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

He leaned forward, quickly placing the crystal on her chest, right up against her sternum. A sharp sting pricked at her. She yelped, then relaxed as a calm vibration moved up her neck and into her brain.

“I wanted you to place the crystallo fabrica on your chest,” he said. “But as we have little time, I took the forward step and placed it for you. I hope you forgive my intrusion.”

She scooted backwards, surprised she understood him. At a safe distance, she stopped. “Wha… who… ?”

He smiled and touched his heart, pulling down his cloth to reveal his bare chest. The same type of crystal was attached to him. “A crystallo fabrica energetically connects into your heart and to the superior temporal gyrus of your brain—your communication area. There it rewires your synapses, allowing my communication to become your communication, and vice versa. As you can see, my voice is my voice, but my lips aren’t moving in sync with the words you hear.”

She touched her chest and pressed on the crystal. It gave her energy, vital life. She was just as afraid of keeping it on as she was of taking it off. No longer did she think he was a demon. She was immersed in peace, in calm. Maybe that’s what demons do, how they draw you in and take your soul—with trust.

She scrunched her face and pulled away. “Where am I?”

“You’re on my craft, Telu Ignis. I was able to save your life. Any later and you’d have died.” He spoke matter of factually, though with a tone of compassion.

“Who are you?”

He pounded his chest, one warrior to another. He stood straight, proud. “In my language, I am Stellam Matu, in service to the Law of One and to all Beings across the Galaxy. In your language, I am Grenik Star.”

She touched her chest, her palm against the crystal. “I’m—”

“I know who you are, Katherine Bogle. Welcome to Atlantis Alta. I’ll be taking you to my home city, Aurora Diluv. Or in your words, Flood of Dawn. We’ve been waiting a long time for you. You will guide Kaden Jaxx and the others home.”

12

M-Quadrant, Solar System - Starship Atlantis

Rivkah pulled the trigger twice. Two guards hit the floor, their arms and legs twitching like maniacs.

“Piece of shit rifle,” she said under her breath, wishing her weapon had a kill function.

She pulled the trigger again. “Idiots. Never learn, eh?” She downed another guard that ran into the room, trying to be the lone hero of the group. If they kept this up, the guards would pile up at the door, twitching out of commission, lying on top of each other and trapping her inside. She knew that would never happen, but the way these grunts were trained, anything was possible.

A rubber bullet ricocheted off a wall and to the floor, zinging past Rivkah. She ducked and rolled to another wall. Getting on one knee, she aimed her gun at the doorway. A misconception about rubber bullets were that they don’t kill. From Rivkah’s experience, they maintain a ship’s structure well without poking holes, and do kill at these current dialed up speeds.

A guard poked his gun through the entrance, his fingers were exposed.

Rivkah spoke in a whisper. “There you go. You’re learning. You don’t just run into the scene of a battle.” She felt the trigger against her finger and pulled.

“Agh!” the man dropped the gun and most likely writhed on the hallway floor outside.

A grunt’s heavy boots shook the floor behind her. Stunned how he snuck inside, she turned to see a soldier in a full out run. Weaponless, she quickly identified him as someone she’d sent to the floor in convulsions earlier, now semi-recovered. Earlier, she’d also bent his arm to the side, broken. His other arm dislocated. He attempted to bulrush her with his shoulder, pain racking his face from his previous run-in with her.

She jumped as he dove at her. His head skimmed the bottom of her feet as she pulled her knees toward her chest and grasped the rafter above. She pulled herself onto the cold metal with one hand, the rifle in her other. He stopped short of a wall and gazed up just as a shot of electric stun charges lit him up.

“I’m also a good aim, you prick,” said Rivkah.

He sunk to the floor, eyes closed, slobber dribbling out of his mouth.

She hopped onto a beam parallel with the top of the door frame and directed her rifle at the door, taking cautious, slow steps. Once directly above the door, she crouched, ready for more guards to burst through. If they were smart, they’d stand pat out of harm’s way and wait her out. Rivkah smiled. That wasn’t true. If they were smart, they’d be as far away from Rivkah as possible. The best bet? Back on Earth, on their couches, eating ice-cream while watching Firefly reruns.

And, as if on cue, a few dumb-asses ran inside, rifles in steady position—their rifle’s hand guards resting on the 'V' of their thumb and forefingers, the rifle butts firmly against their firing shoulders. Yes, they were trained to hold a weapon, but anyone could train a donkey to hold an apple in its mouth.

She jumped off the rafter, and elbowed a soldier in the chin. He fell into another guard and Rivkah pushed him forward, making sure he connected with his comrade. Shots rang out from inside the room and Rivkah bolted down the corridor, their shots barely missing her, rubber bullets cracking off the walls, denting the metal.

Across the way stood an open elevator beginning to close. Rivkah dashed toward the elevator and lunged forward. She managed to slip her wrist between the doors, and they opened in a hurry. She hurried inside and pressed deck four’s button. In most starships, the launch bay was located on that deck.

She leaned against the wall and eyed digitized deck numbers as