Hello there readers,

Finally got the last chapter up. Enjoy.

Zac, Ash and Michael climbed through the vents.

"Uh, guys," Zac called from up ahead.

"What is it?" Ash asked.

"We have a problem."

"WHAT?'' Ash and Michael called in unison.

"I'm in front, you guys can't get ahead and I have NO IDEA where we're going."

Ash face palmed. "Sorry, I should have led you in instead of shooing you in. I hope you can forgive me, your lizard ships." She apologized.

"Your what ships?" Michael asked, confused.

Ash looked embarrassed. "Ah, what do you call yourselves?"

Zac fielded that one. "Well, our proper titles as kids are Master Michael and Master Zac. We just call each other Michael and Zac, though."

Ash nodded, noting with surprise that they were kids."Yes masters. Now, Master Zac, please call out to me what you see. I don't know these vents myself but I may be able to guess which way to go."

Zac grimaced and wished he had kept his mouth shut. As he thought this, the vent ended, splitting in two. Zac called the description back to Ash.

Ash tried to figure out which way to go but couldn't remember. However, she didn't want to look bad in front of them, so she just picked a direction. "Ah, yes, we want to bear left.''

Half a minute later, they were in front of a dead end, looking through a grate into a hallway. Michael was annoyed, and Ash was quick to cover. "We can listen in to the others from here, that's why I told you to come this way." Fortunately for her, they then heard footsteps coming down the hall.

Unlike Ash, Commander Cloud was under no illusions, he now knew who they were fighting and what they were capable of.

The Greys weren't hasty, they had sent probes to Earth first, just in time to see that the humans develop and use primitive versions of nuclear weapons. So, sparing immediate invasion, they had watched quietly for several decades while mapping out invasion plans. They had even grabbed a few juvenile specimens and raised them on their side.

The Greys had learned a lot from the many species, none of them had united in a global force to control fighting, and none had mandated cybernetics to control emotion. But, as a result of this, wars, disaster and natural conditions had driven technology up much faster than the Greys would have thought possible.

As a result of this, one couldn't just take out the centre of government, or use EMP's. There were hundreds of different centres, and destroying those would simply make the humans fight harder. And the other, non-technological species would be even more of a nightmare to wipe out.

Cloud smiled, the reptilians, on the other hand, were superior in technology, and from what he'd seen, more arrogant too. They were both too clever (to march right in) and too brash, they had done low-key attacks and taken prisoners, idiots.

And now Cloud had accidentally picked a fight with them, and thanks to one Private Ash, he was losing. Things could not be going worse.

"Seal off all vents," he communicated to his second-in-command while standing next to one of the air-ducts. "And if you can't contain the fire, begin evacuation through the secondary hangar." (The inside doors to the main hangar had stopped working).

"Yes, Commander."

"And Silver..."

Captain Silver gulped, it wasn't good when the Commander used your first name. "Yes, Commander?"

"You're sacked. I'm putting you on court martial when we get back."

"Yes, Commander."

Cloud looked at the vent he was standing next to and frowned. He pulled out an infrared device and scanned it.

They were right next to him! Cloud smiled and turned to one of his human guards, a teenage girl by the name of Lucy. "Private, run to the gaol and tell them I want all of our prisoners executed."

Lucy looked confused, she didn't think they had prisoners. Cloud put a finger to his lips and winked, gesturing to the vent. Lucy stood there for a moment, before realization crossed her face and she smiled back.

Once Zac was sure that the hallway was empty, he turned to the others. "Did you guys hear that?"

"I'm a girl," Ash reminded him.

Michael piped up behind her. "And yes, we heard. Ash, where are the prisoners kept?"

Ash scratched her head. "I didn't know we had prisoners. Unless he's referring to the place where they quarantine species from that blue planet you destroyed us over."

"Destroyed you!" Michael and Zac almost shouted. Ash realized she had said the wrong thing.

"Um mm, I meant the planet we attacked you over," she corrected. Michael and Zac separately decided that the shows they had seen of secret alien invasions and classified space programs were real.

"Where is this quarantine?" Michael asked, already backing up.

" Go back to the tunnel we came out of. I'll show you," Ash quietly panicked. She had a rough bearing of where to go, but that was all it was.

Oh, this isn't going to end well, she thought.

Several minutes later...

After several wrong turns, they reached the right place. Ash was ecstatic. "We're here," she whispered.

"What can you see?" Michael asked. Ash peered through the grate, the quarantine seemed empty at first glance, but then she noticed a human girl sitting curled up in a corner.

Ash thought she looked familiar for a moment, but was too busy noting that she looked very much like her two new friends.

Unless she's reptilian too, Ash thought. Her blood boiled.

The doors then opened and a Grey Corporal marched in. "You're next," he announced. The girl burst out crying.

Michael and Zac had heard. "Come on, break off the grate and let's attack," Michael whispered.

Ash nodded, bunching herself up as much as she could. Then, kicking out with her feet, she launched through the grate and fell on the Grey from above as he passed beneath her.

Michael yelped and rubbed at his face, before being pushed out by Zac, who immediately followed. Landing on the floor, Michael hurt his back, then Zac landed on his stomach, winding him.

By now, Ash had knocked the soldier out, so she and Zac approached the girl.

"Hi there," Zac introduced himself. "We've come to rescue you." He offered his hand to the girl, who gladly accepted, thanking him repeatedly.

Michael staggered to his feet. "Ash, you know the way out," he said. Ash nodded and they all filed through the doors.

After ducking and weaving through several corridors, they reached the secondary hangar. They rounded a corner and were faced with several dozen Greys, all armed. Cloud strode forward.

"Lock them up," he ordered, gesturing to a smaller spaceship. Several soldiers obeyed and herded them in. Once they were inside, they chained Ash to a chair, tied Zac and Lucy back to back, and approached Michael.

But Michael wasn't ready to give up just yet. As two particularly short Greys grabbed his arms, he held up his feet, dropping to the floor and knocking his two captors heads together. He then stood up, knocked them out, and turned to the other 3 soldiers.

One of them raised his blaster, but Michael snatched up the unconscious Grey's weapons and fired, scoring a direct hit on the the others gun, blowing him out of the ship.

Another dived at his legs, Michael jumped and landed on his head, incapacitating him before picking him up. Using the alien as a body shield, he charged the final one, who shrieked and fled the craft, Michael tossing his friend after him.

Noticing a button next to the hatch, he pressed it and the hatch closed. Turning to the others, Michael freed them. "Ash," he asked. "Can you fly this thing?"

Ash nodded. "Fly, yes. Navigate, no."

Zac raised his hand. "I'll try." Ash accepted, and both climbed into the pilots' seats.

Michael was worried. "Do you know how to navigate this thing, Zac?"

"Sure," Zac smiled reassuringly. "You've got your screen that shows you what objects to avoid. You've got your doohickey somewhere that turns it on. And then there's the whatsit where that adjusts it. How hard can it be?"

Ash didn't realize that he didn't actually know how to navigate. "Perfect," she promptly launched the ship as the Grey's fired upon them. Ash activated the ships cannons and blasted through the hangar doors.

Down below...

"Hold your fire," Cloud bellowed. Fortunately, they all had spacesuits on. He watched the spaceship fly away, and smiled. Lucy had infiltrated them. Soon, she would hijack the ship and take it to their Earth base.

Of course, he didn't reckon on Zac navigating.

THE END

So there's the final chapter.

Don't worry, I've got a sequel in the works, you'll get to see what happens.

Hope you enjoyed.

Zm.