"Mike! Starboard, now!" Johnny cried out as the bogey plane got closer. Mike took a hard right and the bogey plane passed him by. But then the bogey plane turned and came upon Johnny and Tom. "Tom, hang on!" Tom grasped the sides of his seat once again as Johnny picked up speed to outmaneuver the bogey. He did notice that Martie and Dot had taken the opportunity to land

"Mike, Johnny, Linda, Tom, someone see if they can get any information off that plane!" Ted's voice came into their ears.

"No can do, I'm coming in!" said Mike. Tom closed his eyes and said a prayer of thanks. Linda would be alright soon.

"Bit busy right now!" snapped Johnny as he took another hard turn.

"I'll try!" said Tom. He looked out the window as the bogey came around for another pass. He looked for any definite details that would clue them in to the identity of the owner. But the only things he got were the model and the color as Johnny pulled up and the bogey whizzed by again. "I can't see much, but it's definitely a blue Cessna!"

"That's something to start with, at least. Johnny, Tom, you're cleared for landing. Get down here!"

"Yes sir, but I'm coming in hot!" stated Johnny as he began the descent to what was hopefully safety. The Cessna was coming in close. Tom glanced at it, it was coming in too close. He gritted his teeth, if he was figuring this correctly, they weren't going to make it. That Cessna seemed determined to have one of them crash. At least, that's what it seemed like to him, it was the only explanation. He glanced at Johnny's back, there had to be something they could do.

"Johnny, pull up! Johnny!" Mike then put some authority into his voice. "Mars 2, you are not going to make it, pull up!"

"He's not going to let up on me either!"

Tom saw the opening they needed. "Johnny, veer left!"

Johnny glanced over. He veered left and swerved around the operating tower. "Now what?" he asked.

"Can you corkscrew?"

"Say what?"

"A corkscrew landing!"

Johnny gasped. "Tom, you are a genius!" He went around the tower and circled the landing field. It was enough of a surprise for the Cessna that it slowed down long enough for Johnny to land. The Cessna flew off as soon as Johnny and Tom came to a complete stop.

"Tom!"

"Johnny!" Their friends crowded around them, the girls hugged them tightly. Everyone was safely on the ground, and Tom was never so glad to feel it under his feet. Well, until Astro picked him up in a relieved hug, but he quickly set him back down.

"That was really scary, but it made me glad!" Everyone paused and blinked in surprise at him. He merely grinned. "I think we have the best pilots on our team!"

Mike clapped Johnny's back. "Man that was close, too close."

Johnny scoffed. "You're telling me."

"Clear the runway!" Two pilots, a commanding officer, and Ted came racing down towards them. Ted waved them to the side as the two pilots pulled on their helmets.

"Follow him and find out what you can. If you manage to scare him off, great, but I would rather he be brought in. No one endangers the lives of our students!" The officer glanced over the group as they moved away from the plane. He turned back to the pilots. "You be careful yourselves, this guy will probably use whatever means necessary."

"We will, sir," replied the pilots in unison before climbing in the plane. They saluted the officer and revved up the engines. The officer gave a quick salute before he backed up and watched the plane take off.

He turned and walked towards the group. "Everyone alright? Any injuries at all?"

"Nothing to report except racing hearts and raised adrenaline, sir," replied Mike with a quick salute.

The officer sighed with relief. "Good to hear." He glanced at Mike. "One of our military transfers?"

Mike nodded. "Yes sir." He indicated himself, Johnny, and Martie. "All three of us, from the Air Force, sir."

"The three of you were flying?"

"Yes sir!" they chorused.

The officer smiled. "Which would explain the lack of injury. Thank God!"

Johnny clapped Tom's back. "Thank Tom, sir, he saw the bogey first and warned us. We would not have been able to outmaneuver that plane so well had he not warned us. Not to mention he got the make and color of the plane, and he helped me dland."

The officer shook Tom's hand enthusiastically. "Wonderful! Excellent job! It's good to know someone like you is in the space program!"

"Ah, uh, th-thank you sir," Tom stammered as a slight blush came into his cheeks.

"If there's anything you need, just let me know. I for one wouldn't want to lose you to a different program."

"Ah, um, speaking of, uh, sir, how did you know I was in the space program?"

The officer burst out laughing. "You didn't miss that! Good, good. Here's why, I am one of the warrant officers to whom you and your roommates will be answering before you are teamed up with two other groups to become one team under one of the captains. We already know who's going into the space program by name and face, so I do recognize you all. Mike McKenny's my name and frankly, looking forward to working with you. I have a suspicion I'm looking at one of the best teams to come out of this program, just based on this incident alone."

"S-sir! It was just one incident!" Mike exclaimed.

"Sometimes one is all it takes, Cadet Samson." He waved his finger at Mike's surprised face. "That's right, you have to re-earn the Mars name. But keep up this excellent work, and you might get it back before the year's out."

"Y-yes sir," mumbled Mike.

McKenny nodded. "Good. I order you not to do anything that might give you more anxiety. And that includes no more flying until classes start. You need to rest up after such a harrowing experience. You will be contacted in the next few days concerning this incident, so best to stay close to the campus."

The group smiled nervously. "Yes sir."

"Good, dismissed." He turned to Ted. "You, however, are not dismissed. Not until you have gotten that report finished. Then you take the rest of the day."

Ted grinned ruefully. "Yes sir." He waved to the group and followed McKenny back to the tower.

Astro let out a breath. "I guess he doesn't include meeting him as giving us anxiety. Because I think I would have rather been up there with you facing that bogey than face him!"

The others glanced at him in shock. Tom didn't know where it came from, but he knew it had to do with the adrenaline rush. He was the first one to start laughing. One by one, the others joined in, until they were all laughing so hard that a few tears started falling.

"Oh man, that was needed. Thanks man," said Mike, clapping the Venusian's back. He glanced after Ted and Mckenny with a huff. "But now we will definitely need your help getting these off."

"Oh, I don't think it should be too hard," quipped Astro.

"It shouldn't, but we still need your help," remarked Mike as he led the group to the lockers.

"I guess this means we won't be helping them at Cedar Ridge, " said Dot with a sigh as they proceeded to take off their gear.

Linda grimaced and sucked in her breath. "Ooh, yeah, that's right. I'll text Louise and let her know."

Aestro frowned as he helped Orin out of his suit. "But what will we do in the meantime? And what about the party tonight?"

Tom sighed. "I think we'll have to skip it tonight, and every other night until we get called on."

"But then wouldn't the parties be over?"

Mike shrugged. "Only if they don't call on us right away, which I don't see why not. This is a pretty important incident. They might need a couple of days to get all of our statements, but they should be contacting us pretty soon."

Astro moaned. "Oh man, I really wanted to see Cedar Ridge!"

Tom patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll go over there on the weekend, or one of the holidays."

"Let's not forget the surrounding towns," remarked Dot. "I'm sure Louise has already hit the mall in Morrisville."

"Oh yeah, there's a town on the beach, I want to see the ocean. All that water!" quipped Orin.

Mike grinned. "Don't worry, we'll get you to the sea soon! I can't wait to see your reaction to it!"

Orin chuckled nervously. "Yes, well, I would need to know how to swim …"

"Don't worry, you'll learn here," remarked Mike. "There's a swimming pool here and it's used in a lot of training in the astronaut program."

"Oh, Terry's friend Sim is an excellent swimmer. Maybe she could teach you," quipped Astro.

"Speaking of," muttered Linda as she glanced at her phone, "Louise said they are heading over to the bell tower now and will be meeting up with the six researching in the library around lunch time. They wish we could be there but understand why we can't, and she begs us to stay out of trouble next time."

Johnny scoffed. "I don't know how that is possible. Trouble seems to have a way of finding us." He shot a meaningful glance at Mike, but Mike didn't notice it. He was rubbing his chin, deep in thought.

"I mean, this is serious stuff. Someone is out to get rid of the competition."

"Uh, yeah," quipped Martie. "And we know exactly who it is! Stop thinking he couldn't be behind any of this!"

Mike shot her a pointed look. "So, you told Rod we were coming here?"

Martie blinked and shook her head slowly. "No."

Mike glanced at each person in the group. "Did anyone tell Rod anything?" He received various replies in the negative.

Tom blinked. "You didn't either, did you?"

Mike shook his head firmly. "No, not a word. I haven't even seen him since I spoke to him about the party. We never really sought each other out before as friends, much less acquaintances, so I figured it best to leave him be after that."

Johnny blinked. "Wait, if you didn't tell him, and none of us did, then, who knew we would be here?"

"Exactly," remarked Mike. He glanced at each of them again. "I think it's best to let Louise know we won't be helping them solve the mystery of the Cedar Ridge bell as it seems we now have one of our own. And this guy seems intent on killing the competition."

(Author's Note: Had to have an excuse to pull them away from interfering with the other mystery, lol. But things are getting more serious for them. And that's not all, I have a couple more updates incoming! Yay! Both for the Lord of the Rings fanfic, and speaking of, there's a new game in the works! You might have seen the teasers for it, Tales from the Shire. It looks so good so far! The only update we've gotten so far is that it is coming out this year, and to be on the look out for a trailer coming soon! Oh man, cannot wait! The only other update is that my cousin's debut novel, "A Sparrow Among Stars" is coming out in the fall! My own original stories are slow in the process, but I am learning to take it as it comes, one world building bit at a time. Only issue is more ideas keep on coming, and I just do not have the time or attention span to devote to all of them, so I work on what I can. I will eventually get them out, but in the meantime, hope you enjoy what I have here! I think I have been finally getting into a good rhythm, so hopefully will be updating on a more regular basis. Thanks for reading and have a great day! God bless!)