Lethal Combat
Authors: Max Chase
To the staff at King’s College Hospital, London –
real
heroes
Special thanks to Brandon Robshaw
It is the year 5012 and the Milky Way galaxy is under attack . . .
After the Universal War . . . a war that almost brought about the destruction of every known universe . . . the planets in the Milky Way banded together to create the Intergalactic Force – an elite fighting team sworn to protect and defend the galaxy.
Only the brightest and most promising students are accepted into the Intergalactic Force Academy, and only the very best cadets reach the highest of their ranks and become . . .
To be a Star Fighter is to dedicate your life to one mission:
Peace in Space
. They are given the coolest weapons, the fastest spaceships – and the most dangerous missions. Everyone at the Intergalactic Force Academy wants to be a Star Fighter someday.
Do YOU have what it takes?
Contents
Can Peri and the crew defeat the Meigwors?
Purple.
That was all Peri could see. He closed his eyes. He opened them again and turned 360 degrees. One moment they had been cruising in the
Phoenix
, watching the stars shining like tiny diamonds in space, and then this purple haze had descended.
Purple all around. It was bright and blinding. Peri screwed his eyelids tightly shut. He could hear Selene, Otto and Diesel stumbling around the Bridge.
‘
S’fâh
!
’ Diesel shouted. ‘What did you do, Otto?’
‘I did nothing!’ boomed Otto. ‘Everything’s just gone purple!’
Peri felt a change in the motion of the
Phoenix
. It speeded up, and shifted course.
‘Something’s taken control of us!’ Selene shouted.
‘How?’ Peri asked. ‘How could they get past our shields?’
Selene cleared her throat. ‘That may be my fault,’ she said. ‘I sent Boomerang messages on Ultrawave – to find out if anything’s left of the Milky Way after the Xion attack. It’s supposed to come back with replies attached. Something must be piggybacking on the return signal, using it to hack into our computer and control us.’
‘Who would do that?’ Diesel asked.
‘Take your pick,’ Peri said. ‘The Xions and the Meigwors have both sworn to destroy us.’
‘I don’t think any Meigwor is smart enough to pull this off,’ Diesel replied.
Peri heard a
swish
and
crack
, then a bellow of pain from Otto. He must have swung a punch at Diesel and hit the wall – in retaliation for the comment about his home planet.
‘Missed!’ Diesel jeered.
‘We don’t have time for fights,’ Peri said. ‘We need to take back control of the
Phoenix
.’
Peri had only recently discovered that he was part bionic with a special connection to the
Phoenix
. He would have to trust his instincts. Blindly, he beckoned to where he thought the control panel was hovering. He cheered when he felt it bump against his hands.
Then he felt a bigger bump at his back. Otto, Selene and Diesel were jostling him – and each other.
‘Give me some room,’ Selene said. Peri felt her hands grabbing for the control panel. ‘I have to shut off the Ultrawave, so they can’t pinpoint us any more.’
‘Let’s go Superluminal,’ Diesel suggested, elbowing his way in.
Peri brushed Diesel’s hands aside. ‘It’s not safe when we can’t see.’
‘Let’s give it a shot anyway!’ Otto boomed. Peri felt the Meigwor’s long, thick fingers fumbling over the control panel too. ‘Which one’s the Superluminal touchpad?’
‘It’s the red one,’ Diesel said.
‘But everything’s purple!’ Otto shouted.
‘Exactly,’ Peri said, holding the control panel close to his chest. ‘Just back off, and let me and Selene figure this out.’
Otto and Diesel stepped back, muttering to themselves, one in Meigwor, the other in Martian.
Peri forced his eyes open. His eyeballs ached. He squinted through the purple fog at the control panel in his hands. All the controls were shades of purple. The ship was pulsing forward under someone else’s command.