Celestial Ascension (Splintered Galaxy Book 1)

by Eddie R. Hicks

  “And what of the corvette?” asked Phylarlie. “Has Captain Jerut’s ship contacted us?”

  “Still ignoring our hails,” said Zhinbryo as the view of the planet came back, this time above the northern hemisphere. “While you were away, Onatiasha dispatched a Linl tracker posing as a human. Data on his data pad listed Kroshka and a human traveling to a city in this region.”

  A hologram of Kroshka’s last known appearance and a human male with dark skin projected before Phylarlie. Hired human bodyguard? Well, if I find him, I should be able to find her.

  “My mind was scanning the area when I detected a psionic teleportation not long ago,” said Chidorli.

  "Humans do not have psionics,” Phylarlie commented.

  “Indeed,” said Zhinbryo.

  “The Radiance Union?” Phylarlie asked.

  “Can’t be—the only ships in range for teleportation are ours and the corvette,” Chidorli said. “Might be a site-to-site teleport. However, one needs to be extremely familiar with the layout of the planet to achieve that.”

  “Well, the Radiance have been visiting this world long before we have,” Phylarlie said. “If Jerut wanted to help you recon folks, I’m sure he would have made contact.”

  “In any case, we need to head down to the surface,” Zhinbryo said. “There’s a very strong chance Kroshka and Akeia are there.”

  “Where is Onatiasha?” Phylarlie asked.

  “She’s still below,” Chidorli replied. “Said something about sending a message.”

  Phylarlie smirked. “Good, I’ll handle things from here. Don’t need her abrasive attitude getting in the way.” She spun her weightless body toward the green-haired psionic. “Chidorli, if you will…”

  Chidorli’s cybernetics glowed blue as she closed her eyes and focused.

  ………

  “And you didn’t bang her?”

  “Fuck off,” Jazz promptly replied.

  Jazz sat with Paul in the Eaton Centre food court. It was densely packed and bustling with shoppers who were sitting down for a quick meal. Paul was a man in his late thirties, hair slowly turning from brown to gray. He wore sunglasses and an expensive watch, and laughed at Jazz for telling him to fuck off. “Seriously, man, you should have went for that.”

  Jazz finished his refreshing iced tea. “I’m not taking advantage of a dizzy hipster girl.”

  “Jake, how old are you, man—thirty-six? Time is running out. Fuck all the young girls while you can, before they write you off as an old man.”

  Jake—when was the last time someone called me that? “Anyway,” he said, changing the subject, “manager in six months?”

  “Totally, I trust you,” said Paul. “The only reason you won’t start in management right away is because I want you get some more experience behind the bar and with all the people.” Jazz nodded in agreement. “Tomorrow when you’re free, I’ll show you the new apartment I have set up for you.”

  The two got up, and Paul went to finish his errands. Jazz walked in the opposite direction, looking for the exit to the mall—too bad he’d forgotten which way it was.

  Lettielia gazed into a holographic display, which showcased information on the target she and Nodevar had been tracking. Her cloaking field extended to render the hologram invisible as well. As such, she wore goggles that superimposed the holographic display across their lenses.

  Assassin cloaking fields typically used both the power of psionics and advanced stealth technology to render the wearer undetectable. The cloaking pack was mounted to the assassin suit—when activated, a field projected imagery from the surrounding area over the user. Technically Hashmedai ships and ground forces could use the stealth systems, but as handy as this was, there were limitations—the biggest being that a pair of good eyes could see a distortion field around the cloaked target, and scanning devices, too, could pick up the presence of a cloaked target.

  With the aid of psionic power and assassin cybernetic implants, however, the distortion field could be manipulated to be less visible and in some cases not appear at all to give the user true invisibility. Scanners could have their signals reflected back, and sounds could be muted by using psionics to neutralize vibrations in the surrounding environment.

  The two had followed a dark-skinned human to a gathering place of some sort, a human marketplace. They believed this human to be the one who sent the image of Kroshka to the human female Lettielia was keeping an eye on earlier. After getting close enough, Lettielia was able to remotely read his commutation device and confirm what they suspected—it was the same device that sent the image.

  Mute mode was active on both of their suits, causing their psionic gift to suppress all noise they made, including speech. Communication between the two had to be made via their communicating implants.

  “He’s the one, one hundred percent,” Lettielia said.

  Nodevar watched as he walked away. “Any ideas on getting him to lead us to her? Following him won’t be wise.”

  “Why not?” she asked.

  “We don’t even know if he’ll lead us to her anytime soon. That Radiance Union ship will arrive soon.” He moved farther up, keeping an eye on the human. “She needs to be taken care of by then.”

  “Let’s take him aboard our ship and transfer his memories to the computer,” she suggested.

  The human was moving out of visual range, so the two moved up slowly while trying to avoid running into the many humans walking around. Humans discovering the presence of invisible aliens would only complicate matters. “Perhaps,” Nodevar then replied, “but that device wasn’t made with a primitive human brain in mind—it might kill him.”

  “We only need him alive to find Kroshka. He’s useless afterward.” She looked at the back of his bald head. “What’s up in there is where we’ll find her last known location.”

  Phylarlie was surprised to discover the presence of not one but two assassins, thanks to her thermal glasses. Neither had a level-two cloak active, which would have masked their presence to thermal detection. Perhaps trying to save power…or just cocky.

  She quickly moved up behind them as they stalked their target, the same bald human with dark skin from the earlier hologram. He’s pretty sexy for a human, she thought, biting her lip. The assassins’ mouths were moving, clearly talking, but nothing could be heard. They must have a mute wave active. Well, that explains the usage of a level-one cloak—trying to conserve battery power.

  She noticed the duo didn’t stand too close together, which meant their mute wave extended to their bodies only. Therefore, they must be using their communication implants to transmit to each other, despite being within hearing range. Those could be hacked, quite easily in fact, if not encrypted. As she recalled, this was the first lesson learned from training—eavesdropping unencrypted communications.

  She activated her comm implants. With the aid of her psionics, her mind detected the presence of the channel they were using. No encryption—she gained access and listened in.

  We only need him alive to find Kroshka. He’s useless afterward…what’s up in there is where we’ll find her last known location.

  The day had just gotten interesting.

  Lettielia’s hands held a tiny bronze disk, a stun disk. Her nimble, invisible, silent steps moved her closer to the human target.

  “Call for Whigli. I will stun and hold him in place while we all transport back up,” she requested.

  “Ensure that he’s stunned.” Nodevar took notice of the humans all around them in the mall. “If Whigli comes down, he will be seen by everyone. People, including our target, will run.”

  Lettielia smiled at that thought. “Good, it’s been awhile since I gave a man a good chase.”

  Nodevar sighed. “Let’s not make this harder than it needs to be. Stun him, and I’ll summon Whigli.”

  Phylarlie had heard enough of the duo’s chatter and plan. Kroshka is my contact! She placed her body behind the male assassin while arming herself with a stun
disk of her own. If the assassin is stunned, he won’t be able to call Whigli, probably their shipboard psi, she reasoned.

  She’d need to put him out for a long time, and four more tiny disks found themselves into her hands from her tool belt. With five disks, that should hit him with a shock powerful enough to put him out for a few minutes. Her gaze focused on the female assassin. She only has one disk ready, probably thinking she doesn’t need more. She’ll most likely be alerted to her partner taking a nap, along with all the humans here, as his cloak will overload and shut down.

  The final parts to Phylarlie’s plan rendered in her mind. With her distracted by the unexpected change of events, I’ll grab the stunned human and jump port to the rooftop of this place. After that, it’s improvise time.

  Time to move.

  Lettielia carried out her plan, swiftly sticking the disk to Jazz's back. Seconds later his body fell to the ground, shaking. Phylarlie did a similar thing, placing the five disks on Nodevar's back, and using her psionics, she activated them. Just as predicted, a powerful shock sent him to the ground, overloading his cloaking field.

  Humans in the area screamed and panicked at the sight of a Hashmedai assassin who appeared out of nowhere only to fall to the ground and twitch. Phylarlie leaped toward the downed human and attempted to jump away. There was only one problem—her cloak needed to be shut down or it would overload her suit’s battery pack. If she wasn’t going to be carrying extra weight, namely the human, this could have been possible—she forgot about that part.

  More panic and chaos echoed throughout the hallway as humans took note of Phylarlie’s presence coming into view. Lettielia now had her plasma charge daggers primed and glowing green. Fortunate for Phylarlie—or anyone who’s encountered a Hashmedai assassin—the daggers drew power from an assassin’s suit. The cloak couldn’t be used in this state, as it would overload the battery.

  Lettielia swung her blades toward Phylarlie, and her agile body leaped away to even the playing field. Her own pair of plasma daggers was firmly gripped within her hands, pointed forward, and glowing toward her new opponent.

  A rapid secession of lunges and sparring ensued, as the femme fatale duo engaged in a style of combat no human had ever witnessed. At the peak of their dagger play, Phylarlie raised her leg to deliver a powerful kick aimed at the side of Lettielia's blue-haired head. Seconds before her foot connected, Lettielia jump-ported backward. In a blink of an eye, blue light teleported her ten meters away.

  Jazz regained control of his body as a blue flash of light produced a woman in a black suit and with blue hair materializing behind him. He wasn’t quite sure what had happened, but he heard people screaming and the clattering sound of shoes running away. He quickly got up to see a man with blue skin and dressed in black lying on the ground behind him. Another woman with a lighter tone of blue skin turned to face him.

  “Run. I’ll hold her off.” Her accent was the same as Kroshka’s.

  Wait, hold up. Blue skin? The fuck? “Hold who off?” he asked.

  His answer came as he looked at the woman who had appeared behind him seconds before. The woman with blue hair stared straight at him with her burning-red eyes, green glowing daggers in each hand.

  No gun, no vest, no point on hanging around—his athletic legs did exactly what the strange woman requested of him. He ran. He knew damn well she was chasing, as indicated by the sound of her boots slamming into the ground behind him. He turned to see how far away she was—still a few meters apart. There’s no way she’ll catch up—

  In an instant, a flash of blue light appeared, transporting her a mere meter behind him and still running.

  “What the fuck is this shit?” he shouted.

  A second flash appeared. It was Phylarlie. Wasting no time, she leaped and tackled Lettielia, their bodies crashing to the floor. One last look at the two revealed the blue-skinned woman raising her hand in the air, razor-sharp nails extending out from her fingers.

  Jazz turned his face forward and entered the back hallway used by the mall staff. With all the chaos going on and people recording the action with their phones, nobody noticed him run in to take cover. Several minutes had passed as Jazz continued to make his escape via the back hallways of the Eaton Centre. He ran past a few maintenance workers, who were shocked to see him pushing them out of the way. Their shock transformed into horror as Lettielia appeared in a flash of blue light. He looked behind after hearing someone yell, “Oh my God.”

  It was her. She had caught up.

  From farther behind, he heard a man yell, “Police! Everyone get down!”

  It was quite possibly the one and only time Jazz was delighted to hear cops behind him.

  Lettielia momentarily stopped her pursuit to deal with the new threat behind her. The cops directed their pistols toward her as she teleported behind one officer and placed an object on his back that sent his body flying down the hallway like a rag doll. Immediately after that, one of her daggers pierced through the back of the head of the second cop. His lifeless body fell, spilling liters of blood on the floor.

  The body of the cop came flying toward Jazz before losing speed, hitting the floor, and violently rolling toward him. The officer’s gun, which had left his hands, spun over to Jazz’s feet. Stopping to watch was probably a bad idea, he thought as the woman yanked her weapon out from the head of the second cop while making direct eye contact with Jazz.

  Without a second thought, he picked up the gun, a Glock 22, and pointed at her—well, where she was to be more exact. She was now right behind him.

  “Oh, fuck me.” He said.

  He waited for something unpleasant to happen to him, but the sound of her collapsing to the floor was all he heard next. He turned around. Phylarlie stood behind him, and Lettielia was knocked out. Without warning, Phylarlie embraced him, and blue light consumed the sights around him.

  The blue light vanished, and Jazz and the woman were suddenly looking at the Toronto skyline. They were on top of the Eaton Centre. The sound of police sirens could be heard off to the distance. The woman began to speak but not to Jazz. She was communicating with someone else through some kind of radio transmission and in a language he didn’t understand. She paused, then spoke again, definitely talking to someone else.

  She directed her red-orange eyes toward Jazz when suddenly that same blue flash appeared…along with Lettielia. Jazz took cover behind a rooftop exhaust fan, while Phylarlie pulled out her glowing daggers and ran toward her adversary.

  The popping noise of Jazz’s pistol echoed as multiple shots were fired into the chest of Lettielia, but every shot bounced off.

  “Let’s see you deflect this,” he said, his aim adjusted toward her head.

  He fired, but she vanished and then reappeared behind him like before. Phylarlie did the same, prompting Lettielia to vanish again. A blue streak of light pushed forward, and out from that came Lettielia. Jazz fired another shot with the same result—the woman became blue light, reappearing on the other side of the rooftop. A light show of repeated blue streaks ensued as the two women attempted to get the drop on each other.

  Jazz lost track as to who was who—too much teleporting around. All he was able to make out was a flurry of green thrusts, slashes, back flips, and fancy footwork that looked humanly impossible. How the fuck do they move so fast?

  Lettielia quickly ducked and swept her leg cross the ground, tripping Phylarlie over. Before she fell on her back, she vanished into blue light and reappeared on top of a rooftop air vent.

  Phylarlie’s body materialized onto a primitive human air vent. She considered her options, given the situation. It’s only a matter of time before the human law enforcers below make their way up here. This assassin was significantly more experienced than she was, despite Phylarlie getting the drop on her twice. What part of “I need evac” does she not understand? Whatever Chidorli is doing, she needs to hurry up.

  Phylarlie's opponent spoke. “You have a lot to learn, little one.”
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  Lettielia jump-ported beside her, lunging with a dagger in each hand and hitting Phylarlie. Phylarlie’s light armor protected her from that stab, but the heat from the plasma did some damage. Blue light from Phylarlie’s jump placed her ten meters away. Her assailant, however, remained behind, delivering a firm direct thrust to Phylarlie’s back. Phylarlie’s suit reacted, transferring all power to prevent the dagger from penetrating. Jump-porting away wasn’t possible now—the suit was tasked to maximum load capacity.

  Phylarlie’s body spun rapidly, creating a cyclone of slashes. Nothing connected, but that was OK, as Lettielia jump-ported forward in front of Phylarlie. Two loud bangs were heard. It was Jazz, firing his projectile weapon at Lettielia, one shot grazing the side of her head. Lettielia's attention was drawn away from the struggle as she quickly touched the area of her that took the hit—there was blood. Her surprise turned to fury at the human.

  Phylarlie’s cybernetic implants received notification of her suit’s current status—jump-port abilities were back online. A well-placed kinetic disk landed on Lettielia's back as Phylarlie hastily teleported behind her. Her psionic mind commanded the disk to activate, launching the assassin in the air. Before the woman could react, Phylarlie jump-ported in the air just above her, reached out, and carefully placed another kinetic disk on her. Setting it off forced Lettielia’s body to come crashing to the ground. She stopped moving shortly afterward.

  The sound of humans screaming and running made Nodevar’s headache worse. He stood next to two dead humans, who were facedown in a pool of blood, they were the law enforcement type as he recalled. The two humans had weapons and had approached him as he was recovering from the multiple stun disk shock. In a fit of fury, he jump-ported behind them and slit their throats.

  He stood, trying to establish communication with Lettielia but got no reply. Activating his holographic display, he homed in on her location—on top of this building—and her vital signs. She’s injured. He immediately jumped to her location.