Conspiracy Unleashed

by L. Danvers

  “But, Cal. He couldn’t figure out how to make it last longer. That’ll only give us fifteen minutes.”

  “Can you hack into their system in fifteen minutes?”

  “I don’t know. I mean, I can try. But—”

  “No buts. What other option do we have?”

  “You’re right.”

  They made their way to Flynn’s room, and he pulled the X-shaped straps over his head and secured them around his chest. The three of them headed to the room which housed the telepad. Cal removed her wristband and handed it to Aes, telling him to hold onto it in case Sue called.

  Flynn and Cal stepped aboard the hovering telepad base and waited while Aes entered the coordinates. Cal could feel her heart pounding against her chest as the reality of the dangers they were about to face set in.

  She saw her best friend standing beside her.

  He had always been there by her side. Through everything.

  The thought of something going wrong, of losing him, made her feel sick to her stomach. There was a significant chance today could be the day they died. There was something she had to do. Something she should have done a long time ago.

  “Flynn,” Cal said, raising her chin so that her eyes met his, “in case we don’t make it...” She placed her hands on his scruffy cheeks and leaned in to kiss him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and squeezed her in closer. In the movies, she’d heard people describe seeing fireworks when they kissed. She’d always thought that was ridiculous. And it was. She didn’t see them. She felt them. She felt the racing of their hearts, their chests pressed against one another. She felt the quickening of her breath. She felt the tingle of his lips brushing against hers. She was dizzy with emotion.

  She thought she’d been kissed before. Plenty of times. But never like this.

  The fireworks stopped mid-finale. They pulled away from each other at the sound of the beeps.

  Three.

  Cal didn’t want that moment to end, but they were out of time.

  Two.

  They each pressed the button in the center of the X to activate the invisibility shield, making themselves invisible to everyone except each other.

  One.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Goosebumps crept along her skin, protruding from her flesh like bubble wrap. The buzzing of the warship was the only sound aside from Flynn’s failed attempt to stifle a sneeze. She flashed her eyes at him, and he jerked as the sneeze passed as quick as it had come.

  Once certain Flynn’s reaction to teleporting hadn’t jeopardized their operation, Cal took in her surroundings. She’d always imagined an alien spacecraft would be dark and scary. She pictured black décor, dim lights and ominous green fog. This was the complete opposite. After seeing her ornate robe when she appeared on the holographic projector, Cal suspected Caelifera had a taste for the extravagant. She was right. Sparkling jewels lined the arched doorway, and the floor was speckled with glimmering red and gold.

  Flynn took her hand and helped her off the base.

  “Fifteen minutes,” he whispered.

  “Fifteen minutes.”

  They slinked their way down the hallway, the jeweled walls twinkling as they passed. They peered inside the first room they came upon, but it was empty, too, and there was nothing resembling a computer system to be found.

  They continued down the hall, their ears met by hushed squawking coming from a nearby room. Though Cal couldn’t decipher the language, she recognized it as the same one Aes had spoken when they first met. One such voice was incredibly deep. By the harsh tone and sharp inflection, it was clear it belonged to someone in authority. A general.

  The voices were getting louder. More distinct. She and Flynn neared the room from which the sound emanated, her chest tightening as she approached the open archway that separated her from the farokh.

  This would be the ultimate test. If she and Flynn were spotted, they would be killed.

  She could breathe again after she passed it. Though invisible, she hid behind the doorframe while she looked in and listened. Five of Caelifera’s men were in the middle of an important meeting, judging by the serious expressions they wore—though Cal’s knowledge of alien mannerisms and expressions was limited to her brief experiences with Aes.

  Four of the farokh, looking much like Caelifera with long limbs and auras swirling around their heads, were seated upon hovering golden chairs, while another towered at the front of the room, which was lined with high-tech maps of the universe. His was the booming voice they had heard from down the hall. He screeched at the four aliens in front of him, and in a fit of frustration he swung around and pulled up a map that pointed to planet Earth.

  Cal and Flynn exchanged worried glances. Flynn craned his head further, trying to get a better look. A bone in his neck gave a slight pop, and at that, the alien sitting closest to the door whipped his head around. Cal held her breath and tried to calm herself. The alien’s bright yellow eyes locked in to the position where Flynn and Cal stood. He squinted and leaned forward. The general let out a shrill squawk, and the alien snapped his head toward him, unmoving, not daring to give the doorway a second glance.

  With a tilt of his head, Flynn signaled it was time to move on. The two of them continued down the hallway. They passed portraits of Caelifera. Some were painted, some were sketched, some were holographic images and others moved like they had minds of their own.

  Cal and Flynn peered inside a room which appeared to be filled with stars that glittered and danced in the dark enclosure. Cal looked over at Flynn, who was shaking his head to say it wasn’t what it appeared to be.

  Footsteps slapped down the hall. Flynn grabbed Cal’s hand and jerked her to the edge of the hallway. There they stood, side-by-side, their bodies flattened against the wall. They slowed their breathing as much as they could. Five farokh stormed past. The purple cape of the tallest one on the end brushed against Cal’s face as she walked by.

  The footsteps faded. She and Flynn both leaned forward away from the wall. Before they had a chance to take a single step, another farokh no taller than Aes ran past them.

  There was a nudge against Cal’s side, a signal from Flynn they were safe to keep moving.

  They passed some sort of demented trophy room. Instead of shiny cups and ribboned medals, it housed heads of at least fifty different species of aliens. Each head was encircled by an illuminated floating glass orb and spun three hundred sixty degrees. Cal was glad she and Flynn didn’t have time to look much longer, because the sight of the decapitated heads was upsetting.

  The two of them came upon another arched doorway leading to the warship’s main cabin. The problem was that the room was packed full of the farokh—and in the center of the room sat Caelifera on a throne draped in purple velvet and studded with diamonds. One of her younger subordinates hurried to her, shrieking in a nervous tone that suggested he had done something wrong. Caelifera pulled a smoldering whip out from beneath her cape and struck the young alien across the face. He let out a terrible pain-filled cry as the marks burned into his skin. Cal had a hard time swallowing as she recalled similar burn marks on Aes.

  She feared a fate much worse than being burned by a whip if she and Flynn were discovered.

  But Commander Ahmadi, Britt and God knew how many millions of people on Earth were depending on them. This wasn’t time to give in to fear. This was the time to stare it in the face and get the job done. They could look back and worry about what could have happened later.

  Flynn squeezed her hand, snapping her out of her daze. He pointed to the nearest computer, which by pure luck wasn’t being manned by one of Caelifera’s men. They rushed to it, and Flynn hacked into the system. Cal stood at his side, half hovering over him to watch what he was doing, half checking to see if any of the farokh noticed the changes being made to the computer system.

  One of the aliens looked in Cal’s and Flynn’s direction. She gave Flynn a nudge. He glanced up, and they both stared the alien i
n the face. Another of the farokh squawked from across the room, and the alien that had been looking through them moved to the other side of the main cabin.

  Cal had to keep herself from biting her nails while she waited. She caught a glimpse of the time on Flynn’s wristband. They were cutting it close. Flynn pressed one last key. He was pleased with himself. This wasn’t the time to celebrate, though. They needed to get out of there before their invisibility shields gave out.

  Cal jerked her head toward the door. They hurried that way, but before passing through the threshold, Flynn flickered. Cal gulped. Even though she had seen him plain as day the whole time, she knew what that meant. Their shields were weakening. Before they made it out the door, Cal flickered, too. This time they weren’t so lucky as to go unnoticed.

  One of the farokh caught a glimpse of her. He jumped to his feet and let out a loud screech. Others checked to see what the commotion was about.

  There was no doubt about it. They had been spotted.

  “Run,” Cal whispered.

  She and Flynn darted out of the room and down the hall in the same direction from which they had come. A charge of heavy footsteps stormed after them. Alarms blared throughout the warship, and aliens darted out from rooms along the hall.

  Cal and Flynn each pulled out their pulse-r guns and shot at any farokh who got in their way. Shots fired from behind. Flynn cried out as one of them got his leg, and blood trailed down it as they ran to the room which housed the telepad.

  Flynn ordered Cal to stand on the hovering base while he entered the coordinates into the keypad. While he typed, Caelifera’s freshly scarred subordinate appeared in the doorway, firing a single shot. Cal dodged it. He had missed, and before he could shoot again, Cal fired three shots at him. He crumpled to the floor.

  “What’s taking you so long?” Cal shouted.

  “I’m making one hundred percent sure they can’t trace the coordinates to the Stellix.”

  “Hurry up!”

  Seconds later, he finished and jumped aboard the base. He rested his forehead against Cal’s, holding her tight as the beeps began.

  Three.

  Caelifera’s general and two of the aliens he’d been briefing rushed in and opened fire.

  Two.

  Cal screamed and fell into Flynn’s chest as something pierced through her shoulder blade. Pain spread through her like wildfire.

  One.

  HER FOREHEAD WAS COLD and damp when she came to. Her chest pounded faster than it had after running her first marathon in college. She was weak. Her joints and muscles ached.

  She blinked the sweat out of her eyes. The bright lights overhead warped her vision. A shadowy figure hovered over her. Her breathing quickened. She feared the farokh had captured her.

  “Cal, Cal,” a familiar voice said. “It’s okay. It’s me. It’s Flynn.”

  Another figured appeared.

  “You’re going to be fine,” the soothing voice assured her. Cal knew that voice. It belonged to Britt.

  “It...” Cal said. She tasted the word. Her tongue felt like sandpaper. “It worked?”

  “It worked,” Commander Ahmadi assured her.

  She blinked a few more times until the shadowy figures came into focus. There they were—Flynn, Britt, Commander Ahmadi and Aes. She knew where they were by the stark white walls and gold finishings. They were in the medical bay on the Stellix.

  Cal tried to sit, but her head was spinning. Flynn helped her back down.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “As we were about to teleport,” Flynn said, “you were shot by, uh, what was it called again?”

  “A fire needle,” Aes said.

  “You were shot in the shoulder blade, but it pierced through your chest,” Britt said. “You’re lucky to be alive.”

  Cal’s eyes fell to her chest, and she peeked down her robe. There was a black circle where the needle punctured her, and surrounding that circle were web-like streaks of black and purple. She pulled the robe tight around her body.

  “And your leg?” she asked Flynn.

  “It’ll be alright.”

  She was relieved to hear it. Britt was beside him, tending to Cal even though Cal was the one who had caused the bruising on Britt’s forehead. “I’m sorry about that,” Cal said, pointing to the purplish splotches on her dark skin.

  “No need to apologize. I’m glad you stepped in and saved Aes. You did the right thing.”

  Cal smiled at her and the rest of her friends. She gathered her thoughts and asked, “Would you mind giving me and Flynn a minute alone?”

  “Sure thing,” Britt said. “I’ll be outside if you need anything.”

  “Thanks.”

  They filed out of the room, the gold HP flashing as they stepped through it. She turned to Flynn and held out her hand. He squeezed it tight.

  “I’m glad you’re okay,” he whispered.

  “We make a good team.” She bit her lip as she fought back tears. Maybe it was the pain, the medication or finally noticing the way Flynn looked at her, but she was overcome with emotion. “I’m sorry it took me so long to see it.”

  He knew what she meant. “You’re smart. I knew you’d figure it out.”

  “Flynn?”

  “Yes?”

  “Kiss me.”

  She was weaker than ever. But it wasn’t the injury. Cal forgot about the pain. She forgot about her muscles aching. She melted at the adoring look Flynn was giving her. He leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. She kissed him back, tears streaming down her cheeks.

  “I have always loved you,” he whispered.

  And she knew in her gut that he was telling the truth.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Cal regained her strength much faster than she expected to in the days that followed, thanks to help from both Britt and Aes. Having an alien as part of the team had proven to be useful. Cal was disappointed at first when she realized her chest was scarred by the webbing, but after some reflection she decided to embrace it. If a bit of discoloration was what it took to save the human race, she could live with that.

  Aes returned Cal’s wristband and told her that he had not heard anything from Sue. When she was feeling well enough, Cal checked in with the Channel 12 intern and asked her to have her friend keep working on preparing the weapon and to get in touch when it was ready. Sue had returned to work at the station and was thankful that everything was back to normal. Almost back to normal. Bonnie Bernhardt had been battered and bruised, so Gregory Gilden took over the desk for the much-coveted 10:00 news.

  After checking in with his own family, Flynn had called Cal’s parents, and they were fine. Neither of them had xfones or optical injections, and they had been home the entire time. They didn’t realize anything was wrong until they later saw it on the news. They were both worried sick about Cal. Flynn assured them she was alright, leaving out the part about her being shot in the chest by a fire needle. They had enough on their minds already.

  More significantly, though, after Flynn disabled the hypnotization transmission, world leaders came together to declare war on Caelifera and the planet Creatius.

  The crew watched the holographic projector in the main cabin when the announcement was made. Acting President Pierce stood among French President Margaux Moreau, Spanish Prime Minister Marco Romero and countless other world leaders. It was a sea of black suits and white collared shirts. It wasn’t clear from the images where they had gathered, although Cal was sure that was a conscious decision to protect them. Security personnel were scattered throughout the crowd and around the perimeter of the undisclosed building.

  “It is in times like these,” Pierce said, “that we must come together as one human race and fight for our planet, our home. As former U.S. President Ronald Reagan once said, ‘Perhaps we need some outside universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside
this world.’ It is unfortunate that it has taken such horrors to make us recognize that we are one people. Race, color, creed—none of it matters. What matters is that we are human. That’s what bonds us. And to the people on Earth, I make this vow: Caelifera will regret messing with planet Earth. As we speak, space agencies from across the globe are sending ships toward Creatius. On behalf of everyone here, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude for the brave women and men volunteering to protect our—”

  A tremendous blast interrupted him. The camera wavered and crashed to the floor. There were plumes of smoke, feet scrambling out of the way and trails of blood. Fiery shooting stars plummeted against the ground and exploded. There were screams, and one person yelled for everyone to take cover. The camera went black, and the transmission was gone.

  Commander Ahmadi jumped to his feet.

  “Three moons!” Aes gasped, shaking his head.

  “Let me guess,” Commander Ahmadi said. “This is Caelifera’s doing.”

  Aes nodded. “I recognize the weaponry. Those explosions were from starbursts. I have seen them on her warship.”

  “You mean in that room that had a bunch of stars floating around?” Flynn asked.

  Aes nodded. “From what I understand, my former master found a way to harness the energy from stars and convert them into the weaponry you saw.”

  “But that’s absurd,” Flynn said. “How is that—”

  Agent Taylor appeared on the holographic projector, stopping Flynn mid-sentence.

  “I expect you already know what this is regarding,” she said. Her expression was somber, and there were tears in her eyes. “I am pleased to confirm that Acting President Pierce is indeed alive. He is shaken up, but he is okay. We have detected a fleet of Caelifera’s warships heading toward Earth. Our—Earth’s, I mean—ships will meet them head on and defend our world. Pierce has special instructions for you, though. He wants you to go to Creatius. He believes Caelifera is hiding out there while she has her fleet do the dirty work. He wants you to take her out. To kill her. I am sending over the coordinates, though I am sure Aes knows them by heart. Do you understand your mission?”