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

supply and unlimited power. Missiles poured from Star Warden, PC’s and tracer fire followed. Still, the turrets continued to pop up and fire back, hitting the mammoth Star Carrier.

Slade and Martelle watched as a piece of Star Warden’s armor slid back on its starboard side. It exposed a large nuclear war-head.

A blue-light surrounded the Star Carrier, enveloping it in an energetic net, electricity flinging off the ship, like lightning grasping for something to touch.

Callisto’s cannons let loose beams and electric bolts, landing deep inside the war-head.

The war-head exploded, slicing the upper portion of the ship in half, like a knife through butter.

The president covered his mouth and looked away as the crew poured out of Star Warden. Slade figured Craig imagined the Secret Space Program had taken that ship and that crew the stars to discover sentient societies to advance humankind, not scatter them throughout space. Craig knew little. He didn’t know about the Secret Space Programs pacts and treaties with other advanced civilizations, didn’t know the amount of resources they plundered from planets unknown. And Slade would keep it that way as long as possible.

Slade stayed focused, his eyes dead set on Admiral Gentry Race spinning away from Callisto, his arms and legs flailing like someone drowning, grasping for something, anything.

Then he saw someone out of the corner of his eye enter Callisto’s atmosphere and fall away from the camera’s view. A young woman. He knew her—XO Katherine Bogle. He was glad he didn’t have to see her burn up in Callisto’s atmosphere. She worked hard for her position. She pulled her bootstraps up whenever necessary, and he liked that in a person.

Lon’s face came back on the holoscreen. “Callisto fought back.”

Martelle cleared his throat in obvious shock. “I see why you want to change the mission, Lon.” Martelle’s face flushed, his hands slightly shook. But the politician, the president, practiced his craft well and maintained a calm voice. “But, I’m sorry, Lon. We take it to the next level. I’m not backing down. I made a promise to the American people. I’m going to bring them to that new shining city on a hill. We are going to found a New United States.” Spoken like a true politician. An idiot. How much Martelle believed this astounded Slade.

“We’re not fighting against a known enemy, Mr. President. We’re fighting against a military with technology more advanced than our own. We’ve spotted anomalies on Callisto that would suggest an AI—an Artificial Intelligence—runs the entire city and weapon infrastructure on that moon. That is more dangerous than anything we’ve ever encountered. A computer-based system that hasn’t been touched by man or any other Being to restrain its intelligence evolution can outwit and out-build us in a heartbeat. We’d need a long plan to take Callisto. We’d need a fleet, an army, and enough nukes to blast their AI into the stratosphere.”

Martelle fidgeted with his suit. “Are you saying that the hostiles are AI based?”

The hologram cut to a statue of a woman with a device around her ears. The coiled device went around the back of her head, glowing a blueish-white. “That’s the AI,” said Lon. “Princess Leia...that’s what we’ve been calling her. We haven’t detected any other intelligence on that moon. It’s run by one statue.”

“That seems easy enough. We target the statue,” said Slade. “Once the target is down, the AI is then eliminated.”

“To get to the statue would be the issue. Yes, we could attempt to bombard it, but we don’t want to risk unnecessary lives or crafts. You just witnessed one of the three biggest ships in SSP’s fleet blown out of the stars. What you perhaps couldn’t see was Leia anticipating our next move. We never had the upper hand. We never had a fighting chance. They don’t just outgun us, they outwit us at every move. In under five minutes, ten-thousand lives were lost, Mr. President. We suggest…leave it be and find another home, or go back home altogether.”

Martelle sat straighter in his chair, his hands folded in his lap. “Admiral Lon…can I call you Lon?” Not that he hadn’t already.

Lon dipped his head.

“Thank you.” Craig steepled his fingers together. “Now, Lon. As president, I’ve taken the biggest risk any president has ever taken—I’ve evacuated my office, the entire government and their families, to come with me to a place that will allow for a more peaceful transition into a new United States of America with a government that keeps our forefather’s sacrifices intact, along with their ideals of a Republic; ideals on which the Secret Space Program was initially founded.”

Lon didn’t blink. Hell, didn’t act as if he cared.

Martelle continued, “As you know, the president doesn’t just preside over the citizens of our country, but over the military as Commander in Chief, as well as the Commander in Chief of the Secret Space Program. Eisenhower was ahead of his time when he created the SSP. He put an Off-World Power Act in place, allowing the president of the United States to seize control of the Secret Space Program for ninety days until Congress deems the Act allowable or unnecessary.” He paused again no doubt to see if Lon understood the situation.

Lon remained expressionless. He was probably used to politicians who he thought totally missed the point.

The president leaned forward and closer to the camera. “You’re under my command, Lon. What I need you to understand is we’re going to Callisto.”

Lon nodded. “One last thing, Mr. President.”

Martelle nodded.

“Princess Leia has been transmitting a message. Star Warden didn’t have time to decode it, but we have.”

“Excellent,” said Martelle.

“It says, ‘XO Katherine Bogle, call Kaden Jaxx home…’” It was Lon’s turn to let the information sink in. His audience was, predictably, silent. “That’s right, folks. The AI on Callisto knows Jaxx and Bogle by name. Now, want to tell me how we’re going to outwit them?”

4 Starship Atlantis - M-Quadrant, Solar System

Starship Atlantis. He was really, truly on Starship Atlantis, a cruise ship in space, but