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

between the two had tripled in size. He was calling on the energy of the stars to rage through him and feed her need. He was with her, in this fight. She felt a sharp pull, a magnetic draw to him. She had to find him. To do so, she had to end this with Fox, and right now.

Her vision returned and Fox stood, bent over and breathing heavily. His chin down, his eyes up. “What in the world are you? A science experiment gone wrong?”

“Probably.”

He heaved and lowered his hands then glanced at his help. Useless. He grimaced. “Now, Rivkah. Calm down. We’re not going to hurt you. You’re on a starship and—”

She lunged forward and jabbed him in the face, glancing his nose. His head whipped back.

“The hell you weren’t going to hurt me.”

Fox wiped his nose with his thumb, then rubbed the blood off on his shirt. “You know what? I’ve about had it with you.” He unsheathed a knife from his belt and held it out in front of him.

“That’s going to backfire, Fox. I suggest you turn around and walk the other way.” She lowered her eyes, ready for the kill.

He lurched forward, thrusting with his knife.

Rivkah kicked low and away, avoiding the thrust, hitting him in the stomach and knocking the wind out of him. He dropped the knife and landed hard on the floor, gasping for breath.

She heard heavy boots coming. More soldiers. She went for one of the stun rifles and snagged it into her hands. She backed up and ran around a corner.

The footsteps pounded louder. Men shouted orders. They’d come upon Fox and his men. He’d point in the direction she went.

She waved Fox’s badge over a control panel next to a door. It opened, and she ducked inside. The door shut.

Outside the room, the elevator doors hissed open. More footsteps, more soldiers. She closed her eyes and let her mind race after the newcomers. She stopped on someone’s energy signature she knew well. He was a brute of a man; ambitious, bloody, not to be crossed.

Colonel Slade Roberson.

Fox paced the floor, hand on his shoulder radio communicator, barking orders. He let his finger off the device and curled his lips. “I’m done with her, Slade. No more experiments. I’m going to slit her throat if it’s the last thing I do.”

Slade crossed his arms. “You’re done with her? I asked you to keep her in her goddamn room. Under your watch she has escaped every freakin’ time.”

“You can’t keep a wild animal caged, Slade. You need to put them down.” He touched his forehead. “One between the eyes.”

Slade leaned in, eye to eye. He spoke slowly. “Listen to me and listen clearly. You lose her again, you lose your job. Understand?”

Fox flattened his lips and inhaled sharply. “Aye, Colonel.”

Slade leaned closer, lips next to Fox’s ears. “And, Fox. Shoot to kill. But, most importantly, keep her brain intact.”

Fox gave him an odd look, nodding.

Slade pulled away. “We can at least experiment on Rivkah’s pineal gland and whatever else Doctor Donny had on his clipboard before he died. I have another scientist studying Donny’s notes as we speak.”

Commotion came from down the hall and Fox pressed on his comm device. “What do we have?”

“Sir, we’re scouring the halls. We don’t have anything.”

He pressed the comm device again. “We have a new order. Shoot to kill, but aim for the chest. We leave her brain in one piece.”

Rivkah opened her eyes and slid into a cooling duct, disappearing from view. They might want her glands or whatever, but they were going to have to catch her first. And no one catches a ghost.

7 Starship Atlantis - M-Quadrant, Solar System

“Admiral Quarters is past the grand deck lobby and the President’s Suite.” Shaughnessy tipped his head to the side. “Follow me.”

Jaxx’s steel-tipped shoes echoed off the walls of the lobby’s alabaster marble. He slipped his shoes off and padded after Shaughnessy, hoping his sweaty footprints would evaporate as soon as they’d cleared the grand deck. Wouldn’t do to leave a trail. They snaked through swanky hallways and past Doric columns which held up plaster friezes of the ancient gods. Zeus reclined, in his usual way, on an insubstantial cloud; Poseidon stormed the churning waves with his trident at the ready; and Aphrodite graced their path with rose petals, limes, pomegranates, and sea shells. Someone had spent a lot of damned money making sure the corridors leading to the Presidential Suite looked suitably presidential.

“We’re here.” Shaughnessy perspired and looked more pasty than usual. The side of his neck pulsed in fast succession.

“How are you going to get us in?” said Jaxx.

Shaughnessy punched in a code. “I hacked his code the first hour on the ship.” He grinned, sweat dripping off his cheek. “I hacked the President’s, too.”

The door opened and slid upward. Stepping inside, the door closed behind them. “Why would you hack their codes?” said Jaxx.

Shaughnessy shrugged as they crept deeper into the Admiral’s Quarters. “Because I could.”

In front of them was a Lectern, something Jaxx had never seen before. It was round with computer chips, lenses, and lights sitting under a thick glass.

Jaxx rubbed his hands together and looked over his shoulder and at the door. Slade was on his way. He’d left Captain Fox to hunt Rivkah and headed towards them. “Hurry. Turn it on. Slade’s heading this way.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do. Now, speed it up.”

Shaughnessy nodded and put his hand under the table and the display lit up, a holographic image of a keyboard and folder icons projected above the table.

Jaxx looked over his shoulder again, pinching the ridge of his nose and squeezing his eyes tight. “I don’t know what I’m looking at.”

“Patience.”

“I don’t know if I have time for patience at the moment.” Jaxx’s heart picked up speed. He didn’t know how, but Slade felt closer.

Shaughnessy touched an icon. “We just pull up the terminal.” He typed something to the right of the command