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

the direct hit, setting off alarms and throwing Gentry on his side. Star Warden reset herself in orbit, groaning like a whale as her port side drives activated to reposition her.

The overhead light switched from daylight white to ombre red—battle ready.

“Shields?” Gentry was on his feet, faster than any of his crew.

“We’re at eighty-two percent,” Bogle replied.

Another shudder brought Gentry to his knees. “Let’s make rain.”

“RGSS-2’s online, Sir.” His weapons’ chief was all over making it rain on Callisto. At the touch of a button, RGSS-2—Rail Gun Space-to-Surface Second Generations—popped lead slugs the size of missiles, from Star Warden’s starboard side. They’d prepped for hostile alien encounters and knew how to pound those snot-nose, tentacle-waving, one-eyed monstrosities back into whatever steaming pile of sludge they’d crawled out of. When RGSS-2’s hit, they hit twice as hard as anything else Star Warden, or any Earth-made space craft, had in their arsenal.

Star Warden rattled as slug after slug ejected out of her barreled cannons, sending a constant vrum vrum vrum through the battery walls to the remainder of the ship. The vibration caught Gentry off guard. He sat in the admiral’s chair and gripped the armrests, knuckles white.

Bogle brought up the targeted turrets on the view screen. The rail gun could shoot a hundred slugs a minute, but once spent the chambers would be empty until the ship made it to a space armory to load up again. It was a one-time bombardment and always did the trick.

Until now.

Callisto’s guns switched targets and blasted the blue electric cannon bolts at the RGSS-2 slugs, turning them to dust on contact. Not a single slug reached Callisto’s surface. For the first time in fleet history, they’d failed to make rain. Now they floated slugless against an enemy that could withstand their heaviest weapons.

The crew looked to Gentry, who studied the screen. Everything below was at peace again.

“Fire the plasma cannons. Give ’em all we got.”

The turrets below wouldn’t be able to incinerate plasma. The PC’s, plasma cannons, weren’t as devastating as the railgun, but they had the advantage better accuracy. It would take longer, but Star Warden would prevail.

Callisto’s turrets rotated, their cannons extended and raised, locked onto their target–Star Warden. It had to be a trick of the light, because the muzzles appeared to balloon three-times their original size and what metal was capable of that? Gentry didn’t have time to think it through because in seconds, thousands of electric-bolts burst from the cannon and pounded the Star Carrier. The bridge’s view screen blinked in and out, the bolts zapping needed energy from the carrier’s core, somehow draining the heart of the ship. Gentry jostled in his chair. Sweat dripped from his reddening face, and he leaned forward with a clenched jaw. “Keep firing.”

Star Warden’s PC’s blasted turret after turret. The turrets exploded into fire blossoms then twisted into melted rubble.

It counted for squat.

Once a turret went offline, another turret popped up in its place, shooting volleys at Star Warden.

Another shutter. “Sir, shields are below fifty percent.” Panic filled Bogle’s eyes, something Gentry had never seen before.

“That low?”

“They’re sucking the life energy from our shields.”

Another hit and Gentry snapped to. For weapons to damage Star Warden like this was unusual, especially from turrets. “Keep targeting and continue to pound them. Lock ballistics on the pyramids. Let’s shut off their grid, render the turrets useless.” He massaged his temple. If their shields went down, they were burnt toast.

On Callisto, a turret exploded and another popped up next to it, sending more blasts toward Star Warden.

“A dozen intermediate space to ground ballistic missiles on their way planet-side,” said Bogle.

Gentry pursed his lips. “Good.”

One by one, the turrets turned the missiles into useless debris clouds.

“Fire again.”

The same results.

The ship vibrated and Gentry grimaced. “Shields?”

“Eighteen percent. This isn’t looking good, Admiral.”

“Why are we losing shields so quickly?”

Gentry had never seen Star Warden under fifty percent shields, let alone under twenty percent. He furrowed his brow and Star Warden shook again. He let out a shallow breath. Only one logical choice. He gave the order without a shred of emotion, though his guts roiled.

“Abandon ship.”

If it had been permitted, he’d have doubled over and vomited all over his own shoes, but there was no time for sentimentality. He needed to get his crew to safety. “Set evacuation procedures immediately.”

The turret fire from Calisto stopped and quiet filled the bridge.

Gentry stared straight ahead at the view screen. Callisto’s silence could mean a million different things, but his gut told him it didn’t mean surrender. He was about to do something that galled him, but it was necessary. A good commander knows when to attack and when to retreat. They were outgunned. It was time. “Back us up. We’re heading to the fleet.”

“Shields regenerating to twenty-one percent,” Bogle said. “We’re doing well.”

“Did you say well? We got the piss kicked out of us. Another minute and we’d be in our evacuation crafts, watching Star Warden being ripped apart.”

“Twenty-three percent, now, Admiral.”

“Thank you.” He stroked his cheek. His eye on a pyramid showing on the screen. Nothing beautiful or special about it, other than it gave off a reading that screamed impossible. It could power New York City.

Whoever was down on Callisto was more dangerous and more powerful than any race or species he’d ever come across, including his own.

Gentry’s face hardened and his eyes grew cold. This group on Callisto had to be stopped. In fact, they had to be eliminated. Any race this strong was a direct threat to human survival—to Earth’s survival. He couldn’t turn tail and run. He had to obliterate them.

He leaned forward. “Ready nuclear heads.”

Bogle tilted her head. “We can’t do that, Sir.”

“We can and we will. Launch when ready.”

Bogle abandoned her post and rushed to Gentry’s side. “There’s an archaeological and resource goldmine down there. Call it off. We’ll come back after we’ve had more time to think about our next action.”

Gentry crossed his arms. A fire welled in his stomach. “Do not second