Deadly Mission by Max Chase Page A

panel.
    â€œBecause you were too busy fighting,” Peri said, pushing back.
    â€œTo the planet surface, now!” Otto ordered.
    Diesel elbowed between Otto and Peri. “Who died and made you supremecommander? I’m the oldest cadet on this ship and ranked top in my class on leadership qualities and I—”
    Otto interrupted, “Don’t you want revenge on the Xions for attacking your galaxy?! I know what I’m doing.”
    Peri snapped his fingers and the control panel flew across to him. “How do we cross the Cos-Moat?” Peri yelled to be heard over Otto and Diesel.
    â€œJust blast your way through it!” Otto said. “Do I have to tell you everything?!”
    â€œWhat if,” Diesel paused, running a hand through his now purple hair, “we use the
Phoenix
’s pulsar-cannon belt?”
    â€œNo, you cosmic dope!” Otto snapped. “Pulsar-cannons are totally unstable weapons! You’ll blow us up too! Don’t you have any nuclear devices?! They’re much safer!”
    Peri raised his hands to silence them.“Isn’t this an undercover mission? Don’t we need the element of surprise to rescue the prince? Maybe we should find the thinnest section of moat—then our shields will stand a chance of surviving the acidic ooze.”
    Otto stared at Peri without blinking his beady eyes. “That’s what I said! Blast us through the thinnest section of moat! That’s an order!”
    Peri clenched his fist—the sooner this mission was over the better. He activated a photonic sweep of the moat and set a course for the thinnest stretch of sludge. As the ship neared, the dark-blue liquid sparkled as if it was reflecting sunlight. But it shouldn’t have. It was on the dark side of the planet. “The Cos-Moat is electrified!” Peri exclaimed. “We’ll be fried.”
    â€œIf the space-sharks don’t get us first,” Diesel added.
    â€œYou don’t
really
believe in space-sharks, do you?!” The Meigwor’s lipless mouth twitched into what could have been a smile. “I forget. Inferior species still believe in these myths.”
    Duurrr-iiiing!
An alarm sounded and a com-screen whirled up from the middle of the control panel. Selene’s face flickered as the monitor came to life.
    â€œHello, Peri and Diesel,” Selene said. “I am being treated well … by our Meigwor friends …” Selene sounded like a robot.
    It’s like she’s reading from a script
, Peri thought.
    â€œSelene, are you okay?” Diesel asked.
    Before she could reply, the crimson face of the Meigwor general Rouwgim pushed her aside. “Otto, give mission report now,” he demanded.
    Otto smacked his hands together over his head in salute. “We have reached Xion,General! I was just briefing the Milky Way monkeys about my cunning plan to rescue the prince …”
    The screen went dead, whirring back into the control panel.
    â€œYou!” Otto boomed, pointing a finger at Peri. “You cut the general off on purpose!”
    â€œIt wasn’t me,” Peri replied, checking the controls. “The Xions are jamming all signals around the planet.”
    â€œCloak the ship before they notice us!” Otto ordered. “Full speed through the Cos-Moat!”
    â€œIt’s not that easy, Otto,” Peri said as he steered the
Phoenix
closer. “If we’re to stand a chance, we need to find the Cos-Moat’s thinnest and most vulnerable spot.”
    To the right of them, a small blade-class ship was racing toward the rippling bluemoat. His chest filled with hope; it was the type of ship preferred by smugglers. And if they knew a way into Xion, then Peri could follow them. He steered the
Phoenix
into the smugglers’ slipstream, tucking in as close as he dared. Jets of sticky sludge arched from the moat like monstrous tentacles and latched on to the smugglers’ ship.