door walked a large group of people who didn't belong to the agency. Daniel also noticed the group was comprised of several people he
recognized.
"Long time, no see, Daniel," one person Daniel recognized in the group said.
"When was the last time I saw you, Bernie?" Daniel asked the man who had spoken.
"High school, but enough living in the past. I have serious business here."
"What? Do you have a ghost, poltergeist, or something?"
"Don't give me any of that cover-up junk. We know about you and the Finas."
"How? Who told you?"
"Don't worry. None of the agents you let leave two months ago said anything. We already knew about the Finas before your agency was created," Bernie
answered.
"Then, who did send you?"
"That will have to remain a secret for a few more days or so, but we are here to join your agency or at least to appear to be new recruits."
"You think that after all the friends I've lost because of this stupid agency that I'm going to let all of you join, most of whom I know."
"Trust me we can take care of ourselves."
"Fine, but I want a full explanation as soon as possible."
"We'll see," Bernie said mysteriously.
"I'll call a meeting to announce your arrival," Daniel said reaching for the phone on his desk.
"No, don't. We're supposed to be here secretly."
"But you just said that you're supposed to appear to be new recruits. Not to mention the fact that Justin will surely notice."
"Justin?!" Bernie asked sounding surprised and ignoring the first part of Daniel's statement.
"Yeah, Justin is here, too, you know."
"Fine, tell Justin, but only Justin," Bernie said turning to leave with the rest of the mysterious group as Daniel picked up the phone to call Justin into his office
again.

Chapter 3
The Underground

"What was that about?" Justin asked Jeff right after Jeff put his cell phone away after talking to someone who had called him.
"There's been a change of plans. Pull over and let me drive," Jeff answered.
"No," Justin answered instantly.
"I said pull over," Jeff said again but this time he began reaching for something he had in his pocket.

"Where are we going?' Daniel asked Bernie who was driving.
"Headquarters, of course."
"Then, what is Operation Check Mate and Code 420 or whatever it is."
"You'll see soon enough."

"Okay, we're in position. Go ahead and send down the containment ship," Jeff said into his cell phone after he had taken control of the truck and driven Justin
and him into the middle of a desert.
Shortly afterwards a triangular ship similar, but not exactly the same, to the ones the agency had been aboard descended from the sky and landed in front of
Jeff and Justin. Immediately after it landed a ramp opened from the bottom of the ship and five Finas walked out armed with weapons slung over their shoulders by a
strap.
"Are you sure he's one of them?" the lead Fina asked Jeff as they got within a few feet of Jeff and Justin.
"Yeah, Bernie just called me with confirmation," Jeff answered suddenly pushing Justin toward the Finas who immediately grabbed him.
"Is Bernie on his way with Daniel?" the lead Fina continued as two of the other Finas took Justin aboard the ship.
"As far as I know."
"So, Operation En Passant nears completion," the lead Fina said with a smile crossing his red face, "I suppose it'll be time for Operation Check Mate soon,
then."
After standing there smiling for a few minutes the lead Fina gave Jeff a salute that was just barely noticeable and returned to the ship followed close behind by
the other two Finas. Right as the ramp to the ship closed following the return of the Finas the ship took off and disappeared from Jeff's sight leaving him standing
alone in the desert.

"I thought you said we were going to headquarters! This isn't the way to the airport."
"I didn't say we were going to your headquarters, though. It seems you might get that explanation a little sooner than I thought."

"You might want to put that coat you brought on pretty soon," Bernie spoke up after a couple minutes of silence, "the desert can get pretty cold at night."
"The desert!! Your headquarters is in the desert!" Daniel exclaimed.
"No, but we're going to catch our ride there. We don't want there to be any chance of anybody seeing us. We're a little more cautious than your agency.
There were twenty witnesses to the ship your agency took control of."
"Hey, I wasn't even on it until the mission to the planet the Finas were on."
"I know, but you need to make sure to be more careful from now on."
"Where is this headquarters, then, if it isn't in the desert?" Daniel asked trying to get more information from Bernie.
"You'll see," Bernie answered returning to the mysteriousness he had when Daniel had talked to him before.
Once again the conversation fell silent as Daniel realized he wasn't going to get Bernie to tell him anything else. Instead of asking Bernie more questions and
getting mysterious answers Daniel decided to put his coat on like Bernie had suggested and began to watch where they were going more closely. What he found out
when he looked out the window was that they were no longer on the road but instead were driving through a desert.
After what seemed to be ages to Daniel in the silence of the truck ride Daniel saw the truck that Jeff and Justin had been driving appear on the horizon. The
driver side door was open and Daniel could just barely see that someone was sitting in the driver's seat.
It wasn't much longer before they pulled up beside the other truck and stopped. At the same time that Daniel and Bernie got out of their truck Jeff stepped
out of the open driver side door and came over to them.
"Where's Justin?" Daniel immediately asked when he saw that no one else was in the other truck.
"We had to take him somewhere separately. You'll understand better after we explain everything," Jeff answered as Bernie stepped to one side and called
someone else on his cell phone.
A few minutes later another ship landed but this time it was a round one similar, but once again not exact, to the one the agency had found at the archaeology
site that had taken them to the planet the Finas were on.
"Where did you get that?" Daniel asked when he saw the ship, "It looks an awful lot like the ship that was planted at the archaeology site."
"You'll understand why in a few minutes after you talk to Jesse."
"Jesse? I should have known he had something to do with this," Daniel said realizing they were talking about another of his friends from high school.
"Let's go. The sooner we get aboard the ship the sooner you can stop asking so many questions," Bernie said right after a set of stairs finished unfolding from
the ship.
They quickly started up the set of stairs and headed into the ship. The stairs immediately closed behind them and they could just barely hear a low humming
sound as they began to walk farther into the ship.
"You can stay in this room until we arrive at headquarters," Bernie said opening a door after they had walked down a few hallways. The room was empty
inside except for a couple of chairs, a table, and a bed.
"If you need anything just hit the button beside the door," Jeff said as they walked into the room.
"Where are you going?" Daniel asked as Bernie and Jeff started to go back out the door.
"We have work to do," Bernie answered opening the door.
"How about some entertainment?" Daniel asked as he looked around the room and noticed how empty it was right before the door closed behind Bernie and
Jeff.
I guess I'll go to sleep, then.

A couple hours later Daniel awoke to the sound of the door to the room opening and Bernie and Jeff walked in.
"We're ready to take you to Jesse," Bernie said.
"It's about time. Where is this headquarters that it took so long to get to?"
"We've been here for nearly two hours. It only took three minutes. The rest of the time we were informing Jesse of our landing and getting everything ready
for your visit, so to speak," Bernie answered.
"You would have known that if you hadn't been asleep the whole time," Jeff continued.
"You could have at least given me something to do so I didn't need to sleep to keep from being bored."
"I told you to hit the button by the door if you needed anything," Jeff said pointing at a black rectangular button next to the door with a big smile on his face.
"I didn't realize it included stuff like that."
"What are you complaining about? You don't get enough sleep, anyway. You're always worried about getting ready for the Finas if they return," Bernie
continued.
"Well, they could return anytime now, for all I know, and we still have to finish researching the gun we got from the Finas and the ship," Daniel said.
"Trust me the Finas aren't anything to worry that much about," Jeff replied.
"What? Decide to actually let me know something."
"You're going to find everything out in a few minutes when you go see Jesse, anyway," Jeff answered.
"Then, let's get moving. I'd like to find out what this explanation that you keep saying has to wait is."
"Fine, let's go" Bernie said leading Daniel out the door and back down the halls they had used to get to the room.
Once they were outside the ship Daniel found they had landed in a grassy field somewhere.
"We still have a short drive left before we get to headquarters," Bernie said pointing to a black truck parked a few feet away.
"Well, what are you waiting for. I'm ready to see Jesse," Daniel said walking over and getting into the passenger's seat of the black truck and Bernie soon
followed and they left.

A few minutes later they had entered a small city and Bernie parked behind a building taller than most of the others.
"Is this the end of the trip, finally?" Daniel asked getting tired of moving from one vehicle to another.
"Yeah, this is the place," Bernie said pointing at the building they had parked behind and started walking towards it with Daniel following anxiously behind
him, "All that's left is to go to Jesse's office."

"So what's the government up to, Jesse," Daniel asked Jesse immediately after he entered the office in the building that Bernie had led him to.
"Now, that's not very nice. You know I gave up my job with the government years ago and what's with always accusing me of being up to something before I
even get a chance to say anything," the man behind the desk in the office, who was Jesse another one of Daniel's high school friends and who had worked for the
government for awhile, replied.
"Because you're always up to something, Jesse."
"Hmm...," Jesse replied with nothing to say in return.
"Well, let's get on with this explanation, I've heard so much about," Daniel mentioned when Jesse didn't say anything else.
"Fine, but first thing's first. Did you enjoy you're ride here?"
"You always were one to like torturing people for your own pleasure. You wouldn't let anyone tell me anything about this organization of yours the whole way
here, and to make things worse you kept making me change vehicles, the worst of which was the spaceship where you made me stay in a room with nothing to do or
even look at."
"I told you to give him anything he asked for," Jesse directed back at Bernie who was still standing at the door to the office with a big smile on his face.
"He didn't ask for anything, all he did was sleep the whole time we were there," Bernie answered.
"Not only that, though, you kept teasing me with this explanation of everything about your agency and got my hopes up every time I had to change vehicles
and now you're still delaying and teasing me."
"Do you know where we are, though?" Jesse asked.
"Yeah, the headquarters to whatever organization you've created."
"Yeah, but do you know where it's located?" Jesse continued by clarifying his question.
"No idea. How am I supposed to know when you put me in the most boring room with no windows in a spaceship."
"That's exactly the point. Taking such a round about way here serves two purposes. The first is that since we drive into deserted areas we don't have to
worry about witnesses. That much, I'm told Bernie told you, but the second purpose is to disorient anyone we don't want to know where we're located."
"What kind of people would you be bringing here that you don't want to know about the location?" Daniel asked.
"Prisoners," Jesse answered.
"Well, I didn't expect you to come right out and say it. Even though that's what I thought you meant, but who are you taking prisoner?"
"Maybe the easiest way to explain this to you would be just to start from the beginning and tell you about my organization, as you call it, and explain
everything from there."
"Then, go ahead and do that," Daniel continued beginning to get impatient, "and quit delaying."

"Let me out of here!!!" Justin screamed at the Finas walking by the room he had been put into in the same building Daniel was taken to except Justin had
arrived about an hour earlier. The room was like a prison cell but instead of metal bars the door was a blue energy field of some sort.
After about an hour of Justin yelling like this, five Finas came up to the energy field door with the same guns they had been carrying when they forced him
aboard the spaceship.
"We're ready to ask you a few questions, Justin. That is the name you're going by isn't it," one of the Finas said pushing something beside the door, that Justin
couldn't see, causing the energy field to disappear.
The Finas quickly raised their guns and pointed them at Justin threateningly until they had all stepped into the room except for one and the Fina who had
stayed outside the energy field turned the energy field back on.
"Who are you?" Justin asked angrily in response to the Fina's statement before they had entered.
"You know exactly who we are," the Fina who had spoken before answered, "We're the underground you've been looking for."
"Underground? What underground?" Justin answered in an authentically confused voice.

"Six years ago, not long after high school and just before I quit working with the government, a man walked into my office," Jesse began to explain, "I
assumed he was with the government, but as soon as he closed the door behind him and made sure no one could see into my office he suddenly changed and he
turned into what you already know as a Fina. It scared me half to death."
"How did a Fina get into a government building? Does the government know about Finas?"
"Yeah, the government knew. Every government actually knows except for some of the more primitive and developing countries' governments. Our view of
the Finas at the time of my encounter with this Fina was the same as your agency's. That they were evil and trying to take over the planet. This is where I found that
was actually not completely true."
"You still haven't answered how he got through all the security. If the government knew, why didn't they have methods to make sure no Finas got in. Their
eyes stay triangles, don't they. Why not just check everyone's eyes?"
"That thing about the Finas' eyes staying triangles is a lie. A lie I'm responsible for in fact, but we'll get to that later. This Fina had gotten in by posing as a
government agent. As I said this even fooled me. He had no problem getting through all the security."
"What did he do?"
"This was when I found out that we had misjudged the Finas, and they weren't evil like we thought."
"Not evil!!!! P.J.'s dead, Aaron's dead, dozens of others are dead because of the Finas!!!!! How can they not be evil?!!!!!!" Daniel yelled standing up from
his chair in his anger.
"The Finas are actually ruled by a more powerful species of aliens that has conquered several worlds and continues to take over the galaxy. These aliens are
called Luridens. Where the Finas are more technological the Luridens are powerful and controlling. The Luridens gave the Finas orders to take over the earth. They
had just recently reached earth when I received the visit from this Fina."
"If they were sent to conquer earth then why doesn't everyone know about the Finas attacking?" Daniel asked sitting back down in the chair in front of Jesse
as his anger began to subside a little.
"Because the Finas didn't do what they were told. Instead they finally made a move against the Luridens. That's why the Fina had come to me. The Finas
wanted to form an underground against the Luridens and they wanted our help. That's what this organization of mine is. It's the Fina underground."
"But why come to you specifically? And I haven't seen one Fina since I've been here."
"You haven't seen a Fina because we made sure you didn't. We didn't want you to see them until you knew they weren't evil."
"You didn't answer my question. Why did they come to you?"
"Hmm..."

Ignoring Justin's clear confusion the Finas pulled out visors, of some sort, and put them on.
"It's on his right arm," the lead Fina said walking towards Justin.
"Confirmed," the other three Finas inside the room said at the same time. Once again they raised their guns and pointed them at Justin as the lead Fina neared
Justin.

"So, as I was saying, I helped the Finas form an underground against the Luridens," Jesse continued ignoring Daniel's question again.
Why won't he answer why they came to him?
"Does that answer your question about what I'm up to?" Jesse continued.
"Not really," Daniel answered, "You still haven't explained why the Finas killed P.J., Aaron, and everyone else that was working for my agency if they had an
underground against the Luridens who were the ones who ordered them to attack earth. Was it just because of the Slena?"
"Actually, the Slena is another lie I'm somewhat responsible for. I'm also somewhat responsible for the deaths of your agents."
"What?!!!!! You're responsible!!!!!"
"It was all for the good of the underground, I promise," Jesse answered calmly.

Chapter 5
The Chase

"What?!!! How?!!!" Jesse yelled at the Fina with terror in his eyes.
"Does he mean, Justin?" Daniel interrupted.
"Yes," the Fina answered Daniel's question.
"How did he escape?!!" Jesse insisted.
"We turned the energy-field off to let the interrogators out after he attacked... after the team took his transmogrificator off and he changed back. He was
camouflaged and got out while the field was down."
"You idiots!!!!!!!!!!" Jesse shouted as he stood up and signaled everyone in his office to follow him as he began to run down the hallway.
"Where are we going?!" Daniel yelled at Jesse as they ran through the halls.
"First, we're going to get some weapons. Then, we're going to go hunt down the Luriden who's been pretending to be Justin. If we don't get him quick he'll
find a way to contact more Luridens and we'll be in trouble, then," Jesse answered.
A few minutes later they arrived at a large room with cabinets covering the walls. Instantly Jesse walked over to one of the cabinets and opened it to reveal a
variety of strange looking guns.
"What do you think, Yert?" Jesse asked suddenly calm again, "XT-500's?"
"Try the XT-1000's, instead," the Fina who had told Jesse about the escape answered.
"Good idea," Jesse said picking up a large gun near the bottom that had a wide barrel with two large lumps on the end and a handle sticking down from the
barrel on the end with the lumps.
Jesse quickly handed the gun to the Fina and headed to another cabinet and picked up the same type of gun and handed it to Bernie. Then, finally he went to
a third cabinet and gave Daniel the gun in it that was like the others.
"All you have to do to fire it is pull this back," Jesse said pointing to the large lumps on the side of the back of the barrel, "then pull the trigger," Jesse finished
showing Daniel the trigger on the handle extending from the barrel.
After Jesse finished explaining how to fire the gun to Daniel he went to another cabinet and pulled out another gun of the same type and he kept this one.
"We'll need visors, too, I guess," Jesse continued walking over to a cabinet near the door and opening it to reveal row after row of red visors, "since he's
evidently camouflaging himself."
Jesse immediately pulled out four visors and tossed one to Bernie and one to the Fina who was apparently called, Yert. After Bernie and Yert had their visors
Jesse walked over to Daniel with a third visor.
"Press this button and you'll be able to see him when he's camouflaged," Jesse said pressing a small red button on the top of the visor and helping Daniel put
the visor on and then putting the last visor on himself.
"Let's go," Jesse said after everyone had their visors on and guns ready, "we have to hurry."
They hastily ran out the door and looked down the hall in both directions.
"He's probably still pretty close to the detention area," Jesse said turning left and running through the halls as fast he could with the others following behind
him.
"Looks like you were right," Daniel said as they passed by prison cells like the one Justin had been in and began to see bodies of Finas laying on the ground
once they reached a prison cell that didn't have an energy field turned on.
"This is where he escaped," Yert said when they stopped at the room with the energy field turned off.
"We should be able to follow the bodies to him," Jesse said, "Luridens have a thirst for death and destruction."
"You know what I just realized," Daniel said tentatively as they began tracking the Luriden by the bodies on the ground and Daniel began to notice how many
there were, "you haven't really told me much about what these Luridens look like.
"Trust me, you'll know when you see him," Jesse answered.
As they went they found more and more bodies on the floor.
"He's not going to pass up an opportunity to get information on the underground before he contacts more Luridens," Jesse said as the bodies began to lead
into a room.
The room they followed the bodies into had about ten rows of computers and bent over one of the computers in the third row was a very large, reptilian
creature.
"See him?" Jesse whispered.
"Yeah," Yert answered beginning to quietly walk toward the creature.
"So that's a Luriden?" Daniel asked fearfully.
"Yep," Bernie answered just as they reached the third row of computers and pointed their guns at the creature.
The first thing Daniel noticed about the creature was the razor sharp tail that was laying on the floor at the creature's feet. He also noticed the immense size of
the creature. Its head nearly touched the ceiling of the room. The next thing Daniel realized about the creature was that even though it appeared to be very lizard=like
it didn't have any scales. And one word suddenly jumped into Daniel's thoughts without explanation. Reptoid.
"I would prefer to take you alive again," Jesse said to the creature, "but I'm willing to kill you if I have to."
In response to Jesse's statement the creature turned away from the computer and looked at them and suddenly opened its mouth to reveal several rows of
teeth on the top and bottom of his mouth as well as about two extra long fangs on both sides of his mouth that immediately came out of his mouth when he opened it.
As soon as he had fully opened his mouth he began making clicking sounds and high pitched screams that got progressively louder and then suddenly stopped and
just moments later Yert fell down on his knees covering his ears.
"Don't make me!" Jesse yelled pulling back the lumps on his gun and placing his finger on the trigger threateningly.
The creature quickly began to reach his arms up like he was going to surrender to Jesse but instead in the blink of an eye he reached one of his three-
fingered, clawed hands over to the computer with one of his three fingered hands and pulled out what appeared to be a floppy disk.
"Drop it!!!" Jesse yelled.
"Just shoot him!!!" Yert yelled from the floor where he was curled up in agony.
When the Luriden didn't make a move to surrender Jesse listened to Yert and pulled the trigger of the gun. Instantly a blue stream of energy shot out of the
barrel of the gun.
"Did you get him?" Daniel asked when the stream of energy disappeared and he no longer saw the creature.
"No, he moved too fast," Jesse answered looking nervously around the room for the Luriden.
"Charge your weapons," Yert said getting up from the ground appearing to be perfectly fine now.
Everyone quickly pulled back the lumps on their guns and carefully placed their fingers on their triggers.
"Split up," Bernie said, "he has to be somewhere nearby."
Immediately they all went different directions. Bernie began searching the left side of the room, Daniel searched the right side of the room, Yert searched the
back of the room, and Jesse rushed out the door looking for any sign of the creature in case he had gotten out of the room.
"Any sign of him?" Bernie asked a few minutes later.
"Not here," Daniel answered.
"Not here, either," Yert said regretfully.
"He must have escaped, then," Bernie said, "Maybe Jesse found him."

Darn, he did get out, Jesse thought to himself as he bent down over a Fina body that was laying on the floor in the hallway leading away from the detention
area, I've got to get him. We're running out of time. If he escapes with that floppy we're doomed.
Moving faster than before Jesse ran down the hall. This time he had fewer bodies to follow since most of the Finas that had been in the hallways had either
gotten to a safe location or equipped themselves like Jesse, Bernie, Daniel, and Yert had done. This made Jesse think harder about where the Luriden would go and
the answers he came up with scared him.
He'll try to get to the ships and he's already headed in the right direction. He must have gotten ahold of the maps while he was on the computer.

"We can't just let Jesse go after him on his own," Bernie said, "Come on, we better go help him."
Quickly Bernie, Daniel, and Yert ran out of the room filled with computers and went in the direction they had seen Jesse go.

Running faster and faster Jesse raced towards the docking bay full of the underground's spaceships.
There's no hope of me catching up to him at this rate. I better take a shortcut.
Jesse suddenly stopped at a normal-looking wall and looked in every direction before he leaned casually on the wall causing a hidden door to open up next to
him revealing a long, dark hallway. Hastily, Jesse ran through the door and pressed a button just inside the door causing the door to close again and dim lights to
come on leading down the hall.
Immediately Jesse began running straight down the hall until he reached another door that was just barely visible in the dim lighting. He quickly pushed another
button exactly like the one next to the other door and the door opened to reveal a room with glass walls and a desk with controls on it in the center of the room. At
the desk sat a Fina. Jesse began to enter the room but before he had completely stepped into it he turned back around and reached for something just inside the
hallway and pulled out an earpiece-like device.
"Jesse!! How did you get in here?! I didn't see you enter the docking bay downstairs!" the Fina said as he turned around to find Jesse standing behind him.
"No time to explain. Just lock the docking bay doors," Jesse said walking out a door just a few feet from the hidden one he had just closed before the Fina
turned around.
Hurriedly Jesse ran down the steps that were behind the door while he fumbled with the earpiece that he had grabbed from behind the hidden door. Right as
he finished putting it on he reached the door at the bottom of the steps and entered into a room with metallic floors and two rows of triangular and circular ships
arranged in front of him. In front of the ships on the other side of the room was a large metal door that was closed.
"Where are you?" Jesse muttered quietly to himself as he looked around the ships for the Luriden.
Jesse was beginning to get frustrated and look more erratically when he suddenly heard a quiet clicking sound and the earpiece in his ear began to translate
for him.
"How did you get here so fast?" the earpiece translated as Jesse turned around to see where the clicking sound was coming from.
"The most direct path is the quickest," Jesse answered still looking frantically for the source of the clicking noises without being able to.
"But I took the most direct path that was on your maps," the earpiece continued to translate clicking noises.
Before answering Jesse pressed a very small button on the earpiece and then continued, "Only an idiot would put everything on a map."
"Yes, but the rest of this foolish underground doesn't know about this secret passage you used either. Otherwise they'd be here by now," the earpiece
translated and then added something else, "8 o'clock."

"How fast are these Luridens?" Daniel asked as Bernie, Yert, and him raced down the halls toward the docking bay where they knew the Luriden would go.
"Very," Bernie answered simply.
"We might be able to catch up to Jesse, though," Yert said trying to run even faster than he was already.

In response to the earpiece's message Jesse quickly looked over his left shoulder but all he saw was one of the circular ships.
Darn, he's already gotten aboard one of the ships, Jesse thought rushing over to the circular ship and hitting a series of buttons beside the door to it.
"You think it's a good thing that you've found my location but it'll lead to you're death," the earpiece continued to translate the nearly constant clicking.
To Jesse's surprise the door opened before he finished the button sequence he was trying to enter to open the door. When he looked inside the doorway to
see why the door had opened, he quickly realized why. There in the doorway was the Luriden crouching in the doorway with his tail up and ready to attack Jesse.
Time seemed to almost slow down as Jesse frantically backed away from the ship and the Luriden's tail came flying towards him. Jesse was just barely able
to duck under the Luriden's tail as it came slicing towards his neck, but as soon as the Luriden noticed that he missed he immediately adjusted his aim and sent his tail
flying at Jesse again. This time Jesse didn't have enough time to react and the Luriden's tail began to cut into his neck, but just before the Luriden could cause any real
serious damage Jesse saw blue light rush by him causing the Luriden to rear back, letting out another high-pitched scream and rush into the ship.
Before Jesse could recover from the attack and look for the source of the light he suddenly saw Daniel, Bernie, and Yert run to where he was laying on the
ground, bleeding.
"Don't... worry about... me. Get him before... he can take... off," Jesse gasped in pain.
Instantly Daniel, Bernie, and Yert ran to the ship that the Luriden was inside of. While Yert began to enter the same sequence of buttons Jesse had started to
enter, Daniel and Bernie stood ready with their guns aimed towards the door to the ship. Before Yert had finished the sequence, though, the ship suddenly began to
move.
"Just shoot it!!!!" Yert yelled to Bernie and Daniel as he quit entering the code and readied his gun right as Daniel and Bernie shot at the door to the ship.
Their shots had little effect, however, and before long the ship had taken flight and was hovering directly in front of the large door of the docking bay, but the
door wouldn't open.
"Yes!! Flort locked the doors! Shoot at the engines!" Yert exclaimed and he and Bernie shot towards the outer edges of the ship.
"Where are the engines?!" Daniel yelled.
"Just shoot!!" Yert answered.
Quickly Daniel obeyed and a small amount of smoke began to come from the bottom of the ship after several minutes, but just when they thought they might
succeed a flash of blinding light came from the ship and filled the room. When they could see again there was no sign of the ship and all that was left of the door was a
gaping hole and a few pieces of metal on the floor and on the ground outside.
"Darn it!!! He found the weapons!" Yert yelled.
"Now what?" Daniel asked nervously.
"We have to stop him whatever the cost," Yert answered looking away from the hole in the door and walking casually toward the steps that led to the glassed
in room overlooking the docking bay. Daniel and Bernie quickly turned to follow him.
Before they were even halfway up the steps they saw the Fina that was in the room coming running down the steps to meet them.
"Are you guys okay?" the Fina asked them quickly.
"Not quite, we need an emergency task force prepared immediately to help chase the Luriden down, and get Jesse to the doctor," Yert answered.
"Of course," the Fina said running off through a door at the bottom of the steps.

Chapter 7
The Hermit

"Did you get the Luriden?" Yert asked a group of Finas waiting for them as the task force walked out of the ship after landing at the same base that Daniel
had been at before.
"Yeah, he's exactly where he's supposed to be," one of the Finas answered, "maybe you can keep from letting him go this time.
"You know this isn't a place I was hoping to return to anytime soon," Daniel said, as he caught up to Yert at the door to the base, with a bandage still around
his neck from the injury from the Luriden.
"Trust me, we can't afford to. We lost some two hundred people back on Earth and then one more here trying to recapture the Luriden," Yert continued
ignoring Daniel, "Not to mention Jesse getting hurt."
"Fine, ignore me," Daniel said leaving and following the rest of the task force into the base right as Bernie walked up to Yert.
"What kept you from sending fighters for so long?" Yert continued, "Luriden problems?"
"No, we've been getting attacked sporadically by an unknown thing or person," the Fina answered.
"It would have to be an inside job," Bernie spoke up, "there are any other species stationed here."
"That's the weirdest thing, though. Survivors say it looked like a human almost," the Fina answered.
"Maybe the Luridens are using people from a planet we haven't heard of yet," Yert suggested walking through the door to the base since the crowd had
disappeared.
"I don't know but whatever it is the attacks are becoming more successful. It's managed to disable most of our defenses to the point that we have trouble
repairing them before the next attack."
"What are you talking about?" Daniel interrupted after walking back up to them when he saw them walk through the door.
"The base has been getting attacked by an unknown source," Yert said acknowledging Daniel this time.
"What does it look like?" Daniel asked.
"Witnesses say it looks like a hu...," the Fina from the base began to say but was interrupted suddenly by an alarm going off, "It's in again!!!" he yelled running
down the hall with Daniel, Bernie, and Yert taking off after him.
"I hope you kept some of those weapons with you," the Fina said when Bernie, Yert, and Daniel caught up to him.
"I didn't think we needed to," Yert answered.
"Well, I'm not going to go running for weapons. I'm tired of hearing reports of this thing. I'm going to see it myself. I'll take it down with my bare hands if I
have to," the Fina continued.
Just minutes later the Fina caught up to another Fina who was running for cover and grabbed him.
"Where is it?!!!"
"It's straight down the hall," the Fina answered.
Immediately the Fina took off even faster down the hall making it hard for Bernie, Daniel, and Yert to catch up, but then he suddenly stopped and they were
able to catch up. After they were able to catch their breath they noticed why the Fina had stopped. There in front of them stood a human but he was scarred almost
beyond recognition with his right arm missing just below the shoulder where it was crudely bandaged and he was nearly completely covered in red dirt and sand.
Without even looking at them he looked back down the hall and forced his way past Yert, Bernie, and Daniel while threatening them with a gun, that looked exactly
like the type the agency had thought were Daynad, and continued running up the hall toward the exit.
"After him!" the Fina from the base yelled running back the other way after the figure, but before they could catch up the figure had ran out the door and was
nowhere to be seen in the miles and miles of red sand.
"It did look human," Yert commented.
"It was," Daniel answered, "but he was injured to the point that it was hard to tell."
"But how did a human get here?" the Forniat Fina asked, "We don't let humans just hang around in case the Luridens decide to stop by."
"No clue," Yert answered, "but he's gone now."
"But for how long," the Forniat Fina said turning and heading back inside.
"We need to get rid of him before he causes any serious trouble," Yert said, "and what better time than when you have forty emergency task force members
at your command."
"No, you're busy with the Luriden and you need to take care of that and get back to earth as soon as you can."
"At least take a few of our people," Yert persisted.
"Fine, but you have to get out of here still. We can't have the Luridens seeing humans running around here."
"I'll go," Daniel volunteered, "If it involves a human I think I should be involved. It's not like I'll be much help here anyway."
"If anything, you should be in the base at all costs," the Forniat Fina argued.
"Actually the last thing you should want is me in the base. If the Luridens see me here without you doing anything to me your whole cover is blown, but if I'm
out in the desert looking for this guy it'll look like I could be helping him or something like that."
"Fine, but you'll have to stay with just the humans from the emergency task force. No, going near any of the Finas I send out there to look for him," the
Forniat Fina said, "and in the mean time," he continued turning to look at Yert, "I need you and the rest of the emergency task force that doesn't go on the search to
take care of the Luriden."

Within an hour of the conversation with Bernie, Daniel, and the Forniat Fina, Yert was suited back up and leading ten members of the emergency task force
to where the Luriden was being held. They walked through the security door after entering the necessary codes on the color-coded keypads until they finally made it
to where the Luriden was being held. The Luriden was awake now but he was restrained by ten metal restraints that held him to a low bed. Five of the ten restraints
held the Luriden's tail which was laying on a small section of the bed that stuck out from the end of the rest of the bed. Quickly Yert walked forward carrying a small
yellow disc in his hand. As soon as he made it to the center of the room where the Luriden was struggling against the restraints Yert hastily placed the disc on the
Luriden.
"Now that we can understand each other better," Yert said, "how about answering a few questions."

"Now remember to stay with the humans," the Forniat Fina instructed Daniel as they walked toward where the Fina had had the rest of the search party
members gather.
"I will," Daniel answered slightly frustrated with the Fina, "I already said I would."
"Just making sure you remember," the Fina replied just as they arrived where the rest of the search party was.
The Fina quickly left Daniel and got on the small stage in front of the gathered humans and Finas.
"Okay," the Fina addressed the search party, "this is how I want the search to go. The humans will have to stay separate from the Finas in case the Luridens
stop by or something and from those groups I want you to form two more groups so that there will be a total of four groups. Each group will leave the base in a
different direction."
"What about the space between the teams?" someone in the group interrupted.
"I was just about to get to that," the lead Fina said picking up a small metal pyramid laying on the stage next to him and pressing a button on the side causing
the pyramid to open and begin projecting a map of Forniat with four areas highlighted in different colors, "Since we have decided it is human there is no chance that it
could have gotten far so instead of following a straight path the teams will go from side to side in their search area," he continued pointing at the highlighted areas on
the map, "Team 1 will take the yellow area, Team 2 the green, Team 3 blue, and Team 4 purple. Let's go," he concluded walking off the stage and making sure all the
teams were ready as they prepared to leave.

"You say the Luridens have no knowledge of the underground," Yert questioned the Luriden, "Is this true?"
"You expect me to cooperate with you!!" the Luriden snarled.
"If you want to keep your tail, you will," Yert said solemnly as he pulled out a sword from where it had been hanging in a sheath around his waist.
"No, they just know about that human institution and think that is who is behind the problems they've been having," the Luriden answered angrily.
"Then, why has this base been getting attacked," Yert continued.
"What are you talking about?"
"Tell me," Yert said raising the sword threateningly.
"I don't know, maybe you have internal problems."
Maybe the Luridens really aren't behind the attacks, Yert thought to himself, or maybe he's just not telling the truth but if it's human chances are he
is telling the truth I suppose.
"How many planets have the Luridens captured?" Yert continued accepting the Luriden's answer for the time being.
"Five hundred total and four hundred fifty different intelligent species," the Luriden answered, "As you see you have no chance of succeeding in this foolish
rebellion."
It's even worse than we thought. Unless he's just exaggerating to scare us enough that we give up.
"You're lying," Yert said beginning to lower the sword toward the Luriden's tail.
"Believe what you will, but I'm telling the truth," the Luriden answered sticking to his original statement.
"What planets besides earth are the Luridens trying to conquer and how do we get to them?" Yert continued trying to resist cutting the Luriden's tail off
because he knew that if he did the Luriden would completely quit cooperating.
"I'll never tell you," the Luriden answered stubbornly.
Yert immediately lowered the sword until the Luriden's tail began to bleed blue-green blood.
"Last chance!!" Yert said angrily.
"Do what you will to me but you'll never defeat us."
Instantaneously Yert raised the sword slightly and brought it down on the Luriden's tail as hard as he could severing it completely and causing the Luriden to
scream as loud as he could. Yert and the rest of the team in the room quickly covered their ears to protect them from the noise.
"Sedate him!!!!" Yert yelled.
Quickly one of the team members crawled over to the screaming Luriden carrying a shot of something in his right hand. As soon as he was in range of the
Luriden he jabbed the shot into Luriden's shoulder and the Luriden immediately quit moving.
"We were doing so well, too," Yert muttered taking off his visor and looking at the blue-green body of the Luriden laying on the table.

"See that significantly lower area in the sand?" the leader of Daniel's team asked when they had been out of the base for several hours.
"Yeah," Daniel answered.
"Don't step on those areas," the leader said, "it's a Hurnat's trap. One step on it and you'll fall about seven feet and if you happen to survive you'll see exactly
what a Hurnat is right before it eats you. It's also a sign of how far we've come from the base. Most creatures have been removed from near the base for several
years."
"Thanks for the tip," Daniel said nervously walking around the low area in the sand.
"Don't mention it," the leader of the team said smiling.

"There's mountains here," Daniel said incredulously as rocky terrain began to appear in front of them and mountains appeared on the horizon a couple hours
later.
"Yeah, it's not all desert you know," the leader answered, "and just so you know there's even more animals in those mountains. I'll try to keep you from
making a mistake and ending up getting eaten by any of them.
"See that rock there for example?" the leader asked just a few minutes later pointing to a rock in their path.
"Yeah, why?" Daniel asked.
"That's actually a Rorniat. Essentially just a desert lizard. It's not very dangerous. I just wanted to make sure you'd watch your step closely. Can you see the
lizard now?" the leader explained.
"Yeah," Daniel answered looking at the rock closer and just making out a gray and dark, brown spotted creature that looked almost exactly like a lizard on
earth.

"It's starting to get dark," the leader said about an hour later as they were getting deeper and deeper into the mountains, "We don't want to be out here at
night. We'll have to find a cave somewhere. We'll head back to the base in the morning. He must not be in our search area."

"Did the Luriden talk?" the leader of the Forniat base asked Yert when he and the rest of the team walked out of the last security door.
"Yeah, until I asked what planets the Luridens were attacking and how to get to them," Yert said holding up the sword so the lead Fina could see the blood
on it.
"So you took off his tail?" the lead Fina asked when he saw the blood on the sword.
"Yes, Kriniot," Yert said addressing the lead Fina by name, "but before he refused to answer I managed to find out that the Luridens know nothing about the
underground, the Luridens aren't behind the attacks on the base, and the Luridens have conquered five hundred..."
"FIVE HUNDRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Kriniot interrupted.
"That's what he said, but I think he might be exaggerating and he says they've captured four hundred fifty species."
"Did you ask him how many were loyal?" Kriniot interrupted again.
"No," Yert answered, "I didn't think to. I still think he's exaggerating, though."

"What's this!!" Daniel said picking up a half buried piece of paper in the sand inside the cave that the team had found to seek shelter in.
On the piece of paper Daniel could just make out what appeared to be symbols with English letters right next to them.
"So you've become one of them," a mysterious voice said angrily from the back of the cave where no light, from a mechanism the team leader had set up,
reached.
Daniel turned to see a figure slowly walking out of the darkness shakily holding something in his left hand. It was the figure that had attacked the base holding
the same gun in his one hand.
"I never thought you would betray earth. What did they offer you, Daniel?" the figure said creeping farther into the light and pointing the gun at each of them
one at a time.
"Who are you?!!" Daniel asked fearfully.
"You didn't think I recognized you back at the base did you? Working with the Finas!"
"P.J.?!!!!!" Daniel asked realizing what he held in his hand.
"You seem so surprised."
"But you died when the ships blew up."
"You wish," P.J. answered, "Then, I wouldn't be able to find out that you were betraying earth."
"We checked all the bodies. The only ones who survived were Mitchell and me."
"So Mitchell is part of this, too," P.J. said accusingly, "and after we made him leader. I bet a lot of people died as a result of that."
"Mitchell is dead, P.J."
"So he changed his mind and you had to kill him huh."
"It's not like that. It's a long story. Just put the gun down and we'll explain."
"That's what you'd want isn't it. Then, you can kill me like everyone else."
"It's not me you should be worried about, P.J," Daniel said, "Jesse was behind the explosion and the whole deal with making us think the Finas were evil. A
lot has happened in six months, P.J."
"Jesse why am I not surprised."
"Yes, Jesse he's leading an underground to help the Finas defeat the Luridens who conquered the Finas."
"Six months, huh," P.J. said beginning to lower the gun, "It feels more like six years."

Chapter 9
Fighting Back

Within minutes the two ships had landed beside the smoldering wreckage of the ship that the Luriden had stolen.
"What's the plan?" Yert asked Jesse as he walked out of the ship to where Jesse was standing next to his ship.
"Well, we need to search every part of the ship," Jesse said, "So I guess, go basically the same way you did when you looked for the Luriden."
"Okay," Yert answered turning to face the rest of the emergency task force, "Same pattern as last time. You know where to go."
Instantly the rest of the task force took off into the wreckage and began to separate back into teams except for the four people in Yert's group and P.J. who
stayed behind to wait for Yert to finish talking to Jesse.
"P.J.!" Jesse said surprised.
"Yeah," P.J. answered, "Thought you got rid of me, didn't you."
"What are you going to do?" Yert asked Jesse returning to the conversation they were having before P.J. and Yert's team had walked up.
"I'll search on my own," Jesse answered, "You can keep P.J. He can replace the man you lost capturing the Luriden."
After finishing Jesse walked into the ship and Yert's team followed heading the same way they had gone when they looked for the Luriden.
"You're sure you want to search alone?" Yert asked Jesse as Jesse began to turn off down a side hall.
"Yeah," Jesse answered, "Why? Think I'll miss something."
"No, just making sure," Yert said leading his team farther down the hallway looking through every room they came along.

"Find anything?" Yert asked the team leaders after his team had gotten to the end of their search area.
"Nothing," Jesse answered.
"Same here," another team leader answered.
"I don't think anyone found it, yet," another person reported, "He must have hid it."

"Where is he?" the lead Luriden asked Kurniat increasingly frustrated.
"I told you we hadn't done anything," Kurniat answered calmly.
"You haven't shown us everything," the Luriden said even angrier and preparing to strike with his tail.
"Yes I have!" Kurniat yelled nervously.
"What about there?!" the Luriden said pointing to a security door with a keypad on it.
"That's where we... hold... prisoners," Kurniat answered so nervously he could barely speak, "All you'll... find there is a bunch... of humans."
"Show me!!" the Luriden said.
"Fine, but you won't find anything interesting," Kurniat continued entering in the security code on the door and showing the Luridens a series of empty cells.
"Where are all the humans?!" the Luriden asked.
"They're farther in," Kurniat said stalling for time realizing that he couldn't show the Luridens where the Luriden had been because of the blood that hadn't
been cleaned up yet.

"Where's the disk?!!!!" Jesse yelled at the captured Luriden aboard the task force ship.
"Why don't you check the ship?" the translator, that was still on the Luriden's shoulder, translated the Luriden's series of clicks while the Luriden smiled
largely showing several extremely sharp teeth and the fangs on the sides of his mouth.
"You know darn well it's not in the ship!!!!!" Jesse yelled.
"Well, you know I couldn't have it," the Luriden said smiling more and more, "Where would I be able to hide it?"
"We've got to go to the base!" Jesse suddenly said worriedly to Yert after turning around.
"You know we can't do that," Yert said, "The place is swarming with Luridens
"We have to," Jesse replied, "He hid the disk there somewhere."
"He couldn't have," Yert argued, "How could he have gotten it to the base?"
"I'm not sure," Jesse said, "but I"m pretty sure he doesn't have it on him now and it's definitely not on the ship."
"What's the plan then?" Yert asked.
"We'll have to surround them and catch them by surprise."
"There's only forty-four of us here but put together with the base we easily outnumber them still."
"We'll have to buy time to let the base get weapons and supplies, though."
"I know," Jesse answered, "but it's a start.

"I thought you said there were humans imprisoned here," the Luriden said angrily.
"Just one more door," Kurniat answered beginning to enter the code to the final security door.
I'm doomed. There's no way that they'll let me live after they see the Luriden's blood in there.
As soon as the door opened Kurniat slowly walked in followed by the Luridens.
"I don't see any humans!!" the Luriden said looking around at the empty prison cells.
The least I can do is warn the rest of the base.
Cautiously Kurniat tried to find a time when the Luridens weren't watching him. When he thought he had an opportunity he quickly reached up to his right ear
and rubbed an object hidden in the lip of it.
"That's Luriden blood!!!!!!" the Luriden yelled at Kurniat, when he saw the cell where the Luriden had been held, raising his tail and pressing it painfully into
Kurniat's neck.
"You can kill me, but you'll never make it out of here alive," Kurniat said.
"You think you weak Finas can stop us!" the Luriden said angrily pulling back his tail and striking in one slash to take Kurniat's head off, "Let's go," the
Luriden ordered the rest of the group of Luridens, "These Finas will pay for their arrogance."

"Looks like the battle has begun without us!" Yert said when they came in view of the base and saw stray laser bolts shooting out of the sides of the base and
frightened Finas running out the door just to be taken down by Luridens who were chasing after them.
"So much for surprise," Jesse answered.
"I want everyone equipped with XC-5000's and visors. We're going to shoot to kill. No prisoners. Drop off at the closest safe distance. I'll stay on the ship
with minimum staff and we'll use the ship. Casualties will be high, but we can't let them get away. They know about the underground and may have retrieved the disk.
Quickly Yert relayed Jesse's orders to the rest of the ship. All the unnecessary staff grabbed weapons and armor as fast as they could and headed for the
door so they could have the quickest drop off possible.
"Do you remember how we fire these?!" P.J. said nervously, holding up the large shotgun like guns in his hand, almost immediately after the task force had
been dropped off.
"Are you serious?" Daniel asked.
"Yeah," P.J. said with a very worried look on his face.
"Pull back the back part once and fire five times then pull it back again!" Bernie yelled over to them when he saw they weren't doing anything.
"You didn't remember either did you?" P.J. asked Daniel relieved that he knew what to do now.
"Not really," Daniel answered smiling for a minute and then beginning to concentrate on the battle.
There were already several Fina bodies scattered all over the sand, but Luridens were beginning to fall as well as projectiles shot out of the task force's
weapons.
Hastily Daniel found a Luriden to shoot at and pulled the barrel back and pulled the trigger. Instantly a projectile came out of the barrel and split into a spray
of ten pieces. It hit the Luriden that Daniel had aimed at just as the Luriden was raising his tail to strike.
"Don't worry about aiming!" a nearby human instructed him, "If you're going to do that get the DT-42 from P.J."

"Whoa," P.J. said quietly to himself after firing the XC-5000, after struggling to pull back the back part with his only arm, and seeing the projectile split into a
spray of particles that just missed three nearby Luridens.
Realizing where the projectiles had come from the Luridens suddenly turned toward P.J. and came running towards him with their teeth bared and tails
upraised. P.J. quickly reached to pull the trigger again but before he could a large white laser came from the sky and just missed him and hit the three Luridens.
Falling from the shock of the blast P.J. just barely saw the task force ship flying away as he hit the ground. Hastily he got back up and prepared to fight some more.
"Don't worry about getting into the base yet," someone yelled to him after he had gotten up, "There's still too many Luridens coming out."

"Position us in front of the base!" Jesse ordered, "We'll get all those Luridens running out the door."
Within seconds the ship was positioned where Jesse wanted it and began firing as constantly as it could right in front of the door where the Luridens were
coming out.
When there were no more Luridens outside the building Jesse ordered for the ship to hold fire. Instantly the crew obeyed and the ship quit firing.

"They've quit firing!" one of the emergency task force members on the ground said, "Let's move in!"
Quickly the emergency task force members cautiously approached the entrance to the base. One at a time they began to enter the base. Inside chaos had
broken out with Finas shooting at any Luridens they saw and the Luridens were doing the same. Stray shots were flying everywhere.

"They're in," Jesse said, "Concentrate fire on the ships."
Quickly the Finas on the bridge hit various buttons and the ship left the door to the base and began to hover over the ships that the Luridens had landed in.

"Everybody spread out!!" Bernie ordered the task force, "Make sure every room and hallway is covered! Fire down the hallways even when you don't see
any Luridens! There could be Luridens that you don't see around the corner that you can get with the ricochet from the XC-5000's!"
"But what about the Finas!" someone said as a few people in the team began to head down the different hallways.
"Let's hope they've been able to get to the lockdown area," Bernie answered, "try to save as many of them as possible but we have to get the Luridens. They
might have the disk."

"All ships have been destroyed," Yert reported to Jesse after glancing briefly at something on the arm of his chair.
"Okay return to the door in case more Luridens try to get out that way."

Bernie and a group of about seven other task force members quickly ran down the hallway to the left of the entrance to the base. They quickly encountered a
large group of Luridens running after a group of Finas who were feebly firing DT-42's back as they ran. Several Finas already had fallen dead on the floor of the
hallway.
"Fire!!!!" Bernie ordered.
Quickly, Bernie and the rest of the task force members that had followed him fired their XC-5000's in various directions and at various angles. Immediately a
wide spray of projectiles shot out of the XC-5000's filling nearly the whole hallway in front of them causing the Luridens to collapse onto the floor as they got hit. As
well as the Luridens, though, all of the Finas in the group fleeing from the Luridens fell grabbing parts of their body in pain or just falling to the ground unconscious or
dead.
"Are you okay?!" Bernie asked one of the fallen Finas who was clutching his arm.
"Yeah, I... think it just grazed... my arm," the Fina said painfully.
"You're pretty lucky," Bernie told the Fina after looking at the injury and seeing that it was just a deep scratch where one of the projectiles had gone by his
arm and just barely hit it, "I'm surprised you only got hit by one projectile."
Unfortunately the other Finas that had been in the group fleeing from the Luridens hadn't been so lucky and all the other ones who had been injured were hit
by several projectiles and died quickly. Bernie and the rest of the task force didn't even have time to get around to checking on all of them before they died. The only
survivor of the group of fleeing Finas was the one with the injured arm.
"Grab your gun and come with us!" Bernie ordered the injured Fina, "I don't know how much good you'll do but we need as many people as we can get.
Slowly the injured Fina picked up the DT-42 that had fallen on the floor next to him and eased himself off the ground to follow Bernie and the other task
force members.

"Gaping holes are appearing in the sides of the base!" Yert told Jesse.
"They must be realizing that we've joined in the fight and are using weapons that are hard for even them to escape," Jesse answered, "Make sure none of
them get out. If they do they'll hide somewhere in the desert or mountains and wait for the perfect time to attack."
"Are you sure? Luridens are too bloodthirsty to retreat."
"If they have the disk they will because with the disk they'll have all the information they need to crush the underground and the rebellion. That'll be enough
carnage to satisfy even them for a good long time."

"Kurniat!!" a Fina in the group Daniel had joined screamed when he saw Kurniat's body slumped onto the floor in the prison cell.
"This must be where the battle began," another Fina said looking over at the blood that was still in the prison cell the Luriden had been held in, "They must
have seen the Luriden blood and killed Kurniat in retaliation followed by attacking the rest of the base."
"Looks like Kurniat managed to warn them, though," a human in the group said crouching next to Kurniat's head and pulling out a small rubber object shaped
to fit perfectly into Kurniat's ear without being noticeable, "His warning beacon is on."
"Speaking of warning beacons," a Fina said walking toward the shadows in the corner of the Luriden's prison cell that he had been squinting at. He reached
down into the shadows and pulled out a long, narrow object about five inches tall with a slightly pointed top. The top was popped up and a very low hum was being
emitted by the object.
"If he could hide that from us he definitely found a way to hide the disk somewhere here," another Fina said.
"Well, doesn't look like it's here," Daniel said.
"That's what I'm afraid of. They probably found it," the Fina answered.

More and more Luridens fell as Bernie and the other people in his group continued down the hall firing off their XC-5000's every few yards or so. They failed
to be able to save anymore of the Finas that were fleeing from the Luridens, though.
"At this rate we'll have this place clear of Luridens in no time," a human in the group said.
"Yeah, we're going pretty fast. We're almost to the control room," a Fina spoke up.

"There's a Fina fleeing out a gap in the wall," Jesse said sounding like he thought the fleeing Fina was a threat.
"That's good, isn't it," Yert replied noticing Jesse's apparent suspicion of the Fina.
"There's no one chasing him," Jesse answered, "Look."
Yert quickly looked and saw what Jesse was talking about. The Fina was already several miles from the base and there was no one following him.
"Seems a little suspicious to me," Jesse said, "I bet he's the one with the disk."
"You think they brought transmogrificators!" Yert exclaimed doubtfully, "They would have to remove their suits before they could use them."
"I don't know, but have you ever seen a Fina run that fast before," Jesse answered, "and it's hard to tell where he's going."

Bernie and the rest of the group easily reached the control room after clearing the hallway and all the rooms connected to it of Luridens. The control room
was at the center of the base so the room had hallways branching off in several directions. In the center of the room was a large, glowing power generator surrounded
by rings of control panels.
"Where to now?" Bernie asked.
"I don't know," a human in the group said, "Pick a direction."
"Go down that hall," Bernie said pointing to a hallway to their left, "It has the most rooms to search."
Quickly everyone in the group headed in the direction of the hallway and Bernie started to follow them, but just as he started to he felt the sharp edge of a
Luriden's tail wrap around his neck. He instantly realized that the injured Fina wasn't in the group heading for the hallway.
"You know how," a device on the Luriden translated before rattling off a series of different clicking sounds as the Luriden said the captured Luriden's name,
"hid the transmitter from you, don't you. He put transmogrificators on it."
"I suppose you have the disk as well then," Bernie said.
"I don't personally, but trust me we did find it," the Luriden taunted Bernie.

As Jesse and the rest of the crew onboard the task force ship continued to chase after the Fina that had fled the base they watched as the Fina reached up to
his right shoulder and pulled off a small metallic disk and instantaneously turned into a Luriden who no longer was wearing a uniform.
"You were obviously right," Yert said to Jesse.
"Open fire," Jesse ordered calmly.

"Where's Bernie?" a Fina who had been in the group Bernie was in asked after they had been waiting a few feet down the selected hall for several minutes.
"I thought he was right behind us," a human said.
"We better check on him," another Fina said leading the group back towards the control room.

"Are you prepared to die, human," the Luriden continued to taunt Bernie.
"You won't win this war, you know," Bernie answered, "The problem with an empire is that all the conquered peoples don't always agree with the
conquerors. Do you think it's just the Finas?"
"That's enough," the Luriden said angrily as walked toward a control panel surrounding the generator, dragging Bernie with him, "I'm not just going to kill you.
This whole base is going to blow," the Luriden continued while pressing buttons on the control panel, "I've just created an overload in the generator. Luridens are fast
enough to escape, but are you?"
"All we have to do is shut the generator down," Bernie answered calmly.
"That is a problem," the Luriden said confidently, "I can't have you shutting it down, can I," the Luriden continued slicing Bernie's head off as he finished.

"Can't this ship go any faster!!" Jesse yelled as he paced back and forth on the bridge, "That Luriden's getting farther ahead every minute."
"We didn't have time to fully repair the ship," Yert answered, "We're operating on about 10% speed."
"Darn it!! He's going to get away!"

"What's taking so long, Bernie?" the task force members in Bernie's group said when they returned to the control room and saw Bernie bent over a control
panel in front of the generator.
"I just remembered that I can tap into the sensors and see where the most Luridens are," Bernie answered smiling unusually wide.
"Good idea," one of the Finas said watching the holographic screen above the control panel that showed a map of the building with green dots on it.
"How are you going to separate out the Finas and humans from the Luridens, though?" another Fina asked.
"That's what's taking so long," Bernie answered, "I can't figure out how to," he continued pushing more buttons and causing a diagram of a sensor to appear.
Quickly he pressed a couple buttons and a bar in the upper right corner went all the way up.
"What did you do?" a human asked.
"Wasn't that the sound?" a Fina asked suspiciously before Bernie could answer the human.
"Yes," Bernie said turning around in the blink of an eye and smiling even bigger.

"That's it we've lost him," Jesse said disappointedly, "He's completely out of sight. We'll have to send out a search after the battle is over. He won't be able to
get off the planet. Head back to the base. They might need our help."

Instantly Bernie turned into a Luriden and the group of task force members had just enough time to realize it wasn't Bernie before the Luriden took there
heads off one by one with one quick slash with his tail.

"Why are those flashing?" Daniel asked looking up and pointing at a box-like object on the top of the wall that had flashing lights on both sides.
"Those are the sensors," a Fina answered.
"Shooooot!!!!!!!!!!!!!" another Fina screamed, "We have to get out of here!!!!! I don't know where the sirens are that go with those, but that means
something is seriously wrong!! This place is likely going to blow up!"
Immediately everyone in the area who had heard them dropped what they were doing and ran for the door warning everyone they saw along the way.

"We're getting a weird reading from the base," a Fina on the bridge reported to Yert.
Hastily Yert brought up a screen on his chair covered in various statistics. He concentrated on one in particular that showed a green line shooting sharply
upward.
"That's a power surge," Yert said, "That place is going to blow if they don't shut the generator down," Yert paused for a second, "We've got to warn them,"
he continued pressing a button on the arm of his chair.
"Come in, Forniat!!" Yert said into the intercom on the chair, "Come in Forniat!! You're generator is overloading! Please, answer, Forniat."
No answer came back.
"What is going on in there?!" Yert yelled frustrated with the lack of response from the base.

Just as Daniel's group and the large gathering of Finas and humans they had gathered as they fled through the building reached the door numerous Luridens
abruptly appeared blocking the door.
"I see you noticed the sensors were flashing," a translator on one of the Luridens spoke up.
The Finas and humans were struck silent in shock that it looked like they were going to lose the battle. There surely wasn't time to fight through all the
Luridens and get far enough from the base in time.
"You didn't really think you'd win this did you," the Luriden said sarcastically as the Luridens slowly came closer and closer to the crowd of Finas and
humans.

"We've got to get in there and warn them," Yert said to Jesse urgently.
"It's too dangerous," Jesse answered, "According to these readings the base is going to blow up in just ten minutes."

"Everybody fire at once," a Fina suddenly commanded over the Luriden's taunts, "The XC-5000's can take out nearly all of them if we fire at once. Quickly
before the translator has a chance to translate this. FIRE NOW!!!!!!!!!!"
Instantly all of the humans and Finas fired their XC-5000's causing a sudden look of terror on all of the Luridens' faces as they began to fall as waves of
projectiles hit them.

"I don't care!! We can't let Forniat fall!" Yert burst out at Jesse."

"Run for the door!!!," the same Fina ordered leading a quick dash past the few remaining Finas and through the door.

"Look," Jesse said calmly pointing to the monitor on his chair, "They made it out."
"There's Finas chasing them down and killing them, though," Yert answered, still clearly upset with Jesse, "We have to land and let them get onboard before
the base blows up or the Luridens take them all down."
"Too risky," Jesse answered, "Too much could go wrong. The base could explode while we're down there. The Luridens might get aboard. There's too many
risks. Just target the Luridens with weapons."
Instantly one of the Finas on the bridge pressed a few buttons and the monitors showed white lasers shooting out of the ship at the Luridens.
"But that'll kill humans and Finas, too!!!" Yert screamed standing up in outrage.
"Better to save some than none," Jesse answered without even flinching.
Luriden after Luriden fell as the task force ship shot them one by one. Just as they were beginning to make the number of Luridens significantly lower the base
suddenly blew up in an extremely large explosion that sent a shock wave through the air that went for miles knocking the unsuspecting humans, Finas, and what was
left of the Luridens to the ground.
"Now you can land," Jesse said after he was finished watching the incident take place on the monitor of his chair, "Pick up the survivors, but watch the
Luridens. Some of them might still be alive."
Instantly the Fina in charge of navigation pressed some buttons and pulled some switches and the ship began to descend toward the ground.

"Everybody seems to be okay," Yert reported to Jesse after they had checked all of the humans and Finas who had been fleeing from the exploding base,
"There are just a few with minor concussions. Everyone else is just dazed."
"What about the Luridens?" Jesse asked.
"It seems like it affected them a lot more. I'm not sure why, but they were knocked cold by the shock wave."
"Did you make sure they were dead?"
"Yeah, we cut their heads clean off," Yert answered, "A little ironic, isn't it. We're cutting their heads off for once."
"Then, we need to get back to searching for the Luriden that got away. He has to have the disk."
"Can't you give us time to recover from the battle. This is a devastating loss. We've lost nearly three-fourths of the base's men and the emergency task force
combined."
"There's no time. It's already hard to tell where he is. Much less what he's planning to do."

Chapter 11
The Infiltration

It was seven very uncomfortable days in the miniature ship before the team reached a blue and green planet that Daniel and P.J. were informed was Lordenia.
They saw no sight of the stolen ship and Luriden until they got closer to the planet and saw the stolen ship descending into the atmosphere of the planet just out of
range of their weaponry.
"Is there anyway we can catch up to it?" Jesse asked the Fina at the controls of the ship.
"Not without them spotting us," the Fina answered.
"Okay, then continue stealth procedures and land as close to the Luriden as you can."
Slowing down as they got closer to the planet to keep from being spotted as easily the task force followed after the Luriden through the atmosphere and over
the tree-covered landscape until the pilot suddenly spotted buildings sticking out of the trees in the distance and broke off to find somewhere to land.
"Try over there," Jesse said pointing to an opening in the trees a safe distance from the buildings.
As they neared the opening they saw that it was created by a stream traveling through the trees in the forest.
"Is it big enough?" Jesse asked the pilot.
"I think so," the pilot answered pressing levers on the panels in front of him to begin gently easing the ship down to the stream.
Within minutes they had safely landed between the trees on the bank closest to where they had last seen the Luriden heading. They had just enough space to
open the hatch without hitting the trees surrounding the bank of the stream.
"So what's the plan, Jesse?" Daniel asked splashing across the shallow water to the edge of the forest where Jesse was waiting for the rest of the team.
"We're going to have to make it up as we go, I'm afraid," Jesse answered as the rest of the team reached the edge of the forest and Yert secured the hatch of
the ship, "We don't know enough about this planet to make up much of a plan. The first thing we have to do is find where the Luriden landed without be spotted
which shouldn't be hard with all these trees. At least until we reach those buildings."
As soon as Yert reached the edge of the forest after securing the hatch of the ship the team began to quietly and slowly move through the forest in the
direction they had seen the Luriden flying in. It was nearly an hour before they caught sight of the buildings they had seen from the sky. The team had assumed that the
buildings were large buildings on the ground, but from the ground they found that they were actually small hut-like structures sitting in the trees with their roofs made
out of some sort of reflective material that stuck just slightly out of the canopy of the trees.
Since the trees were set up high in the canopy of the trees the task force had an easy time evading detection by the Luriden inhabitants inside the buildings.
They managed to continue on without disruption until they saw a huge clearing in the distance which upon closer inspection contained huge metallic buildings and
metal walkways. A few hundred yards into the clearing sat the ship that the Luriden had stolen. Surrounding the entire clearing, however, were hundreds of Luridens
walking back and forth between the buildings and along the walkways and surrounding the stolen ship were eight Luridens with their tails poised to attack.
"What are we going to do about them?" Daniel whispered to Jesse.
"Nothing, we don't need the ship," Jesse answered, "We need in there," he continued pointing at the buildings in the center of the clearing. "Walk around that
way until we get closer," he said pointing through the trees to his right.
Cautiously, the team eased their way around the edge of the trees until the buildings were right in front of them, but still several yards from the forest.
"On my count," Jesse whispered grabbing his DT-42 from its holster around his waist, "run for the closest building."
Hastily the rest of the team grabbed their DT-42's and prepared to run.
"One. Two. Three."
Instantly the whole team took off as fast as they could. Almost as soon as they came out of the trees they were spotted and were forced to fight back with the
Luridens chasing after them and a high-pitched siren suddenly came on causing Luridens to hastily swing by the base of their tail down branches to the ground from
the treetop buildings.
With the element of surprise on their side the task force managed to reach the nearest metallic building one by one while Luridens fell to the ground from well-
timed shots from the team's DT-42's. The danger was far from over, however, as the team began to get overwhelmed by the number of Luridens as they rushed
inside the building.
"So much for... sneaking... in," Daniel yelled to Jesse as they ran down the hallway of the building gasping for breath as he ran.
"It couldn't be prevented," Jesse answered from the front of the group where he hadn't broken a sweat, "The important thing is just to get that disk from the
Luriden.
"Well, we... better... hurry," yelled the Fina at the back of the team who was desperately shooting at the approaching Luridens.
"Oh, s**t," P.J. yelled when he turned around and began to help the Fina in the back by shakily firing the DT-42 in his left hand.
"There he is!!!" Jesse suddenly interrupted while pointing ahead of them at a Luriden with a cleanly severed tail a few yards ahead of them where he had his
three-fingered hand pressed up to a glowing panel beside a thick metal door.
"Hurry!!" Yert screamed encouraging the team to move faster, "Before he gets through that door."
In desperation and with new motivation everyone in the team forced themselves to run a little faster to catch up to the Luriden before he escaped again. With
one last boost of speed the team nearly caught the Luriden, but they were unable to shoot accurately while running at the same time and just seconds before Jesse got
to the door the door slammed shut causing him to run straight into it.
"Hurry in there!" Jesse ordered quickly recovering from the hit and pointing to a room to his right as he looked down the hallway at the hastily advancing
Luridens as he reached for his DT-42 with his free hand.
"Jesse," Yert said nervously the instant he had entered the room Jesse pointed to and got a good look around at the room which had glowing panels in several
different colors and sizes covering the walls, "there's no way out from here."
"Just get in," Jesse yelled back as he ushered the rest of the task force into the room. "And get ready. We're in for big trouble."
As the last member of the team made it into the room Jesse followed with the horde of Luridens just a few yards away from him. As soon as he was inside
the doorway Jesse hastily searched the wall next to the door for some kind of switch to close the door. He found a glowing panel similar to the one next to the other
door and he hastily pressed his hand onto it. It instantly turned a bright red, but instead of closing the door another siren went off.
"I suppose this was your work," Jesse said angrily, "Giving the Luridens technology even after the rebellion started."
"We had to keep up appearances!" Yert yelled back.
"Forget it, there's no time," Jesse quickly changed the topic, "Get in the back of the room."
Hastily everyone began to comply with Jesse's orders.
"Don't wait to see them," Jesse continued his orders, "Just fire through the doorway as soon as everyone is in position. We should be able to hold out for
awhile."

"Where are you going!!" one of the Finas yelled when Jesse suddenly left his position in the middle of the firefight.
"I'm not going to let this mission fail," Jesse said stubbornly.
"Look around we're doomed, Jesse!!" another Fina said as Jesse started banging around on the panels on the back wall while Luridens continued to fall in the
doorway of the room from shots fired from the rest of the team.
"I've just got to find a way around the security protocols," Jesse answered.
"Hold on, I can help," Yert exclaimed as he promptly changed places with Jesse. "I just need to get this panel off," Yert continued pointing at a large square
panel after examining the wall for a few seconds.
For numerous minutes Yert hopelessly pried at the panel with his hands until he suddenly got fed up with it and stood a few feet away from it and fired a blast
from his DT-42 at it causing a small explosion that left the panel dangling from the wall with torn and singed wires behind it.
"Was that really a good idea!" Jesse yelled back.
"Don't worry, I don't think I hurt any of the necessary parts," Yert replied.
Quickly Yert began searching through the wires while trying to avoid touching the damaged ones. Every so often he would carefully tear a wire out until
suddenly the lights seemed to flicker for a fraction of a second.
"What was that?" Daniel asked.
"I just shorted out the security on the system," Yert answered, "It's all yours, Jesse," he continued once again switching places with Jesse.
"Make it quick," Daniel urged Jesse nervously as he saw the Luridens beginning to come so fast that they were starting to get past the doorway and would
soon be a serious threat to the task force.
"Don't worry," Jesse said calmly, "I used to work with the government, remember. I know how to hack."
Swiftly Jesse placed his hand on a panel and an array of computer screens came up on several of the glowing panels in front of Jesse. Instantly Jesse
skimmed through each screen until he found what he wanted on the screen and then he would press the appropriate area of the panel and a new screen would appear
to replace the one he pressed.
"There it is," Jesse whispered to himself.
"What are you trying to do?" Daniel asked as the Luridens began to press closer and closer.
Without answering Jesse continued working.
"Two can play this game," he muttered as he suddenly pulled a floppy disk out of his pocket and placed it into a slot that had formed in one of the panels.
Suddenly a percentage bar appeared on the screen next to the one with the slot. Slowly the bar began to fill up.
"You might want to hurry up," P.J. said worriedly as the Luridens began to be able to get within feet of the team and started to attempt to attack them, but the
team was just out of reach of the Luridens' tails.
Jesse didn't even respond, but nearly the same instant that P.J. said this the percentage bar reached a hundred percent and disappeared only to be replaced
by hundreds of screens that began to disappear one by one. As soon as all the screens were gone Jesse removed the disk and put it back in his pocket. Instantly he
set off on another task.
"Watch out!!" Yert yelled as one of the Luridens swung their tail at another one of the Finas in the team and the Fina just barely shot him dead when his tail
was just inches from his neck.
This kind of incident was becoming increasingly more common as the Luridens came faster and faster and the team was unable to shoot them down at the
door.
"Watch out," Jesse ordered suddenly as he pressed a button on one of the screens.
"Why?!" Daniel yelled just as he fired at a Luriden about to strike P.J. with his tail.
Before Jesse could even answer there was an explosion outside the doorway and a ball of fire swept through the hall.
"I warned you," Jesse replied as he reached into his pocket again and pulled out a bright red floppy, "Finish the guys that are left in here and start moving
back through the hall and get to the ship."
Instantly the team shot down the remaining Luridens in the room and ran for the door as Jesse inserted the red floppy into the slot which had reformed on the
same panel. Anxiously Jesse pressed a button on the screen that replaced the slot and all the screens began to flicker unstably. Without even retrieving the floppy
Jesse quickly ran out the door to rejoin the rest of the team who were already heading back down the hall. Jesse had no problem catching up to them, though, and
within seconds found them a few yards down the hall where they were shooting the injured and panicking Luridens that were left in the scorched hallway.
"What took so long?" P.J. asked Jesse when Jesse almost immediately made it to the front of the group.
"I gave them a computer virus," Jesse answered as he shot a Luriden that was leaning against the wall to keep his balance.
"Good thinking," Daniel replied.
"Yeah, doubt it'll do any good for keeping that information out of their hands, though," Jesse continued, "They probably hadn't put it in quite yet and even if
they had they still know that the underground and rebellion exist."
"What? Do you just carry those things around?" P.J. asked.
"Of course," Jesse answered just as they made it to the door of the building. "I was hoping we could bring that ship back with us, but it's too dangerous with
them guarding it so closely," Jesse said pausing for a second as he looked into the distance where the Luridens were still guarding the stolen ship.
"You mean we have to ride in that tiny thing again," P.J. complained.
"Yeah," Jesse answered regretfully, "and we better hurry and get back to the ship before they recover from the shock of the explosion and decide to come
after us," he said as he charged into the woods.
"So... what was that... explosion?" P.J. said beginning to gasp for breath when he caught back up to Jesse.
"Oh, I caused a localized power surge causing everything electrical in the hallway to explode," Jesse answered.
"Shouldn't... there have been... something... to prevent that," Daniel gasped.
"Not when we install bad technology to be taken advantage of at our choosing," Jesse replied.
"That's the... same reason I... knew exactly how to... short out the security," Yert spoke up, "We're not so stupid that we don't plan... for these things. Right,
Jesse," Yert continued with a quick glare at Jesse for his comments earlier about how stupid the Finas were for installing the security programming.

After nearly an hour of tiring running the team finally reached the ship and were able to relax as they began to takeoff. At least as much as was possible in the
cramped space of the miniature ship.