“In the computers, Craig. It’s a frequency emitting –”
“Slade, I didn’t become President because I’m an idiot. I can smell a lie a mile away.” Craig moved his gaze to Andrea. “What are you testing?” He threw a fist in his hand.
Andrea looked at Slade.
Slade cleared his throat. “You’re dismissed, doctor.”
She dipped her head and backed out of the room, purposely inspecting her holographic pad instead of Craig.
Craig went to stop her, most likely to show her who was in charge and that it wasn’t Slade. Instead, Craig smacked his hands together. “Do not usurp my authority again. You don’t run this ship. I do. No experiments of any kind, Colonel, shall go on without my knowledge or consent from this point forward. That was one of our agreements in the beginning and if you go against that agreement again, I’ll have your balls in a bear trap. Understand?” He widened his stance, chest out – an effective technique to intimidate a politician. Sometimes it worked on high military personnel as well. Only sometimes. They were used to being bullied, so many of them – especially high-ranking officers – stood their ground.
Slade chuckled. “At ease, President.” He grabbed a towel off a chair and dried himself off. “You see, Craig, we don’t have time to talk over everything on my mind or everything I want to...uh...figure out. We are almost to Callisto.”
Craig bit his lip and pointed at the open entryway into the lab. “You realize you and I are not the only ones who know about the pseudo attack that we’re directing with the Secret Space Program.”
Slade sighed, pretending not to know what he watched only an hour ago. He was going to deal with it his way, not Craig’s. “Okay, what’s the drama now?”
“They’ve caught wind...the entire government on this ship...and I don’t know how.”
Slade dropped the towel, his arms flexing, veins popping out of his neck, again, doing his best academy award winning act. “They know about the impending attack? They don’t know we’re using it as a ruse, as a false flag event, I assume. But you wait how long to tell me? Fucking lecture me about experiments…”
Craig handed Slade a piece of paper, the same paper that Ken handed to the woman in the auxiliary engine room. “This somehow landed on my desk. We have a mutiny on our hands.”
Slade read the letter and walked to the window across from the room. “We’re slowing down?” He already knew.
“Yes.”
“Fuck that barrel of monkeys.” He didn’t think he’d do this so soon, but Craig was in the know, so he pressed a button on the wall, buzzing the onsite Private First Class through the comm line. “Get Senator Ken Furr here, now!”
11
Leonia, Canis Major ~ Galactic Arm, Milky Way Galaxy
“We’re going all out to get these monsters where it hurts. They won’t understand what hit them. What comes next is unknown. We win? We lose? We can’t say. All we can say is we do battle against the Agadon with our all. Sync up!” said Zara.
Jaxx was inside a combat-mech. It had several blasters on its forearms, dozens of missile launchers on its chest, pulse lasers mounted on its shoulders, and a giant sword holstered to its back, the hilt sticking up above the mech’s head. The cockpit – inside the combat-mech’s lion’s head – had a large window that wrapped from the front to the sides of the combat-mech’s face.
“Jaxx, you’re the only one not syncing up. We can’t leave until all units are linked together through our nexus,” explained Zara.
“How?”
“Behind you is a Kepi, a hair harness. Put it on.”
Jaxx twisted in his seat, eyeing something sticky. It looked like a jelly fish stuck to the wall. “The slimy thing?”
“It’s not slimy, Jaxx. Put it on.”
“I guess this is something I didn’t learn about in my ten-minute training.” He rolled his eyes. How would ten minutes give him everything he would need to know about combat, let alone driving one of these massive machines? Still, he couldn’t not do his duty. He’d brought this hell down upon them. The least he could do was to slap a jellyfish on his head.
Jaxx unclasped the helmet from the bulkhead panel. A gold wire of some-sort was attached to it and rolled out like a hose when Jaxx put the helmet over his head.
A shock of electricity bolted down his brain, through the central nervous system, connecting to every synapse he knew he had and many more he thought were non-existent. He stiffened and a dynamic blue vortex encompassed his vision. He lifted his chin. He unconsciously sucked in a gulp of air. He spasmed as a charge went into his sacrum. A moment later, everything settled and his vision normalized.
“Your Kepi connects with your hair. Your hair is an antenna to your psyche, your mind, and your heart. Your mech is now synced up with you and you with us. The rest I do not need to repeat, as you have learned all you need to know in your training download.”
Jaxx checked over his combat-mech stabilization screen. Everything checked out fine. He pressed back and forth on his gyro lever and his mech bent at the knees and then straightened. He smirked. The power was like nothing he’d felt before. Screw being an archeologist, he was a warrior.
The gyros were online, balancing his hips and torso and were well oiled. He checked his instrument panel and flinched. The display readings extended outward, then slowly poured through his eyes and into his brain. His mind erupted in images, gauges, and numbers in his language, everything telling him that he was good to go: heat syncs on-line and stable, weapons fully charged, missile batteries fully loaded, and the Ashanti sword – medium-width sword at the hilt and three times as wide from mid-sword to the tip – was sharpened and magnetized to his combat-mech’s back. And gyro-joints were at full strength.
He leaned back and flicked on the mech’s engines. A thunderous roar zipped through his cockpit, then quieted, purring like a cat.
“Defensive assault ready to commence,” said Zara.
The ceiling cracked in two, opening slowly. Dirt and brush fell into the underground facility like sand into an hour glass. The two-suns shone above, lighting everything, including Jaxx. Wouldn’t this give away their position?
Several Agadon starfighters flew overhead, their heavy rocket boosters spat out blue fire.
Jaxx’s console told him the Starfighters flew at thousands of miles per hour. It was a wonder he could see them at all. Must be the mech-tech at work.
Jaxx tapped some buttons on the console, bringing up an Agadon starfighter blueprint. A holographic image of a starfighter popped up and spun in front of him. The craft had long wings that curved ninety-degrees halfway and jutted forward several feet past the craft’s nose.
“Commence!” yelled Zara.
Each Leonian combat-mech crouched, then jumped, igniting their boosters, blasting out of the opening.
Jaxx pulled a lever toward him, putting his mech into a crouch, then released the lever and pressed his mech’s feet boosters at the same time, shooting him out of the underground facility. He lifted over the lip and landed on a wheat field, easily towering above it. He lunged back and vibrated violently as an energy cluster bombarded his position, nearly toppling him over the lip and back into the facility below.
He balanced himself and checked his diagnostics. The energy cluster had singed his mech’s legs, melting a thin layer of armor. Nothing catastrophic.
He took a step forward and halted, spinning his cannon barrels online, readying to step around a Leonian mech in front of him.
Instead, he shielded his eyes when a bright explosion ripped into the Leonian combat-mech, armor splayed everywhere, smashing against the field below.
The Leonian mech moved backward, absorbing the shock. A sizzling blue electricity spiraled from its crown to its heavily-armored boots. It lurched forward, the electricity becoming more intense, and in a flash, the Leonian mech raced across the battlefield, dodging intact huts, and unsheathed its sword. The more steps it took, the more of a blur the mech became.
> The Leonian mech slammed into an Agadon mech. The Agadon wavered as the Leonian dug its sword through the Agadon’s torso. Fire erupted and sparks shot out. Slabs of armor dropped to the ground. Puffs of smoke rose where each slab fell. The Leonian mech slashed upward, slicing through the Agadon mech’s chest, neck, and head, sparks and fire splashing against the Leonian mech, like blood.
The Agadon teetered but it was so compromised, the Leonian only needed to swat its palm onto the Agadon’s shoulder to push it over and onto its side. The Agadon’s metal crunched on the ground, and a secondary glow of fire burst toward the heavens.
An alert signaled in Jaxx’s cockpit. Adrenalin shot through him. He scanned his immediate environment, then took a second sweep a little further from his position.
An Agadon combat-mech landed a clip from him, pointed its arm in Jaxx’s direction and shot dozens of energy bursts.
Jaxx’s mech reeled back, its shoulder absorbing the shock. His cockpit shook and his torso twisted, while its hips and legs remained planted in place. He narrowed his eyes and a moment of confusion rushed over him. Who were these people, these Agadon? Why do they feel like they have the right to invade someone’s home and take it as their own? They were no worse than the Kelhoon.
He twisted back around.
The Agadon was running in his direction.
Jaxx lunged forward and went into a run himself.
The Agadon lifted his mech’s arm and a blaster popped up, throwing several energy blasts Jaxx’s way.
Jaxx side stepped and in the next moment, he lifted his mech’s arm and smacked a fist into the Agadon’s outstretched arm, then zipped two shoulder mounted laser beams into the enemy mech’s belly. Armor melted and fell, pelting the ground, running off the mech like hot butter.
The Agadon jumped back, its shoulder cannon’s twirled and recoiled, sending an avalanche of energy bolts at Jaxx.
Jaxx anticipated and ducked. He pressed a holographic weapon’s button on the console, demagnetizing his sword, letting it drop toward the ground. He brought his mech’s arm behind his back, catching the sword at its hilt, and swung it at the Agadon’s knees.
A waterfall of sparks shot out as the gyro joints failed, the sword cutting through, toppling the Agadon to its back. The ground shook on impact.
Jaxx crouched and jumped into the air, landing flat footed on the Agadon’s mechanized chest, caving the armor inward. A crunching sound reverberated through Jaxx’s mech’s legs and entered the cockpit. It was loud and painful to his ears.
He shifted his mech’s view screen from forward to holovid cams near his mech’s feet, seeing green fluids sludging out of the mech’s chassis, exposing gold and silver wires bundled and torn in half.
He switched holocam views and dug the tip of his sword into the mech’s neck, severing the head. A sea of flames exploded as wires, valves, and hydraulic dynamos split in two, charring the ground.
He picked up the head and held it in front of his cockpit, eying the dickhead enemy mech pilot, someone just like Slade or worse yet, like Fox and the Kelhoon slime that invaded Taiyo when Jaxx was in the Secret Space Program.
To his surprise, the Agadon was human-looking with wider eyes, gray-blue skin and no hair. He was hooked into the mech via several hoses and wires that dug into the top of his head. He looked taller and wider than the average human, his neck only a few inches in length.
The Agadon bared his teeth, screaming obscenities that Jaxx couldn’t hear.
The Agadon threw his fist in the air.
Jaxx dropped him, instinctively knowing what was coming next and jumped back. The head detonated and exploded into a thousand pieces, spinning Jaxx off his feet and landing him onto his mech’s hands and knees. His eyes widened when he saw a handful of Leonian warriors glaring up at him in the wheat field, their translucent shields up, covering themselves.
One dipped his head at Jaxx and waved his hand forward, ordering Jaxx and his team to follow him into battle.
Jaxx pushed off the ground, standing his mech upright just as an enemy starfighter zoomed across the sky and descended toward the troops Jaxx had almost crushed. The starfighter’s cannons lit up, strafing the ground, barreling in on the oncoming Leonian troops.
Jaxx adjusted his targeting. His mech’s chest wined as the missile casing in his mech’s chest opened. He pulled the trigger.
Whooooshka! Whooooshka!
His hip gyros acclimated to the missile’s push back. A second later, the starfighter went up in a ball of flames.
Jaxx ducked as another starfighter flew through the fireball, ions blasting out of its wings. He lifted his sword up, jabbing through the starfighter’s belly just as it flew overhead, and flung the starfighter across the field, lucky to hit another Agadon mech heading his way.
He stood, letting loose everything he had at the mech, blanketing its chest with blaster fire, laser cannon beams, and dozens of missiles.
Fire splintered outward from the opposing mech and Jaxx ran forward, lifted his sword over his shoulder and threw it at an immense speed, digging the tip into the Mech’s cockpit where it glided through to the other side, cutting the Agadon cockpit in half.
The mech went lifeless and fell over, steam puffing out of the mech in all directions.
Jaxx continued to race forward, dodging enemy fire until he reached his sword. He pulled it out of the enemy and swung it over his shoulder, magnetizing it to his back.
Jaxx took a breath and gathered himself. The battlefield – which only minutes before had been full of grain fields, huts, and barren land – were ablaze. Smoke billowed everywhere. Fallen Leonians carpeted the ground, along with enemy and friendly mechs. Those still standing were dodging and firing, puncturing through mech armor, evading starfighter strafing runs, and throwing everything they had at the enemy.
The ground rumbled and a large craft the size of a star carrier with a lion’s head at its bow lifted out of the ground on the horizon. In the sky, starfighter battle raged all around, pitting Leonian starfighters – thin craft with two small wings that lined both sides – against Agadon starfighters.
The heavens thundered.
The large Leonian star carrier rotated its turrets, targeting an inbound Agadon ship the size of a destroyer, sending purple energy bursts its way. The Agadon ship turned, exposing its side, just as the Leonian ship’s blasts tore through the Agadon’s starboard side. Fire spewed and the ship tilted and dipped, righting itself seconds later.
“Get to battle, peach-face!” demanded Zara over the com link.
“Right.” Jaxx spun around, seeing two Agadon mech’s with their backs to him a hundred yards away, fighting with a Leonian mech.
He pressed his mech forward and catapulted himself into the air. He pointed his feet toward the center of each one of the enemy mech’s backs and slammed his feet into their armor, fracturing one mech, pushing him face down into the ground.
His foot impacted the other mech, though only managing to push it aside.
A sword appeared out of nowhere and plunged into the Agadon mech’s heart. The Agadon lost power and fell to its knees. The Leonian mech pulled the sword out and dipped her head to Jaxx. “Thanks for the assist.” It was Zara. “Now, stay alive because if we can defeat these Agadon scum, we can help you fulfill the prophecy.”
“No pro –” His mech’s feet were swiped out from under him and his cockpit shivered as Jaxx’s mech landed on its back. An Agadon mech appeared over him and pointed a blaster cannon at his cockpit. The cannon’s barrel reddened and a sizzling hot energy charge expelled.
12
Edge of M-Quadrant, Nearing Jupiter ~ Starship Atlantis
“I’d do anything for Jaxx,” said Shaughnessy. “He told you that if Slade betrayed us, and according to you Slade has...” Shaughnessy looked at the senator for a moment, seeing if Ken was telling the truth. “Then Jaxx wants us to reroute the entire Secret Space Program and this starship back to Earth?”
“Yes, Jaxx and I
spoke before he escaped.” Ken was lying, that much Shaughnessy could tell. There was the lack of eye contact, the pupils dilating, his blinking when speaking. But what if he wasn’t lying, what if Jaxx really said this to Ken? Jaxx was his friend, pretty much his only friend. He’d give his left kidney without hesitation if the guy needed it.
“We want to reroute this starship to Earth. But send SSP’s fleet to Uranus,” said Ken. “However, we don’t know how to do it, how to hack into the SSP system, but we think you do.”
“Who is we?” Shaugnessy had a healthy distrust of all politicians. They only had to open their mouths to lie. He and Jaxx were agreed on that point.
Ken sat at his desk, hands folded in his lap. He swiped his finger over his desk and a holographic screen popped up. “Me and the rest of the government officials on Starship Atlantis.”
This was a little too much. He spent years working to make this mission to Callisto a reality. He wasn’t going to divert the entire mission just because some senator – namely Ken Furr – was getting homesick. Again, maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he was telling the truth. “I need proof that Slade betrayed us.”
“I suspected as much.” Ken typed something on his HDC and motioned for Shaughnessy to take a look. A recording of Kajka Akbak, the Kelhoon leader, and Slade materialized on the screen.
Shaughnessy almost fell over, pointing at the screen. Shock rocked his system. He couldn’t believe what he was looking at. “What is that?”
“It’s an extraterrestrial. A race known as the Kelhoon. If you ask me anything more about them, I won’t know.” Ken turned the volume up. “Listen.”
The screen shifted to Akbak. He sat straighter, and for an instant his head and thick neck moved back and forth like a snake. “Koojka navonja sinlanja.”
The camera switched to Slade. “You get the envoy here soon, and I’ll make sure it passes our security. It’ll arrive safely in one of Starship Atlantis’s lower decks. Eventually, your boys can feast on some of our people here, but the rest of the troops, scientists, and politicians are going to your factory farms.”
The Complete Atlantis Series, Books 1 - 5: Ascendant Saga Page 55