SI-9

Once the Captain had played back the recording of Angelo's radio transmission, the entire crew from the Alicorn was left in stunned silence for a brief moment.

"Goodness gracious!", yelped Flurry Heart.

"You got that right, Flurry. I would've bailed out in that kind of situation too.", said Ocellus.

Agent 3 brought over a hologram projector and inserted the data disc for the plane.

"This is the SI-9. It's the most secret and most experimental stealth jet we've ever developed.", said Taylor as he turned on the projector and brought up a 3D view of the jet.

The crew was shocked at how intricate this jet's design was. It had a sideways opening hatch on the cockpit, swiveling wings that would rotate backwards to make the jet more aerodynamic, and two powerful engines on the rear.

"What's the maximum speed for this jet?", asked Gallus.

"With the wings in their starting position, the maximum speed is 430 knots, or 496 MPH. With the wings swiveled back, max speed is 500 knots, or 640 MPH. This speed is just shy of supersonic. To reach Mach 1, the plane would need to fly 73 knots faster than it currently does.", explained Agent 4.

"That's crazy!", said Yona.

"You bet it is. What's more is that the engines are fitted with a specialized cooling mechanism. This allows the plane to be invisible on an infrared tracking system.", explained Lizzie as she pulled out a blueprint for the jet's engine.

"Impressive!", said Smolder.

"The jet's egress pod is equipped with bilge cylinders to either keep it afloat or allow the pilot to submerge and hide from enemies if it touches down on water. Angelo's egress pod status shows that the cylinders didn't survive when Angelo ejected. He has gone under.", said Agent 8 as she zoomed in on the cockpit.

Just then, the alarm for one of the underwater seismometers began going off. An earthquake was taking place in the vicinity of where Angelo had touched down.

"NOT GOOD!", shrieked Agent 3.

Luckily, the earthquake lasted only two minutes.

"How do we go about rescuing Angelo?", asked Sandbar.

"Rescuing him is only half the equation. We can't let the Salmonlings document the jet's design and inner workings. If they do, we'll be in trouble when trying to defend ourselves from them.", said Callie.

"Then we'll split up. I'll fly Gallus, Ocellus, Silverstream, Lizzie, and Taylor to Angelo's location. Everyone else will go with the Agents to destroy the plane's wreckage.", said Flurry Heart.

"Sounds like it could work. I just hope he's not hurt too bad from the earthquake.", said Marie after she had dried her tears.

The two groups quickly geared up and boarded their respective crafts. Sandbar, Smolder, Yona, and the Agents boarded a gunship to fly to an island where the jet's signal was originating. Flurry and everyone else got on a heavy rescue craft to head for Angelo's location. As the two crafts’ lights faded into the distance, Callie, Michael, Marie, and Andrew prayed that Angelo would be alright and that the Salmonlings wouldn’t get too much information on the jet.