STAR FIGHTERS BUMPER SPECIAL EDITION: Stealth Force (10 page)

They ran to the ditch, where a figure in a cowboy hat was crouching. Peri, Diesel and Selene jumped down into the ditch and wrestled the alien to the ground.

‘You’re outnumbered!’ Peri said. ‘Do you give in?’

The head beneath the cowboy hat nodded. Peri whipped off the hat and saw the startled face of . . .

‘Dexter!’ Selene said. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘I didn’t mean any harm – I just wanted to see you take off in your space-boat!’

‘Ship, not boat,’ Peri said.

Diesel looked accusingly at Peri. ‘You told him? That’s against IF rules!’

‘We can trust Dexter,’ Peri said.

‘That’s right, I won’t tell a living soul,’ Dexter said. ‘Can’t I just take a tiny peek?’

‘He
has
earned it, hasn’t he?’ Peri said to the others.

‘Of course he has,’ Selene said.

Diesel nodded grudgingly. ‘I suppose.’

‘Come on, then,’ Peri said.

They all climbed out of the ditch.

‘I think we’re far enough away now.’ Peri placed the
Phoenix
on a patch of clear ground. ‘Stand well back, everyone – it’s going to get a
lot
bigger!’

He twisted the ‘Expansion Packs’ dial on his control strip.

And the ship began to grow.

Dexter gasped. ‘That is just a plain, plumb impossible miracle!’

Soon the vast oval shape of the
Phoenix
dwarfed them. Its smooth surface shone like silver fire in the afternoon sun.

The door silently opened and there stood Otto. He had his hands on his hips, with all four elbows sticking out angrily. He craned his long crimson neck towards them.

‘About time! And who’s this you’ve brought with you?’ Otto boomed.

‘Oh my goodness!’ Dexter said. ‘Is that the same alien I saw when he was an insect?’

‘What do you mean, insect?’ Otto said furiously.

‘Sorry,’ Dexter said, taking off his hat. ‘I only meant I saw you when you were little. I sure am delighted to make your acquaintance, Mr Alien, sir.’

‘I’m not an alien,’ Otto said. ‘You are.’

‘We’re all aliens here, except for Dexter,’ Peri pointed out. ‘It’s his planet.’ He turned to Dexter. ‘Would you like to come on board and see what it’s like inside?’

Otto spread out his long arms to bar the way. ‘He can’t come aboard – we don’t have time!’

Dexter looked uncertain. ‘Is he – I mean, is it going to be safe?’

‘Oh, don’t mind Otto,’ Selene said. ‘He looks scary, but he’s not really evil.’

‘Well, he is a
bit
evil,’ Diesel said.

‘But you’ll be safe with us,’ Peri said. ‘Come on!’

They went up the ramp and Otto reluctantly moved aside to let them pass.

Peri grinned at how awestruck Dexter was. The alien boy’s mouth was open in a permanent ‘O’ of wonder as he walked along the mauve-lit corridors, touching the smooth, curved walls.

‘Come and see the Bridge!’ Peri said.

A section of wall slid open and they entered the nerve centre of the ship. Dexter gazed around at the seats that rose up from the deck and the giant, hovering control panel with its display of winking lights and banks of monitor screens.

‘Oh, this is like the greatest dream ever!’ Dexter said.

An idea came to Peri. ‘How would you like to take a trip with us? Just a quick one, to see a little bit of outer space?’

Dexter’s face glowed with excitement. ‘Oh, I’d love that more than anything else in the whole of
Westrenia!’

‘Only if you promise to never,
ever
tell anyone,’ Diesel said.

‘I promise!’

‘Sit here, like this.’ Peri showed Dexter to a seat. Dexter gave a yelp of surprise as an astro-harness snaked around him.

They all sat down at their stations. Peri beckoned the control panel over, initiated the lift-off sequence and pressed the pyramid-shaped button.

The
Phoenix
took off from the desert and the silent g-force pressed them all back in their seats. In the 360-monitor, Westrenia fell away. Within just a few seconds, it looked like a tiny globe.

‘Yeehah!’ Dexter shouted, taking off his hat and waving it around.

‘We’ll just take a quick trip around the moons!’ Peri said, smiling at both Dexter’s excitement, and his own.

After all the danger they’d experienced on Westrenia, it was great to be reminded that being a Star Fighter was the most fun in the world!

No
, Peri corrected himself,
it’s the most fun in the entire universe!

In case you missed the first STAR FIGHTERS book . . .

Peri and Diesel are drawn into a dangerous battle with Xion spaceships.

Can they make it back home alive?

Find out! In . . .

Turn over to read Chapter 1

Chapter 1

‘Eat dust, alien invader,’ Peri shouted as the asteroid shattered into a million glittery pieces.

This sure beats the simulator
, he thought as he swerved left then jetted upwards to avoid the asteroid’s fiery remains.

Right now he was millions of miles from the Intergalactic Force Space Station, and even further from planet Earth. Up ahead was a bright-blue planet surrounded by shimmering ice rings . . . Saturn! Peri could barely believe his eyes.

Ping!
The sonar let him know that their next target was within firing range. It wasn’t as good as saving Earth from an alien attack, but blowing up cosmic rubbish was still way better than any 3-D game he’d ever played. He’d blasted an ancient TV satellite, and zapped an old rocket booster. And that asteroid had been totally obliterated.

‘Try to keep the pod steady this time, you lamizoid,’ Diesel shouted.

Peri glanced over at Diesel, who was swivelling the D-Stroy lasers in the weapon turret. He noticed the gunner wasn’t wearing his astro-harness, so any sudden manoeuvre would knock the Martian right off his seat. Peri grinned. He banked as hard as he could. ‘Woo-hooo!’

Whack-slam!
Diesel flipped out of his seat. ‘
Ch’açh
!
’ he cursed. Diesel always spoke his native language when he was angry – which was most of the time. The gunner’s yellow eyes were flashing. The band of hair that stretched across his head was bristling. When he was mad, Diesel sure looked more Martian than human, though in fact he was both.

‘You made me miss my target!’ he yelled. ‘I told them to give me a second-year pilot. But instead, I get a newbie who knows less than nothing!’

‘Chill,’ Peri said. ‘I’ll get us back on track.’

Peri chuckled to himself. A few bruises served him right. That morning Diesel had thrown a galactic fit when he and Peri were paired for a rare Intergalactic Force Academy training mission. The half-Martian was a second-year cadet, a weapons ace and 3-D gaming champion – but he wasn’t the brightest star in the constellation.

But Peri agreed with Diesel about one thing – it was odd that a first-year IFA cadet had been chosen. And Peri wasn’t even the best in his year – he ranked fourteenth for rocket science and tenth for cosmic combat. So why
had
they selected him?

During the past two weeks he’d pretty much lived in the flight simulator. He practised over and over again until his vision became blurry. But nothing could compare with the real thing – looping the rings of Saturn, or whipping round Pluto.

Suddenly, the pod jerked sharply to the left. Peri’s astro-harness snapped him to his seat. Peri struggled to regain control of the steering as the pod looped in a broad U-turn and accelerated.

‘What’s happening?’ Peri’s fingers darted over the screens. He engaged the flight stabiliser, checked the energy gauge, and tapped the hologram route finder. ‘Nothing’s working,’ he called to Diesel. ‘It’s like somebody else is controlling the pod!’

‘They must be bringing you back to the Space Station,’ Diesel jeered. ‘I bet you’re in trouble for that stupid stunt you –’

But before he could finish, the pod rocked again, even more violently than before. There was a dull thud beside Peri.