Star Raiders and the Lost Expidition Read online

  “The Xatu has landed! The Xatu has landed!” Some cried as everyone in the Lincoln area scrambled to the local airport/spaceport. They had to get on one of the transportation ships, but the Xatu had started to either kill or take them as hostage. John, Samantha and Michael were stuck in an insane crowed trying to reach their ship. Panic was all around them as local authorities tried to calm the crowd.

  “John we’ll never make it in time!” Sam cried as she held Michael’s arm.

  John was holding a few black carrier bags as he replied harshly, “Don’t worry, we will.”

  They pushed and pushed through the crowd until they finally got to their gate. There was a male Leopard Felinis guard at the gate. He was checking I.D.s and to see if they were cleared to pass.

  The Felinis looked up at John and said, “Identification?”

  John swiftly dug in his pocket and withdrew his wallet. He then flipped it open to his driver’s license as the Felinis looked at it. He saw that he worked for the WSA research facility and knew that he cannot board.

  “I am sorry sir, I cannot allow you board,” the guard said.

  John could not understand as he wondered, “What? Why?”

  “You work for the government, and I have orders to not allow government officials to board at this time,” he replied.

  John did not understand it he looked to the guard and asked, “What? I don’t believe it! You have to let me aboard, if not then let my wife and son go.”

  The Felinis looked at Samantha and to Michael and saw that they were confused and terrified. He then nodded to John and allowed them to go ahead, but Samantha did not want to separate from her husband.

  “No John, I am not leaving you!” She protested.

  John held her and replied, “I don’t want to leave you either, but you have too. I promise you I will catch up to you two later ok?”

  “Well, what if you don’t and? I’m just scared that I might lose you,” she said scarcely.

  “You won’t,” he said bravely, and then he kissed her ever so deeply. Then he looked to his son and knelt down to meet his eyes.

  “You commin’ wit us daddy?” Michael asked.

  “Yes, but I will see you later, daddy has to do last minute errands. Here I want you to take this,” John quickly dug through his coat, withdrew a flash sick, and handed it to his son, “When the time is right, use it in your computer ok?” Michael did not understand, but nodded as John hugged him. He then realized that he had never going to see him again. “And remember, this, energy is in the heart. I love you son.”

  Michael looked back to his father as water filled his eyes, “I wuv you too daddy.”

  John hugged him tightly, as if he would never see him gain. Suddenly, Sam noticed two humans shoving their way through the huge crowd. It did not bother her at first, but suddenly as they were inching their way. One of them spoke in gibberish she could not understand. They then drew their alien like guns. The crowd panicked and ducked as they aimed it at John. Sam eyes widened and saw in horror.

  “John! Look out!” She cried fearfully.

  John spun his head quickly to see the two men, but before he could say or do anything, they shot the guardsman and he went down. He noticed that the blast that came from the gun was not truly lethal, as the Felinis did not bleed, but then again, he was not truly educational on Xatu weaponry.

  He turned to his beloved wife and cried, “Take Mikey and get out of here!”

  “No! I won’t leave you,” She shot back, but before John could say something back, she heard a strange electronic buzzing noise, and her husband fell down. Sam’s eyes widened and cried, “John!”

  Michael looked at his father in shock and cried frightfully. “Daddy!”

  The two men ripped their faces off to reveal that they were Xatu soldiers. At the same moment that the guard and John was hit, Ganu and other awaiting passengers down at the end of the gate, heard the commotion and looked. Ganu saw that his human friend was in trouble he started to run down the gate and saw that he fell down.

  Sam looked at her son and said to her, “Go Michael,” she looked at the end of the gate and saw Ganu. She looked back to her son and said franticly, “Run to Ganu baby, I’ll be right behind you.”

  “I don’t wanna leave you,” Mike said to her scarcely.

  Sam was on the verge of tears, but said again, “Just do what mommy said ok?” She saw that the two aliens were close by maybe several feet, she could not truly guess. She then said to her son franticly, “I’ll be fine, just run!”

  Michael nodded, looked towards Ganu and simply ran down the gate as fast as he could. He heard the same noise stopped, turned and saw his mother lying down next to his father. Fear froze him, as he could not move. One of the aliens looked up at him as Ganu grab Michael and scooped him up in his scaly arms. Michael squirmed to get free but Ganu held him tight. Ganu frowned as he listened to Michael’s cries. The Lizzian ran back down to the gate as fast as he could. Michael was crying out to his mom and dad but it was too late. The Xatu army had besieged the space/air port and dragged Michael’s parents away. The two Xatu soldiers continued to fire at Ganu but he barely slipped under the security blast shield as it slid down deflecting the laser blasts.

  Ganu and Michael raced towards their departure ship called Mayflower 18. The ship was huge, maybe four times bigger than the space shuttle that they used back in the last century. The design however did not change. As they boarded, Ganu saw in the sky tiny bursts of explosion and frowned, as he knew that the war was never going to end.

  High above the Earth’s atmosphere, one of the spikes underneath the Xatu star cruiser, opened up like blossoming flower. It emitted a bright yellow glow, and then a laser beam shot down on the planet. As the Mayflower 18 took off, Ganu looked out the window and saw horridly the beam hit somewhere out in Midwest. Ganu figured that the beam must have been two hundred miles wide in radius. It was big enough to destroy one city, but it did not move. It puzzled Ganu as the ship ascended into space, and then he realized that beam was cutting into the Earth’s surface. The Xatu was targeting the core. If that beam reaches it he thought, it would oh no, destroy the planet entirely. They had to get safe distance if they were going to survive the explosion, but they are not out of the woods yet. The Mayflower 18 must get past the two star cruisers.

  A fleet of crescent winged Xatu ships called B’tars, changed its course as the leader saw the transport ship departing. They flew behind it at incredible speeds firing its pulsar bolts at it trying to damage it. The pilots inside the Mayflower 18 could not shake them. The navigator was trying to plot a course to the planet of Cian, but the pilot was too busy avoiding hits by the Xatu fleet. The pilot told the navigator that they must enter Hyper Flight to escape, but the navigator said that the ship must be in the right position. The pilot did not care. They needed to leave before Empire sliced their ship into Swiss cheese, so he then pressed the Hyper Flight button on his control panel and the Mayflower 18 disappeared. It was at that moment the Earth began to break and crack as thousands of volcanoes erupted all over the surface. Then it happened. The Earth, destroyed in a violent gigantic explosion. The shock destroyed all of the Xatu fleet, but the star cruiser sustained minimal damage because of its strong force shield.

  It was gone. They were gone. Michael could not believe that Ganu let them die. Ganu had told them that he would he would see them again, but Mike did not believe him. He hated him. Ganu placed him in his bed on the ship and frowned. He felt so guilty and wanted to do something. He would adopt him but it was against Lizzian law to take in a human boy. Michael just lay in his bed, his face buried in the pillow crying his eyes out. When Ganu closed the door, he made a decision to put him in an orphanage once they reached Cian. Then at least he would have a home and be safe as Cian was unknown to most of the galaxy. It was more of a safe house for others who were trying to hide from the rest of society.

  Chapter 1

  The Jewel of Na’Tuka

  A
s a boy, Mike Tippen had always admired archeology, the study of history, he had wrote a paper on Uno Pu’Do’s last expedition to the center of the galaxy. After he wrote it, he and his best friend Justin Jobbs entered the world of amateur archeology also known as treasure hunting. They took odd jobs looking for rare and valuable objects.

  A tall brown-haired man in his late twenties, stood with-in the dense rainforest wearing long cargo pants and his favorite blue shirt. His friend Justin Jobbs, a few inches shorter than he was, walked behind him as a prickly branch barely combed his blond hair. They had a job on the jungle moon of Mota witch orbited the red gaseous planet Trigal in the Regor system. An ancient alien tribe called Entians inhabited the moon-like planet. They knew that probes discovered the moon shortly after the Xatu invaded the galaxy, but the Xatu were unaware of its existence, which was good for Mike and Justin. The Entians, unlike the Animuns, were a unique alien race. Just like Earth mythology, Dryads, A tree like creature of magic times, seemed real, as the Entians were wood like aliens. Their society advanced to the likes of tribal people. Simple, peaceful, but easily agitated.

  Their client told Mike and Justin that Mota held a precious jewel, the jewel that the Entians called Na’Tuka. Legend has it that the jewel contains magical properties of fire, wind, earth and water which help created the Entians’ civilization. Mike and Justin did not believe any of that, they only wanted the jewel for their client. What he did with it was his own business. The two adventures found an ancient temple deep within the bulky jungle. They had to land their ship in an open area as the map they had took them in the dense jungle. They walked for thirty minutes until they came upon, what it looked like huge dying tree trunk that spanned five stories tall. As they came closer, Mike noticed strange carvings on the tree. Pictographs. He then knew that this must be the temple. The map that a Giber gave them showed them how to pass the traps that awaited the two.

  The two entered the dark shrine as Mike turned on his Illumnistick, it glowed bright blue. Inside, they were in a small wood-like foyer with an opening in front of them and strange alien writing carved above it. The room also contained a stage like area to the left of the door. On the far wall hung a large circular ornament made out of bronze. More pictographs and symbols covered the ornament. It was the same as on the map as Mike looked at both. There was a faint smell of dead rotten carcasses but it did not bother them.

  “Well? What does it say?” Justin asked as Mike tried to interpret the writings.

  He had taken alien language in school, but it was a very hard subject even for a human. He gotten out is digital language pad and read from both trying to convert it.

  Mike pondered and answered, “Only, tribe,” he looked down to the pad then back up as Justin adjusted his lucky ratty looking old Yankee’s hat, “Tribe members, enter, others,” he looked back down then to the warning over the door, “Will..”

  “Will what?” His friend wondered looking at him impatiently as he leaned against a stone brick wall.

  “Death, dead, Die! That’s it,” he finally answered.

  “You’re kidding me right?” Justin asked worriedly, raising his brow.

  Mike looked to him and replied, “What’s wrong? Scared?”

  “No,” he said unsurely, “I’m not scared of an old out dated warning. You?”

  “Not until when we pay off Mama’Halb I’m not,” he said.

  Mike when through first as Justin crept up from behind. Something in his gut told him that this was a bad idea from the start. Suddenly Justin heard his friend scream horribly and panicked.

  “Mike!” He screamed, as he was frightened.

  He thought a trap had killed or even worse. Justin did not know what to do if he had ever lost his best friend. Ever since they were kids growing up in an orphanage, Justin and Mike had to look out for each other.

  Mike popped his head out and said jokingly, “Gotcha.”

  “Aw, man,” he said as he tried to get his heat to start beating again. Mike chuckled, “Don’t ever do that! You almost gave me a heart attack.”

  “Where’s your sense of humor? Come on,” Mike said as Justin shook his head in disbelief and followed him.

  They entered a square room where they saw an entanglement of vines attached to the walls and ceiling. There were tiny holes about the size of a small baseball drilled in the walls. There was another door on the other side of the room, but it seemed that someone sealed it off with no handles or any other way to open it. In the middle of the room, Mike noticed a small model of an old style windmill made out of carved stone, and wood that sat upon a tall square pedestal. Worn out cloth draped on the wood like sails on an old water ship, were on its blades as it lied motionlessly. It looked just as big as they were coming up to their neck. Michael knew that the Entians were primitive aliens, but they started to develop ways to increase their food supply ever since explorers discovered the moon. He did not realize that they had windmills now. Justin walked over wondering what it was. He placed his hand on the sweep, a set of clothed fans that circled the main windmill part, and try to move it, but it did not move.

  “Hey, don’t touch that,” Mike warned as Justin quickly withdrew his hand, “It could be bobby trapped.”

  “Ok, so what does this thing do?” He asked.

  “Let me check the map,” Mike said as he glanced down on the map, “Ah-hah,”

  “Ah-hah what?” Justin wondered as he went over to his friend.

  “It says here. Wind must flow to the gods,” Mike translated, “I get it, It seems that they’re four rooms in this temple dedicated to the four main elements, you know air, water, earth, and fire.”

  “All right,” Justin complied, “So how do we open the door?”

  Mike thought long and hard, repeating the translation in his head and out loud. He knew of the Entians’ history and culture and remembered that their wind god Chepois lived in the east, past the vast Blue Mountains. He did not really believe in gods like that. He took out his digital compass that brought last year and tried to find east. Surprisingly enough it pointed to the sealed door. He smiled and looked at the windmill once more. There were two handles just below of the model. Mike faced it and grabbed the handles, but which way to turn it he thought. He looked at the fins of the wheel and saw that they slanted so the wind caught them on Mike’s left. He then got it. With all his might, he turned the rusty, heavy, plinth slowly counter-clockwise.

  “I Hope you know what you are doing,” Justin said unsurely.

  “So do I,” he replied as finished the rotation.

  At first, they heard a clicking sound, followed by a rumbling sound. Suddenly wind dust and vine debris enter the room form the west wall. The hurricane-like wind was strong enough to blow Mike and Justin against the other wall. They coughed from the dust and debris that they did not noticed that the tiny windmill was working. It twirled wildly on its axel and at the same time, the sealed door started to slide up in to its groove. Once the door was completely open, the wind finally died down.

  “Open sesame,” Mike coughed a bit more trying to catch his breath.

  Justin nodded and commented, “Those Entians have a strange way to protect their things.”

  They got themselves together and preceded on though the next room. Mike heard something up ahead as they walk towards it. Justin heard it too, as it was sound of rushing water, or maybe a waterfall. They got to the other room and before them; they saw a pool of water and three waterfalls, one in front of them and two on either side of them not more than five feet away. The water was coming out of a mouth what it looked like tree trunk with eyes. They walked out onto a peninsula, surrounded by bubbling water.

  The water was to dark to see as Justin wondered, “You think these are hot springs?”

  “Don’t know,” replied Mike looking at it, “I don’t see any steam.”

  Justin crouched down to the water and placed his index finger in the water. It was cold, not a hot spring that he thought, and suddenly someth
ing under the water bit him as he screamed.

  “Eeow!” He exclaimed as he quickly removed his finger from the pool. His finger was bleeding as he sucked on it.

  “What!? You ok?” Mike wondered worriedly as he looked to his friend.

  “Something bit me!” He said as Mike looked to the water. He saw some weird looking fish swimming the cool water. He could not really identify it because of the mucky texture of the pool.

  “The pool must be swarming with meat eating fish,” Mike said to him.

  “Meat eating fish? Ok, that’s it!” He exclaimed, “I’m out of here!” He turned to leave the room.

  “Hey, where do you think you’re going?” Mike asked stopping him as Justin turned his head.