The ground shook below Charlie’s boots.
He grabbed Layla and pulled her to the dirt as an explosion on the other side of the hill ripped through the air. Dust sprayed the group. A large funnel of smoke belched into the sky. Debris thudded against the dirt around them.
Charlie crawled to the top of the hill. He needed to confirm the gate’s destruction. Whatever that black thing was, he didn’t want it heading to Earth.
He squinted through the dust at the shattered ruins of the control building. The bomb had worked, but the blast was barely audible among the terrible drone coming from the prism in the sky.
Good old Mike and Mai had worked their magic again. But who or what was that thing in the sky? He peered to the sky again. The dust cleared, revealing an enormous black prism suspended over the mountains.
Small specks streamed out of it, like bees around a hive.
Explosions echoed along the valley below, the sound hitting Charlie in the chest.
Charlie staggered down the hill. The group clustered together. Denver wiped dust from his hair. Layla gaped up and pressed her hand against her forehead.
“Move from ship,” Hagellan said, pointing to the descending prism.
That was a ship? Shit.
It got to its feet and headed for an area of undergrowth to their left. Charlie sprinted after it. Denver grabbed Layla’s arm and followed.
Charlie grabbed a handful of Hagellan’s suit and managed to slow it down. “You need to start talking. If that’s not the destroyer, what is it?”
“Scion ship. Destroyer no more if that here.”
“Scion? What are you talking about?” Denver said.
“Croatoan enemy. If you thought us bad, Scion five times worse.”
“That’s just wonderful,” Charlie said.
He followed Hagellan, not knowing what else to do, and pushed his way through the big leafs dangling from plants that towered over his head.
The two aliens stopped in a small clearing. Charlie, Denver and Layla crouched next to a small pink shrub.
“What do we do now?” Denver said.
“God knows,” Charlie said. They were way out of their depth and now faced a new enemy. “Hagellan, any bright ideas?”
A whining sound grew louder. A small black craft, sleek and fast, roared overhead. An explosion boomed on the other side of the undergrowth, and fire shot into the sky.
“Quick, before it returns” Hagellan said. “We must find Tredeyan underground system.”
Charlie’s instinct told him that if he couldn’t fight an alien, then running was the only course of action. As he and the others sprinted after Hagelllan, pushing through the alien flora, a sickly dread weighed heavily in his stomach.
Earth was safe—for now, but they now faced a new enemy.
The shadow-black prism hung in the air like a malevolent icon, promising a dire future for Charlie, Denver, and Layla. Charlie gritted his teeth, pulled Denver and Layla further into the alien landscape.
If he had to fight again to get home, he couldn’t have wished for anyone more loyal and capable as Denver. Charlie looked into his son’s eyes.
“We’ll win,” Denver said. “We always win.”
CRITICAL STRIKE
BOOK 3
Chapter 1
CHARLIE DIDN’T LIKE to dwell on past nightmares the croatoans brought to Earth, or dream about a better future. He concentrated his energy on things he could change in the present.
Being stranded on an alien planet, under attack from an opposition force, and running low on air gave him all the focus he needed.
At least people on Earth would know they were safe. Hagellan had left his ship tracker in the caves below Unity. One of the croatoans would confirm to Aimee and Mike that the destroyer wasn’t approaching.
Layla and Denver crouched in the dense undergrowth by his side. Light rapidly faded around them after Tredeya’s sun dipped behind the mountain range. Bright red specks swarmed around the scion mother ship, a black prism that hung above the planet, blotting out a large section of the unrecognizable constellations in the star-studded sky.
Peering through a gap in the canopy at their destroyed ship, the glow of fire reflected off Charlie’s visor. A swallow-shaped scion fighter, sleek and black, did the damage. Its engines whined as it banked around the alley and headed back toward the group.
Charlie turned to the three croatoans that accompanied them to Tredeya. “Got any bright ideas?”
“Need to get underground,” Hagellan said.
“You’ve been here before. Lead the way,” Denver said.
Continuous explosions echoed in the distance, creating flashes of light silhouetting the rugged skyline.
“Won’t the tredeyans kill you?” Charlie said.
“No,” Hagellan said. “Follow me. Safe underground.”
“You colonized their planet and destroyed the gate. Why wouldn’t they?”
“Things are not as simple as you think.”
Hagellan turned and clicked at the remaining croatoan guard. It slung its rifle, slid a standard-issue sword with circular holes running along the center out of its thigh scabbard, and hacked a path through the leaves and branches.
Charlie gestured Denver and Layla forward and brought up the rear, keeping his finger on the trigger of his rifle. Croatoans deserved no trust.
They headed in the opposite direction of the damaged gate, between tightly packed floret-shaped trees.
Damp pink ferns covered the ground, soaking Charlie’s boots and the lower part of his cargo pants as he waded through them. Although the sun had set, he couldn’t feel a noticable temperature drop.
A scion fighter screamed over the canopy, rustling the small leaves on the trees. Charlie ducked. A dark thumb-sized insect with four chunky legs dropped on his shoulder. He swept it off and continued forward.
The croatoan guard climbed an incline, plowing through the ferns, swinging its sword in robotic fashion at the dense undergrowth ahead. A shadow moved to Charlie’s right. He turned and aimed but couldn’t detect any signs of movement in the gloom. Any creature would be difficult to hear above the thundering noise of distant battle.
Trees and plants thinned as the group gained altitude and the ground turned to shale and rock. Charlie kept a steady rate of breathing. The supply of root helped, and they were growing it here, but he was painfully aware that they had a limited supply of oxygen.
Hagellan stopped at the summit. He ducked down and watched Layla, Denver, and Charlie approach. The guard sheathed its sword, aimed its rifle skyward, and tracked the distant scion fighter. The circular red glow from the aircraft’s rear engine faded as it maintained a course away from the group.
Charlie crouched next to Hagellan and scanned the area.
They were on the edge of a hundred-meter-wide plateau that dropped away on the other side to a deep valley. In the far distance, a thin orange glow lit the horizon. Another sun was rising on the opposite side of the planet. Behind, flames licked around the charred skeleton of their ship and the shell of the building that controlled the gate.
The ground vibrated below Charlie’s boots. Small stones danced around the plateau’s surface.
“What the hell’s happening?” Layla said.
“Defenses,” Hagellan said. “Tunnel on other side of hill.”
“Why are you waiting?” Denver said.
He stood to advance, but Hagellan held its arm across his chest. “Stop.”
Denver’s hand twitched on his rifle and he glanced across. Charlie shrugged. They were on an alien world, and so far, Hagellan hadn’t strayed from the plan. It was probably their best chance of survival against suffocation and an unknown enemy.