As the President of the United States refuses to loan dataDyne the Pelagic II, the conspirators plot to kill him and replace him with a dataDyne-grown clone.[23] To accomplish their plans, an NSA strike team led by Trent Easton invades the air base from which Air Force One will depart.[20] When Joanna foils this strike, the NSA along with some Scandinavians take over the plane itself, which crashes after an attempt to detach a craft attached to it.[20] Having survived the crash, Joanna eliminates the President's clone and rescues the real President.[20] Meanwhile, Easton is killed by one particular Scandinavian known as Mr. Blonde, who is revealed to be a Skedar in disguise.[25] Without permission from the President, dataDyne decides to hijack the Pelagic II and reach the ancient spacecraft.[20] However, unbeknownst to dataDyne, the Carrington Institute learns that the spacecraft contains a powerful weapon capable of destroying a planet and that the conspirators are actually Skedar aliens disguised as Scandinavian humans who intend to test the weapon on Earth before using it against the Maian homeworld.[20]