Chapter 13

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The fighter jets screamed towards their target at Juan de Fuca.

"This is Alpha One, target is in site and we are ready to fire, awaiting authorization."

Colonel Hardy answered with firm intensity, "Fire!"

Two missiles launched from the side of the jets, one from each. The bright glow from the missiles propelled them directly towards the CORK. The pilots viewed the scene as if in slow motion. The missiles plunged into the waters, disappearing from sight. Within seconds, two large explosions rocked the ocean, sending a large amount of swelling water upwards.

"Well?" asked the Colonel. 

"We have a hit Colonel." replied the pilot.

"And?" Colonel Hardy hung on the line, anxiously waiting for more details.

The jets circled the area. Within moments they noticed a huge section of water drop and sink dramatically. It looked like the plan to collapse the creatures sea floor had worked. It was as if the proverbial plug had been pulled out from under them. The pilots guessed the bright white flash of light beneath the waters was the atomic reaction, or maybe the destruction of the alien's weapons.

"Looks like we got them sir, hopefully it will be enough to lessen the intensity of the Tsunami."

"Good," replied the Colonel, "Great wor.."

"Hold on," interrupted the pilot. "Something doesn't look right. The water has dropped into a trench, but the light from the explosion doesn't seem to be dissipating. It's almost like it's been captured," said the bewildered pilot. More lights from the target area began to appear; blue, red and green. With shadowy forms, the coloured lights began attaching to the perimeter of the nuclear light. The pilots could only observe and report as the white nuclear light was transformed into a vibrant blue. The random perimeter shape was smoothly transformed into a purposeful shape that resembled an antenna with a bulb on the end, similar to that of one of the sea creatures.

"What's happening?" barked the Colonel.

As the pilot was about to respond, a large beaming blue laser light erupted from within the newly formed shape under the water. It fired two direct hits upon the jets. The force of the blasts caused the remaining nuclear weapons on board the jets to explode in the air. A deadly radioactive cloud now lingered in the air.

"Neptune," Captain Mark continued talking to his Marines, "was aptly named because they built the shuttles underneath the water! Can you believe it, right where the creatures live? Someone thought it was a good idea at the time. Who knows if they are even in tact anymore? Maybe the deep sea creatures have already got to them."

"Captain Mark, come in!" The Colonel's voice sounded through the comms.

"What is it Colonel?"

"Well, you can forget about the nukes."

"Why? What's happened?"

"The blasted creatures were somehow able to harness the atomic energy and use it against our fighter jets. It's a right bloody mess now. We've got nuclear fallout heading for the mainland."

Captain Mark fell deadly silent, realizing that he only had limited time to save his family. There was no time for him to travel there. 

"Captain, I need you to continue with your mission, but just use the conventional concussion weapons we have. They seem to be the only thing that is effective against them. Our top scientists are trying to replicate the concussion technology into a form that we can send out simultaneously across the world. Until then, we take them on the best we can. Hopefully we can hold them off long enough." As the Colonel signed off, Mark picked up another line and made a call to a long time friend who served on many missions with him.

"Sam, it's Mark. I need to pull in a favour. Get my family out of Seattle and down to Florida!"

Grace, Trey and Terry stood by, awaiting Captain Mark's directions. Within minutes the warship had changed its heading.

Ellen had used her identification in an attempt to convince the security gate guard at the Charleston Naval Complex that they were on a top secret mission. When the security guard tried to confirm the story by attempting to ring Colonel Hardy, Ellen decided to knock him with a Muay Thai knee to his chin.

"That will work." Commented Bill, as he drove into the base. After parking the hummer, they got out and looked to Gordon for his next instructions.

"Right, probably best if we split up. Ellen, if you can find a suitable boat with Veronica, Bill and I will get some weapons and supplies."

Trying to avoid detection, Bill and Gordon went over to a group of buildings that looked like storage facilities. Once inside they headed over to a section of aisles with racking, full of goods used by the navy. Bill started to pick out some diving gear, while Gordon headed over to another row.

Ellen looked down the wharf at the large range of ships and boats.

"Which one?" asked Veronica.

After careful consideration, Ellen picked out the Combat B90. Primarily used for special combat missions, its twin ducted water jets would allow them to cruise at 92km per hour and perform sharp turning maneuvers if they got involved in a battle. The lightweight frame would also enable them to operate in shallow water. It came fully equipped with Browning machine guns and grenade launchers. Not to mention the deeps sea mines and depth charges. It was only 16 Metres long, but had a landing platform that would be excellent if they needed to haul any survivors aboard.

"Now that's what I'm talking about," commented Ellen. "Alright Veronica, I'll get this baby moving. You go and get the boys and rendezvous down the dock there, beyond the lights. That will give us some cover to load the equipment.

There was just enough moonlight coming into the store facility though the windows, but Bill still had to strain his eyes a little to discern objects on the shelving. He figured they would need some sort of trolley to move the equipment efficiently. "Gordon," Bill whispered, but he heard nothing. Raising his voice a little, Bill tried again. "Gordon, where are you, we need to find a trolley." A metallic clang from the other aisle made Bill jump. "Gordon?"

Bill moved to the end of the aisle. The sound of something shuffling could be heard close by. Bill picked up something that resembled a metallic pipe off a shelf, and cautiously moved to look around the corner. Bill decided to leap out from the corner. As Bill landed in the other aisle he was confronted by two greenish blue glowing eyes. "Arrghh!" shouted the creature. 

Bill was about to strike at the creatures head, when it started to make a childish giggle. A familiar voice spoke as a hand removed the glowing eyes. "Night vision goggles," snickered Gordon. "They could make us look like them, ha."

Bill figured that the light must've left his eyes seeing spots. For some reason, Gordon's eyes still appeared to have a glow to them.

"Bill, Gordon, where are you?"

"Veronica, we're over here." Bill answered.

Veronica moved over to help Bill with some equipment. "Ellen's found a boat. We have to get going before sunrise."

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