by David Beers
Prometheus Ascends
The Great Insurrection™ Book Six
David Beers
Michael Anderle
This book is a work of fiction.
All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
Copyright © 2021 LMBPN Publishing
Cover Art by Jake @ J Caleb Design
http://jcalebdesign.com / [email protected]
Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing
A Michael Anderle Production
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LMBPN Publishing
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Version 1.00 September, 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-1-64971-737-5
Print ISBN: 978-1-64971-738-2
Contents
The Written History of the Great Insurrection
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
The Written History of the Great Insurrection
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
The Written History of the Great Insurrection
Author Notes - David Beers
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
Also by David Beers
Books By Michael Anderle
Connect with The Authors
The Prometheus Ascends Team
Thanks to our Beta Readers
Kelly O’Donnell, John Ashmore
Thanks to our JIT Readers
Dave Hicks
Peter Manis
Dorothy Lloyd
Diane L. Smith
Jeff Goode
Rachel Beckford
Jackey Hankard-Brodie
Angel LaVey
Editor
SkyHunter Editing Team
Dedication
For my brother, Danny.
— David
To Family, Friends and
Those Who Love
to Read.
May We All Enjoy Grace
to Live the Life We Are
Called.
— Michael
The Written History of the Great Insurrection
Prometheus' legend continued to grow. It was perhaps the greatest blessing and greatest curse.
Warlords wouldn't come after us anymore; they'd learned that their powers could never match his. No matter how large their army or how advanced their tech was, they'd fail.
A faint line was starting to show up, though, and one thing about Prometheus was he didn't need to be taught a lesson twice. He wouldn't take his eyes away from our goal ever again; nothing would distract him from getting back to Earth and overthrowing the Commonwealth. His obsession returned, but this time, nothing could pull him away from it.
He was the first one to understand the line, and he was the one who told us it would darken—the starkness of one side compared to the other.
The Commonwealth against us.
Prometheus' victories spread across ships, planets, space stations, and galaxies. His reason spread, too. It couldn't have been helped, even if we'd wanted to.
People had to pick a side as we started back. Planets we came across or dreadnoughts we passed in the darkness of space—for better or worse, we were a target.
A target to hitch your ship to.
Or a target to hit with your weapons.
The closer we moved to the stargate that would take us to the Milky Way, the larger that target grew.
Prometheus saw it before we did, and soon, we couldn't help but see it too. We had grown too large and too strong to move unnoticed. The Commonwealth's spies no longer needed to work the back channels to find out what he was doing.
The line was being drawn. You were for us or against us.
The only thing we couldn't track was the AllSeer's movements. We'd neither heard nor seen anything from him, not since Prometheus had laid his general low. If he was chasing us, he was too far away for even Pro to see it.
Prometheus showed us the line, with us on one side and the Commonwealth on the other. What none of us saw, including him, was the noose being tightened around his neck.
Chapter One
Caius de Gracilis thought the Imperial Ascendant's last move had been masterful. With a single sentence, he'd upset a game that had been moving against him without his knowing it.
Alexander de Finita had called Caius to the throne room, then he'd asked him a simple question.
"Would you support the marriage of your grandson and Kane's wife?"
Caius was careful to show nothing on his face but said, "I don't mean to question your wisdom, my liege, but would that be a wise choice? Would it not…anger the Titan even more?"
"Former Titan, Caius," the Ascendant said from his throne.
"Of course, my liege. Former Titan. Would it anger him more? Is provoking him something we should do?"
"I don't think of it as provoking him, Caius. I think of it as ripping his heart out. How many trillions of kilometers away is he now? By all accounts, he's moving toward the stargate and will be coming back to our galaxy."
Caius looked at his feet for a second, trying to make a decision about something he hadn't seen coming.
"Is there some other reason you don't like the planned marriage?" the Ascendant asked.
Caius shook his head and raised his eyes to Alexander's. "No. You might be right. It might weaken Kane, and I give my full support to anything that will do that."
A masterful stroke. Caius was still impressed two days later.
He and Hector had gone a few thousand kilometers from the Imperial Residence. Caius wanted to spend a few hours out there before heading back. They were hiking through red mountains and canyons, rocks that had been there for millions of years and would be for millions more.
Caius' normal long robe had been shortened and the sleeves removed so he could walk in the tremendous heat without keeling over. He had the StealthBlanket in his robe's pocket. The Ascendant would know they'd made this trip—at such a crucial time—and though they were far away, Caius was prepared for the potential of Alexander listening in.
They'd mostly been silent on their ride here, discussing little more than the weather. Of course, Caius understood that Ascendant understood why he'd taken this trip, but it was necessary.
Because Hector wouldn't be leaving Earth any time soon.
Now, with the transport two kilometers behind them, grandfather and grandson walked over the ancient rocks, taking in the views all around them.
"He’s pushing you into a realm you’re not prepared for, Hector.” The older man went
to the cliff’s edge and looked down at the long fall beneath him. “It’s one your father would have been able to maneuver even better than me, just as you’re a finer warrior than me, but to put you here? It shows the Ascendant is more clever than I gave him credit for, and that’s my fault.” He was mostly talking to himself, but he looked over his shoulder at the hulking mutant behind him. “You’ll be staying on Earth while I go back to Mars to prepare for war.”
“Why wouldn’t the bride and I go back?” Hector asked.
Caius smiled somewhat sadly. He’d planned for so long, and he’d thought this war would be the time his family would take charge. However, now the warrior had to become the politico, and there wasn’t enough time to train him. “Luna Kane will never be let out of the Ascendant’s custody. She is his trump card since as long as he holds her, the husband must take that into account.”
The old man turned to look at the old rock. It would outlast them all, remaining until the sun exploded. In some ways, he saw it as a metaphor for the Commonwealth. The government—the bedrock on which society was built—had outlasted generations of men. Was this Titan the supernova that would destroy it?
“I understand,” his grandson said after a few moments.
Of course he understood. He wasn’t an imbecile, just untrained in such matters.
“The Ascendant is right, though…or he could be. This might enrage the Titan, or it might break his heart. If it enrages him, our plan is still in play. You’ll be needed on the battlefield worse than ever.”
“If it breaks him?”
Caius shrugged. “Then our family doesn’t deserve to rule, Hector, since the Ascendant was smarter. For all our games, it’s the Commonwealth that truly matters—who is the most fit to rule it. If he’s more fit than we are, so be it.” He paused for a second. “You’ve met the lady, yes?”
“Yes,” the giant responded.
“What do you think of her?”
Hector was quiet for some time. Caius was patient with his grandson; it wasn’t his fault he couldn’t comment on things of this nature immediately. Caius didn’t know if he’d ever had a woman in his bed, let alone be able to navigate this coming marriage.
Hector walked to the very edge of the cliff, then agilely took a seat. His legs dangled.
“She’ll never love me. I think she may hate me because she sees me as an extension of the Ascendant. She’ll never bend the knee, not when weapons are drawn.”
Caius was staring at his grandson, shocked to hear such words coming from him.
Hector didn’t look up. “She knows the political games. She may even be a genius with them. Everything she does is perfect, and no one can fault her for a single word. I’ve seen men like her, though. Men who are entirely committed to their revolutionary leader, but when captured, they will act like they’re your servant. When the leader rushes to the door because the enemy has come, that servant will stab you in the back. That’s who this woman is.”
“How do you know?” Caius asked.
Hector picked up a pebble at his side and tossed it up. His left hand snatched it out of the air like a viper, then, in a fluid motion, launched it off the cliff. “It’s in her eyes. If the Ascendant doesn’t see it, then he’s a fool. She’ll kill me the moment she gets a chance, and if I try to bed her, she might kill me before she can try to do it in secret. The woman loves that Titan, and whatever reasons she has to be here, they eventually will serve him.”
Caius looked up, his eyes wide. It was rare that Caius misjudged something this late in life, but he’d done it twice recently—once with the Ascendant and now with his grandson’s perceptions. “Have you told any of this to Alexander?”
Hector’s head whipped upward, confusion on his face. “To the Imperial Ascendant? Of course not. I’ve told no one but you.”
Caius chuckled, then bent and patted his grandson’s shoulder. “You’re a good man. Marry her and keep that knowledge in your own head for now. Let me think about it some. Remember, our primary goal is to shepherd the Commonwealth past this threat, but the secondary goal is to see who is stronger, de Finita or us.”
“Should I bed her?”
The old man frowned in thought. “Will she do it willingly?”
“I don’t think so. She loves her husband, and she’d die before that.”
Caius shook his head. “We’re not rapists. If she won’t go to bed with you, then you do your best to shield that from the Ascendant. If he does find out, we’ll deal with it then. The Commonwealth may have dishonorable aspects, but we won’t win it by losing ourselves to dishonor.”
Grandfather and grandson stared into the valley before them, the sun dying behind them.
The wedding was a week away.
The wedding had been a beautiful affair so far, and now the nuptials would take place.
Alexander de Finita, second of his name, Imperial Ascendant of the Commonwealth, sat behind the bride and groom while the guests were in front. His throne put him a half-meter above them as he presided over the most holy of unions.
His robe was deep purple, the only color other than white for the entire wedding. The flowers that decorated the courtyard had been replanted for this occasion, all the purple color of his robe. Only white and purple were allowed, including the clothing of the guests.
Alexander had planned this down to the exact details, including what he would say next.
He’d reverted to extremely old doctrine that allowed the woman’s father to give her away. Even that had a reason, though. Luna’s father? He was just glad to be able to see his daughter again, and Alexander had sat down with the man for a few hours.
In the end, the father wasn’t much different from anyone else vying for power. Of course, he had no idea about Kane still being alive or Luna knowing it. He and the bride would keep that from her father.
The questions came next, and Alexander stood. He didn’t step down from the throne, remaining above everyone in the small ceremony.
“Do you take this woman to be your wife?”
“I do,” the killer giant said.
“And you, Luna, do you take this man to be your husband?”
“I do.” Her voice was little more than a whisper, and her face showed no emotion.
“As the Imperial Ascendant of the Commonwealth, which endows me with all the privileges and responsibilities of said title, I pronounce you husband and wife. May love guide you through the rest of your lives.” He looked directly forward, staring into a camera that only a select few knew was filming. “You may kiss your bride, Hector.”
Luna remembered her first wedding.
Or rather, she remembered blurs from her first wedding. Everything had come and gone so fast. There were so many people to see, so many people to thank, that it made it impossible to remember everything. Not to mention that alcohol had flowed freely. Her father had been more than happy to pay for it all, and Luna had been more than happy to partake.
It’d been one of the happiest evenings of her life. Allie in his Titan’s uniform, looking beyond handsome.
For this second wedding, Luna remembered everything. She didn’t partake of any alcohol, and there was no one to see. No one to thank. She knew she was doing an awful job of keeping up appearances, but she was hardly able to make herself smile.
The kiss, when the giant man named Hector had taken her in his arms, had been dead. There was no emotion, no lust… Nothing.
As the reception was winding down, the guests getting ready to depart, Luna slid a steak knife into her dress’s long sleeves. She had made it as far as she could, but she was at her wits’ end. She knew she couldn’t sleep with another man and meet Allie again, look him in the eye.
He would forgive her, of course, given the circumstances.
She wouldn’t forgive herself, however. She’d rather die than enter another’s bed, and that was what she planned on doing tonight.
Luna knew she couldn’t kill this monster. He dwarfed Alistair. He dwarfed any man
that she’d ever seen, even any mutant. He was big in the way that galaxies were big. Luna could no more kill him than she could throw the moon into the sun. However, the knife now in her sleeve wouldn’t be used to cut bread. She would try her best to murder him the moment he placed a hand on her, and then she would die.
Luna kept her face stiff throughout the wedding, even at the end, when her parents came to hug and kiss her goodnight. They would be staying the evening in the Imperial Residence. They’d been quite impressed with the Ascendant’s presentation.
Her father had asked her only once if this was too fast.
Luna knew the Ascendant was listening, so with her back toward her father, she told him she loved this new man.
As they prepared to make their way to the matrimonial suite, Luna hugged her mother and kissed her cheek. Her father took her in his arms next and she squeezed him tight, having to close her eyes to keep the tears from flowing down her face.
“I love you, Dad.”
He pulled back, likely hearing the pain in her voice. His arms circled her shoulders lightly. “You okay, dear?”