Shadowwing

By hup2thepenguin

(Sequel to Nightwing and Unofficial Sequel to the Silverwing Trilogy by Kenneth Oppel)

Prologue

Secret Air Force Base, Maine

A technician sat down at his station with a cup of coffee. He was tired. All night, he had been up watching the computer screen for any potential enemy activity, such as incoming planes, other vehicles, missiles, and radiation.

The technician sighed and rubbed his forehead. He stared bleakly at the never changing screen in front of him. He watched the green lines move about the black background. The technician pressed a button and the screen changed. Now it was showing radiation levels. The entire East Coast was the same blue color, with a few lighter and darker spots here and there. But then he saw something.

Near the US-Canada border, on the Canadian side, was a blotch of red. The technician quickly called for his superiors.

"Colonel," he called, "Take a look at this."

A man walked over. He bent over to look at the screen. The red blotch suddenly grew larger and larger, until it covered half of the state of Maine. Suddenly it was gone.

The colonel narrowed his eyes. He waved another man over.

"Get two pilots over the Canadian border. Tell them to be on the look out for radiation signs," he told the man.

"Sir," said the technician, "What was that?"

"I don't know."

The technician switched back to the radar screen. He noticed a small shape moving towards the base quickly. A plane. Moments later, two more shapes left the base toward the site of the radioactivity. They were the planes the colonel called for. The first shape disappeared from the screen as it passed the two planes.

"Sir, look at this."

"What?" the colonel came back.

"There was an incoming bogy a moment ago, but it disappeared. Could be a stealth plane."

Suddenly the two planes disappeared from the screen.

"What the-" the technician began. Suddenly, the sound of a plane came over the base. There was an explosion outside. All the men in the room crowded around the window just in time to see a cargo plane burst into flames.

Then they saw the enemy plane. It was a fighter jet. But it wasn't like any they had ever seen. The nose was rounded and the cockpit was bulbous. Most of its edges were rounded. On the side, the number 54 was printed. Next to it, in smaller font, "F-89" was printed.

The plane spun around and flew towards the window. It fired a missile. The technician dropped his cup of coffee.