Unearthly Realms

It was the following day when the commander called Zitrik back into his headquarters for another briefing. He was also joined by the same two pilots that had accompanied him to North Korea. During the meeting, the commander thanked Zitrik for his efforts in finding Celeen and then told them he was sending them on an observation mission over Iran. He told them that upper command levels were becoming concerned with the small country of Iran and their threats to world peace on earth. They had repeatedly expressed a desire to wipe out Israel and had even talked about wiping out the West, which included the United States. He said we don’t usually get involved with threats or squabbles among countries but Iran is aligned with known terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and others that may acquire a nuclear weapon someday. He told them Iran supports extremist groups that are hostile to the United States and Israel. Anytime we get reports that come from a leading government official they want to wipe out an entire country of people, we have to take those threats very serious. He told them that Iran has been working for some time on enriching Uranium which is the major component used in nuclear bombs. Some of their top leaders have repeatedly expressed the desire to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth. He told them they had been monitoring their progress for several years and just need to keep an eye on them and this would just be another observation mission. He said, “If Iran started a nuclear war in the Middle East with some of the smaller countries it could potentially cause a chain reaction with all the major government powers on Earth, firing their stockpiled nuclear weapons arsenal at each other. This could wipe out all living things on Earth and make the planet uninhabitable for hundreds of years. At the rate they are going Iran will be capable of flight testing an intercontinental ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead by 2015. We are not going to sit back and let them use those destructive weapons against another country.” He told them he wanted them to take the flight to Iran and observe a few of their suspected missile sites that they knew about and check out some of their ground activities. He also told them not to engage Iran with any offensive or defensive weapons during their mission. He told them they would be leaving at 0500 hours, so be ready to go. Ty and Markus were very excited that they had been cleared to go on this mission, a flight mission of exactly what they had hoped for.

  Early the next morning they followed Zitrik to his ship and boarded, but Zitrik was quiet, as if he had a lot on his mind. Once on board, Ty asked him if something was bothering him. He told them that Iran had supposedly developed a new fighter jet with radar evading capabilities. It was called the Qaher Stealth Fighter jet 313. He told them he wasn’t worried about it, it was just more of a nuisance to him and the other pilots than anything. Anytime you invade a country’s air space things can get a little risky.

  Once the other pilots were ready to go, they left the base and headed out through the channel. They were almost to the point where they were going to leave the ocean when one of the other pilots called to Zitrik saying they were being followed by a United States nuclear submarine. He told the other pilot to call it in to the command center to let them know. They picked up radio calls from the captain of the submarine saying if they didn’t identify themselves he was going to fire upon them because they weren’t in international waters; they were in United States waters. They were still along the coastline of California and off limits to unidentified ships or aircraft. They knew they had to ignore the message demanding they identify themselves as they continued toward their exit, and within a few minutes, the captain fired two missiles at them. Zitrik told Ty and Markus to hold on. They may get bumped around a bit. The missile shield on their spaceships diverted the two missiles into a nearby underwater mountain and they exploded. Those two missiles were then followed by two more missiles which they also diverted into the mountain. When they exploded, they were close enough to them that the ship momentarily skipped and flipped on its side for a few second before Zitrik gained control once again. Ty asked him if the spaceship was okay and he replied that everything was fine, as he up righted the machine. They continued on and soon came to the opening and made their way to the top of the ocean and out of the water. They hovered just above the water and waited for each, making sure everyone was okay. Once they were in place the spaceships shot up into space like a bolt of lightning.

  Before long, they were entering Iran airspace. As they hovered in the sky, the crew took pictures of the entire country. Ty and Markus couldn’t see the suspected areas they were concerned with, but Zitrik said, “There they are! We got them!” In a few minutes the three spaceships were being pursued by a couple of Iran’s aircraft. Zitrik had the other two pilots go on ahead and stay out of missile range while he had some fun with them. He immediately circled back and came in behind them, within a quarter of a mile and right on their tail. They must’ve spotted him as one of the jets veered off to the right and started to make a huge circle as if he was going to do the same thing to Zitrik’s spaceship, by coming up behind him. Zitrik quickly responded and he left the two aircraft as though he was just sitting there. He made several sweeps in front and behind them just to mess with them a little. They were firing their missiles at him and the explosions were heard in the distance. There was also anti-aircraft fire from the ground exploding all around them in the sky. To Markus and Ty, it was a little scary, but Zetrik was clearly enjoying this. After having a little fun, he hooked back up with his waiting friends and told them what he had done. One of the other pilots told him they were watching the entire thing from where they were waiting. They continued the laughter, reliving the incident and then they regrouped and made several more sweeps of the area before they had all the information they could gather and headed back to the base.

  Before they entered the channel leading to the base, they called ahead to see if the United States submarine was still in the area. The commander told them it had left, but told them to come in from the south side just to be safe. He told them that hopefully they wouldn’t encounter anything from the southern entry point. Once safely back at base, the pilots detached a small silver box near the controls of their ship and took it to the commander. Ty and Markus assumed it contained the information they had gathered regarding Iran. The commander thanked them and told them they could relax in their quarters for a while, if there was anything else he needed he would contact them. They thanked the commander for the mission and then headed back to their quarters.

  The next day, Zitrik asked Ty and Markus if they would like to go and check on Celeen to see how she was doing. They both agreed they would like that very much. They wanted to talk to her and see if she’d gotten her strength back. When they arrived at her quarters Zitrik placed his hand on a window screen of the metal door. It immediately sounded a voice in her room that announced it was Zitrik. When she came to the door, it slide open and she was somewhat surprised to see Ty and Markus were still tagging along. They could see she had regained most of her strength back as she motioned for them to come in. She immediately told Zitrik that the commander had talked to her and informed her that Zitrik would be taking her home the following morning. He hadn’t heard that news yet, but knew the commander would soon let him know. He told her Ty and Markus would be riding with them, if that was okay with her. She looked at them and said, “Absolutely, it would be my pleasure.” She went over to Ty and Markus and held out her hands, one for each of them and said, “I wanted to thank you both, very much for saving me from the coyotes.” Zitrik looked at her in surprise. He hadn’t heard the story about the coyotes because Ty and Markus hadn’t told him about what happened on the way back to the ship. They spent just a few minutes with Celeen and then decided to go back to Zitrik’s quarters. On the way back, Zitrik couldn’t wait to hear their story and said, “Okay, you can tell me about the coyotes now.” Markus began to explain the entire story just like it happened. Zitrik replied, “Nice job, but why didn’t you tell me about the coyotes when you brought her back to the
ship? Markus replied, “When we brought Celeen back, you were so upset that we took so long, we figured telling you about the coyotes would’ve only made it worse.” Zitrik said, “You should’ve told me about what happened.” Markus didn’t say anything else as he just shrugged his shoulder and raised his eyebrows as if to say he was sorry.

  Although Ty and Markus were having a lot of fun hanging out with Zitrik, they were both ready to get back to Ty’s mom and Dad’s house and figure out what they wanted to do or where they wanted to go next. They had told Zitrik of their plans a few days earlier. As they boarded the ship the next morning with Celeen and Zitrik, they asked Zitrik if he could take them back to the portal where Ty had first met Zitrik. They thanked him for all the incredible experiences they had been on with him, and for letting them tag along. They complimented him on what a great pilot he was and told him they hoped they would meet up again someday. Zitrik said, “I have no doubt we’ll meet again someday, comrades.”

  Once at the portal, they said their good-byes to Celeen and Zitrik while the spaceship hovered in place. They waved good-bye as they exited the ship. Ty looked over at Markus and said, “Meet you at mom and dads.” Markus replied, “I’m right behind you.”

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  Chapter 18 – Korbin and the Underground City