I'll Be There For You

CLIVE

Year: 2342

Month: September

Date: 19

Destination: Aircraft en route Earth

Clive had decided he liked aliens. They were cool. During the journey to Zeroa, Sameer had piloted. He was clearly not good at it. But Ayaan Roy was a whole other story. He took one look at the console and said, "I got this."

Simon had been kind enough to lend them on of the crafts. It was an Earth model. "So they don't shoot you out of the sky." He'd informed them.

Good point.

Once Ayaan had mentioned his idea, they'd all been silent. War sure was a distraction. But from what? Simon was still not telling them anything.

But how were ten teenagers supposed to rise a mutiny.

Then Neha had mentioned, "Well, it doesn't kill to be a part of a group who're dying to fight the Powers huh."

Neha, Naina, Roshan, Ankit and Sameer had smiled.

"I'm a part of the Resistance too you guys! Include me too!" Vani had whined.

Clive had dragged her outside, "Come on."

He was trying not to think about the fact that Vani would leave them all in a couple of days. She had become such a good friend. Probably the only one to handle his crazy, aside from Phoenix.

Maverick had then announced, "I'm going to come here with Vani and Roshan."

That's when Phoenix and Clive had lost it.

"Hey!!"

"What about us?" "We'll come too then!"

Vani had just shaken her head. "We'll talk later. Promise."

So here they were. Going back to earth. To start a war.

He realised he'd not thought about his parents in days.

He turned to Phoenix, "Dude our parents. They're gonna kill us."

Phoenix winced. "Well, my parents are used to me disappearing. But they're not going to be happy to know we came to start a war."

The two made their way to the main room where the others were sitting, talking about nothing.

He turned towards Maverick, "We need to get our parents to a secure place."

Maverick nodded. "We need to evacuate all the civils." He turned towards Naina. "Have we decided where to do this?"

Naina nodded. "The main HQ of the Powers. Back in Eastern Earth. The Queen's former home. Neha has already sent an SOS to Gen. He'll send a worldwide red signal. We're expecting about six thousand members out of which nine hundred are air missionaries."

Clive felt bile rising to his throat. His parents were back in Western Earth. So that was a relief.

He turned to Maverick. "Do you have a layout of the headquarters?"

Maverick got up and went to his room. He came out with a blueprint. "Here."

They all formed a circle around the layout.

He pointed towards the Powers building.

"We need an aerial attack first. They have a force field around the building, with a five feet radius. That's not all. The entire city is filled with Powers agents. And they're all skilled. Ready to strike back. We need someone to disable the force fields and all the sensors. All the traps. Everything." As he kept talking his shoulders relaxed.

While some parents forced their kids to take up a sport, Clive's parents had trained him in strategies. Weird, but at the time, effective.

No one questioned him. Isha nodded. "Consider it done. I'll handle all the inside trails. I'll be the eyes of the group."

"Once the airstrike has taken place, I'd give them about half an hour to regroup. In these thirty minutes, we need to reach Covey Rainer. He has been informed of us returning?"

Isha nodded again. "He has."

"After this, the ground strike has to take place. While Simon was the head until recently, I'm sure they've brought in a substitute. This person will not be sparing us."

Everyone else nodded their agreement.

"I guess it's pretty clear after that. Simon said that if our distraction is good, we'll be getting a surprise. Let's hope it's a good surprise."

Roshan mused, "Well, if a war isn't a good enough distraction I don't know what is."

Vani raised her hand. "Guys? Doubt."

"What is it?" Ankit asked.

"I get why we think war is the only way. But. Lives guys. You honestly think we won't lose lives? Roshan? Naina? Your friends from India will be a part of this. Can you say for certain they'll come out of this alive?"

Clive was close to throwing up. He looked at Phoenix. He had a similar thought process.

Naina spoke quietly, "I have an idea."

Roshan's eyes widened. "No no no no no no. Nope. Nuh-uh."

"What? What is it?" Clive asked.

"Her feet." Phoenix marvelled.

"It'll be perfect. You know it." She was looking at Roshan.

The two of them were having some sort of silent war. Apparently Naina won, because Roshan just walked out of the room.

"He's fine." She said.

"But there's still one problem." Clive said. "You can't control its range can you?"

She shook her head.

"So how do we stop it from going overboard?"

"We'll have to set up barricades. So no one goes there. And, we're going to have to insert metal plates at the end of the range. So the quakes slow down. How do we arrange those?"

This time Ayaan's voice called out from the cockpit, "Might I suggest aliens whose eyes are magic. As our best friend has pointed out?"

Neha started laughing. Roshan was rubbing his hands in anticipation. "Let's do this."

Clive nodded. The plan was good. Very good. It would work. It had to.