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

off two blue phasers, hitting the unit’s ion drive. It quivered, then exploded, picked up off the ground and twirled in the air. Several Kelhoon dove for cover, others weren’t so lucky as the vehicle slammed down hard on them.

“Turn,” yelled Zara, running backwards, tugging the Kelhoon leader. She turned, pulling Okbak down an alleyway.

Jaxx followed. A Kelhoon transport came into view. “How did you get that?”

“Hotwired the shit out of it,” replied Fox, running and shooting.

Jaxx, running beside Fox, aimed his weapon at oncoming Kelhoon soldiers.

“Your Japanese-looking friend did.” How Fox could run and talk was a mystery.

Jaxx should have known. The Tayonians—whose culture had been destroyed by the Agadon—could engineer just about anything better than any race in the galaxy. But saying the Taiyonians were merely tech geniuses was an insult. They were beyond genius.

Several Kelhoon stepped around a corner in the alley, and in front of the transport. Their rifles pounded against their chests as blue bolts left the tips of their muzzles.

Jaxx slid, ducking. Fox did the same, and a group of bolts flew over their heads.

Zara roared, lunging awkwardly to the side, blood flinging from her hip. She curled away from Okbak as more bolts flew in her direction. Kiyo-zan back flipped, landing directly in front of her. He held his wrist up and took the brunt of a dozen rifle ion slugs into his shield, absorbing the energy.

Jaxx dashed forward, and slid to the side, pulling his trigger as many times as he could. More photon bolts sprang from his phaser, slamming into the Kelhoon blocking their way. A few direct hits and some fell.

One of them let out a loud hiss, pointing directly at Okbak. Despite Zara’s injury, she managed to continue pulling their leader along behind her. The Kelhoon bowed their heads at their prime chieftain and moved out of Zara’s way.

A Kelhoon warrior touched the back of his ear, pressing a communication device. He mumbled incoherent sounds and clicks. An instant later, the Kelhoon ceased fire.

Jaxx eyed Okbak, his head bobbing back and forth, his eyes slowly opening and closing. He was still out of it and not fully aware of what was happening.

A Kelhoon kicked dirt, and another Kelhoon glared like he wanted to do nasty, violent things to Jaxx. The soldier’s rifle hung from his scaly hands, no doubt wanting to pull the trigger and blow Jaxx’s brains out—then eat them. Those sick pricks.

Yet, the Kelhoon remained quiet, obedient to their leader. The last thing they wanted to do was accidentally harm their prime chieftain, or worse yet, kill him.

The tension was palpable as they reached the transport. More Kelhoon began to congregate around the ship, watching, and waiting for something—perhaps their leader to wake up, and then order his warriors to open fire and destroy those who were kidnapping him.

Fox tapped the back of the transport, its silver ramp clicking, then moving down to the ground. It hopped a few times as it touched down and Fox waived his crew to follow him up the ramp. “Zara, hurry your tail. Drag lizard-brains up with you”

Zara pulled the massive Kelhoon up the ramp.

Jaxx and the rest were close behind. Reaching the top, Jaxx turned around and slapped the close ramp knob, watching the Kelhoon disappear as the ramp ascended. The craft shook when the ramp closed and locked in place.

“Kiyo-zan,” said Jaxx. “Take the controls.”

The craft was large, built for the tall Kelhoon—about fifteen feet from floor to ceiling—and filled with rows of seats to transport Kelhoon soldiers.

Kiyo-zan sat down on the cockpit’s pilot seat and studied the ship’s controls, then nodded as if he’d figured everything out—in under ten seconds. He pressed several buttons, and the ship lifted off the ground.

Zara dropped Okbak next to a seat and grabbed her side, wincing in pain. She unclipped a vial of red liquid from her chains that crisscrossed her furry torso, and placed several drops on her injury. She cringed, growling, baring her sharp teeth.

Jaxx sat next to her. “Are you okay?”

“Worry about Okbak, not me. He’s starting to wake up.”

Okbak’s eyelid slits opened and closed several times. He rubbed his face.

Jaxx pulled out his phaser and aimed it at the prime chieftain’s temple. “Understand, my friend, that if you make a wrong move, one of us will end your life.” He eyed Fox. “Where are we going?”

Fox was sitting across from him. “Far from here.”

The transport zipped forward and Jaxx glanced at Okbak. “I’ll deal with you my way from now on, lizard-man.”

Zara pounded the seat next to her. “Your way? What exactly is your way, peach-fuzz? Your last attempt to deal with Okbak nearly got you and the rest of us killed. We had to take unnecessary steps that took time that we don’t have in order for us to rescue you. You being captured, you doing this on your own, was not needed, and your unilateral decisions are poisoning us. We’re here to rescue the galaxy, not to fill it with negative Beings that want control and power because of your failure to be a cohesive team member.” She waived her arm around, then grimaced in pain. “You don’t know the meaning of we, do you? You think you are the major cog in the universe, the one that needs to deal with the negativity…and alone? Are you that unwise, that unintelligent that you would bar your friends and your allies from helping you. No, you are no longer capable of trust. You, my peach-faced ally, have shown us that you are only capable of nearly killing us.”

Jaxx went white, stunned. He wasn’t going to kill any of his friends. His plan worked. “I knew what I was doing.”

“Have you already forgotten the thought packets you sent us? You were calling for help. You were asking us to save your life. That’s the opposite of knowing what you were doing. Together we had a better chance to get in, and out. Yet, you pushed us aside for