Ascendant Saga Collection: Sci-Fi Fantasy Techno Thriller Brandon Ellis (ebook reader for comics txt) 📖

him to lurch forward. Rivkah? He knew she was out here. And her thoughts were on him. She probably cursed his name for some damn thing he couldn’t remember he’d done in the past.

A handful of starfighters approached. He took a fleeting glance at Starship Atlantis. It gained distance, and he’d be in a hot mess with Starfighters on his ass, not to mention other, larger craft if he attempted to blow the starship apart. It’d take more than a half a dozen passes, if not more to do the killing deed and who knew how many missiles and cannon blasts.

He changed flight direction, and flew toward the middle of the newly arrived SSP fleet, though aimed his Air Wing toward Rivkah’s pull. He glanced at his radar and could see her craft’s signature. She headed away from the fleet. He needed her call sign and number for radio privacy. He tapped a few buttons on the flight console and targeted her craft—102, Identification: Dizzy.

He glanced at his rear cam view screen and bit his lip. A few more SSP frigates surrounded Starship Atlantis. His plan was more than thwarted. Wiping the sweat off his face, Jaxx pushed more thrust in the Air Wing and headed toward the Star Carrier.

With starfighters still on his tail, his erratic movements either kept their fingers from pulling the trigger or he was too close to the fleet’s ships.

He pushed down on his control stick and guided his ship under the Star Carrier, then patched 102 into his comm line. “Rivkah, this is Jaxx. Do you copy? Clear.”

The line came alive. “Watch your six.”

His heart rose at the sound of her voice, then plummeted with her response. She was all business. She was as happy to hear his voice as a bird was to see a cat.

“Rivkah, I’m going to steer you to a star portal. We’re getting out of here, but you have to turn around and head toward Mars.”

“A what? And, no, not turning around. Have a good day. See you on the other side. Out.”

“Rivkah, listen to me. This is our only escape.”

No response.

“Rivkah!”

Again, nothing.

“Dammit.” He veered in her direction. He’d get her to the portal if he had to throw a line and hook and tug her along.

He went to turn on Adaptive Boost. The problem was, he didn’t have a helmet to voice that command into the cockpit’s console. But, a button or a lever had to be somewhere.

He leaned forward. The restraining straps stretched with him. Eyeing everything on the control panel, Jaxx whispered, “Where in star-piss is it?”

Adaptive Boost was either invisible or he was blind to that specific button.

A long beep and he clutched the control stick with both hands. His heart skipped a nervous beat. His craft shuttered and debris hit his cockpit window like a quick downpour of hail.

He veered. And just in time. He dodged another small frigate. Those bastards were everywhere. “Rivkah, can you pull up Adaptive Boost and let me know where the star portal is? I need to know now.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jaxx.”

His cockpit beeped. “What the—”

Twenty incoming bandits—all Air Wings. And they weren’t there to escort him to the star portal.

He throttled to sub-light 3.1 and pulled back on his control stick, positioning himself to fly in the middle of the fleet. This way, he could play cat and mouse, he the mouse, using the large fleet ships as cover. If he hugged a ship, the bandits wouldn’t fire.

“Rivkah, I can get us out of here, but you have trust me. You’ll have a dozen bogeys on your butt if you don’t. And soon.”

No reply.

A dozen Air Wings broke from formation and headed for Rivkah. Yet, she didn’t alter her craft’s course.

Jaxx zipped by a destroyer and inched as close to its armor as he could. Nine Air Wings, plus an Oospor Dropship, followed.

“Rivkah, I’m heading for Mars. Hang a hard and wide loop and get as far from the bandits as possible. And, for God’s sakes, turn on your Doppler and send me the vortex coordinates.”

His craft shook as shards of cluster slugs slapped against his Air Wing.

“Rivkah, at least send me the coordinates and upload the vortex onto my holographic display.”

Silence.

He clenched his fist. Had he screwed her up that badly? How big of an ass had he been to her? He pushed down on his control stick and slid his ship under a Star Cruiser. He steered toward a vortex he had no location for.

The Air Wings and Oospor closed in. He notched his speed to Sub Light 3.4, zipping by a fast-moving Star Destroyer. There were only a few more fleet ships in front of him then it was just him, empty space, and then Mars; the planet’s glow filled the local cosmos like a street lamp on a clear, crisp night.

He had to stay within the confines of the fleet, though. He couldn’t risk it. He pulled up.

The radar popped up on the holographic display. One of the Air Wings in the back of the pack blipped off the screen, then another vanished. He squished his brows together.

He switched to exterior vid cams and everything in a wide tunnel radius behind him came up on the display. He zoomed in with the camera and caught an Air Wing piloted by Rivkah. In the back of the pack, she fired missiles at another starfighter at the formation’s rear. The starfighter exploded into a fiery reddish-blue, then fizzed out.

The Air Wings broke formation, except for the Oospor, still closing in.

Rivkah was helping.

An infrared vid popped up on the holoscreen. A swirl fluctuated in and out of the vid. It pulsed like a heartbeat, vanishing and reappearing with a ghost-like appearance. A haze of two energy circles of equal radius were in the middle of the spiral. A portion of the second circle overlapped the first, creating what looked like an opening; a portal.

“The Vesica Pisces,” said Jaxx. He knew sacred geometry better