Celestial Ascension (Splintered Galaxy Book 1)

by Eddie R. Hicks

  Nodevar’s jump-port placed him up top and next to Lettielia as she lay on the ground. Her suit was still working, so her wounds were slowly healing. Lettielia awoke minutes later, gazing up toward him and smiling.

  “Did you have a relaxing nap?” she asked.

  His fangs released a hiss. “Do not start with me,” he demanded.

  ………

  Blinding blue light dissipated, and Jazz found himself in a cold room with little light. Oh, and he was floating. Looking forward, he noticed that all of North America could be seen from a window up front. So this is what an alien abduction is like, he thought.

  A woman with dark purple hair and orange glowing eyes floated before him. “Welcome aboard,” she said with her Russian-sounding accent. “Now explain to me why I shouldn’t put you out the airlock?”

  “Nice to meet you, too,” Jazz said in a sarcastic tone.

  “He’s with me, Onatiasha,” said the woman with blue skin.

  Onatiasha’s gaze locked onto her. “You did not tell me you were bringing someone aboard my ship.”

  The blue-skinned woman crossed her arms and said, “Actually this is my ship.”

  Onatiasha retorted back to her in their alien language. The blue woman fired back at her, causing an explosive exchange of anger-fueled words for a solid two minutes.

  Jazz had enough and said, “Anyone wanna take it from the top? Preferably in English.”

  “Phylarlie here insists you truly are human,” Onatiasha said. “If you turn out to be a Linl operative, I will end you myself.”

  “Charming,” Jazz said. “So like I said, take it from the top.”

  “As you may have figured by now, we are not human,” said Onatiasha, floating up to access a computer terminal. After viewing the information, she spoke in her native tongue to the large man sitting up front. Earth moved out of view from the window. She resumed speaking to Jazz in English. “I am Onatiasha Ladyknight, commander of this recon team.” She pointed to the man up front in the chair. “This is my second-in-command, Zhinbryo Braver. You’ve already met Phylarlie Starchaser, a member of the Assassins’ Guild.” Finally she turned to the green-haired woman with the small machine parts on her body. “And this is Chidorli Clamingwind, shipboard psionic.”

  Jazz lightly chuckled. “Ladyknight, Starchaser…as odd as your surnames are, it’s the only part I can pronounce.”

  Phylarlie spoke. “Surnames?”

  “We don’t have surnames,” Onatiasha said. “These are titles given to us when we achieve something great in our adult life.”

  “My people call me Jake—Jake Johnson,” he said. “Just call me Jazz, though.”

  “You have two names?” asked Phylarlie.

  “Jazz is a nickname.”

  “Nickname? Explain,” Phylarlie said with a smile. “I joined this expedition late, I know your language and that’s it.”

  “Well it’s…ah, hell, I’ll do it later.” He spun to face Onatiasha. “I’m sure y’all got some important stuff to talk about.”

  Onatiasha nodded as a holographic picture of Kroshka loaded in front of her. “Well, then…Jazz, time to prove your usefulness. Tell us where to find this woman.”

  Suddenly the awkwardness of Kroshka came together, making sense in a very surreal way.

  ………

  Whigli shook his head in disagreement, floating in the zero-g environment of the ship Jerut had taken control of. “They will be out of range,” said Whigli.

  “I understand,” said Nodevar over speakers.

  “The recon team ship is moving away, probably because they know at this point we could easily attack, board them, and take that human for ourselves,” said Whigli.

  “So that’s why we can’t chase,” said Jerut. “I have Himton’s codes. We need to take control of the command ship before they detect the Radiance battleship.”

  “So we’re stuck here until you come back in range?” asked Lettielia via speakers.

  “One of my associates was tracking Kroshka and Akeia. However, he hasn’t reported in, most likely dead at the hands of the recon team. Find his data crystal or data pad, and it should lead you to Akeia’s last known location,” said Jerut. “You’ll be on your own after that, until we return.”

  “As you wish,” Nodevar said. “Come get us when you are ready Whigli.”

  The transmission came to an end, and Whigli closed his eyes to focus on the teleport.

  “Come back quickly,” Jerut ordered. “We need to move out now.”

  Chapter 5

  Crew quarters onboard the Radiance cruiser was located deep within the center of the ship, just past the cryo stasis chambers. The hallway leading to them ended with five different passages, one each for the five races of the union. Since all five races came from different worlds, it was decided that quarters be kept in different sections of the ship, so each had a separate environment similar to its home world. Overall the ship was built to suit the needs of the Aryile race, so it was only fair that each of the other races had that one place onboard where they could feel at home.

  The Aryile came from a tropical garden world, so temperatures were warm. Lighting was bright, and the air had a lot of moisture to it. Of course, extreme warm moisture was restricted to their quarters. Rabuabin, Vorcambreum, and Linl would have complained about having to deal with those conditions on top of the already bright lights and warmer temps of the ship.

  The Javnis came from a world covered almost entirely with a massive swamp. As with the Aryile, their quarters were very moist and humid.

  Rabuabin spent their planet-dwelling years living in a network of caves within the rocky and mountainous parts of their home world. As such, their quarters were quite cool, made of rock. When constructing it, the crew literally jammed a massive rock into the designated section of the ship and then tunneled it out.

  Not a whole lot was needed for Vorcambreum and Linl—just sleeping space with moderate temperatures and low humidity.

  Odelea floated into the hallway, which led to the crew quarters. The same Javnis she had encountered in the galley now floated just outside the Javnis quarters. She paid no attention to him as she floated past while working her way to the Aryile section.

  He unexpectedly called out to her. “Scholar Odelea, correct?”

  She stopped and nodded. “Um, yes.” She tried to avoid eye contact, but he had four of them. Partial eye contact? Some Javnis found Aryile to be attractive despite their mammalian traits. Aryile possessed some reptilian features, like the scales on their backs and neck. She was worried he wanted to flirt, like all other Javnis she’d encountered on this ship. She wasn’t interested in Javnis and, quite frankly, just wanted to rest up.

  “I have been assigned to be on your team when we arrive,” he said.

  “Oh, OK then.”Might as well talk if we are going to be working together.

  She noticed the data pad in his hands and the tiny mind link device attached to the side of his head—a neural interface that linked with a data pad to enhance the learning experience of a new language.

  The Radiance Union had six main languages—each of the five races had their native tongue plus a sixth main language for the collective union. The main union language was a creole form of communication, created during the earlier years of the union when it consisted of only the Aryile, Javnis, and Rabuabin.

  As time went on, this language became the official language. People within the union as a result typically learned their race’s native language and the union speak at the minimum. Devices such as his greatly accelerated the speed of learning a new language, something very critical if one planned to do business in any region of Radiance Union space.

  “I am…trying to understand human language. It is confusing since there are so many versions,” he said.

  “Just focus on the one that is mainly used in the region we are going to. It will be much easier,” she said. “Though that version is complicated—lots of ‘slang’ terms.”
/>   “That one is English, correct?”

  “I believe it’s called that, yeah.”

  He nodded his head. “I am Commander Mil Gengei.” His left hand was then placed on his right shoulder, a customary Radiance Union introduction. “Your acquaintance is recognized.”

  She returned the gesture, left hand on her right shoulder. “Scholar Ary Odelea. Your acquaintance is recognized as well.”

  She floated off toward the entrance to the Aryile quarters, triggering the automatic sliding doors to open. As she was about to go through, she heard a high-pitched laugh from the hallway she was just in.

  “Is that you’re idea of flirting, Commander?”

  “That was not my intention, Xyniea.”

  Odelea stopped to listen in. They couldn’t see her from where she was floating. Peeking back out into the hallway, she saw a Rabuabin woman floating in from the main decks. She had a brown tail down to her knees. Like all Rabuabin, she possessed small horns, which curled down to her cheeks, and large triangular ears on top of her head. Her hair was brown and soft, much like her tail, and it went well with her dark-olive skin.

  “That was a joke, Commander,” Xyniea said.

  “This ship turning back around to the human world,” said Gengei, “now that is a joke.” Gengei’s sights focused on the Rabuabin woman’s arm. “That scar—I do not recall you having that.”

  “This?” She raised her scarred arm. “It’s always been there. Hashmedai warrior got too close back on Pali’on.”

  “I am almost positive it was not there when we first came aboard this ship.” He floated toward his quarters. “Perhaps I did not see it.”

  “You—not see something with all those eyes?” She laughed, but he didn’t. “That, too, was a joke.”

  “I hope your jokes will not provoke the humans into doing something rash.”

  ………

  The Hashmedai command ship was a massive structure, shaped like a sphere, with propulsion engines on its back end. At the very top was a square object with a large window—the main bridge. At the front center of this hulking ship was the entrance to the docking bay, which in essence was what the command ship was as a whole—a giant docking bay.

  The inside of this sphere ship was hollow, the space occupied by a fleet of Hashmedai battleships, fighter carriers, scout ships, and transport ships. An array of tractor beams held each ship in place when idle inside. At the top, where the bridge was located, lay a long tower-like structure that traveled from the top of the interior of the ship to the middle. This was where cryo stasis pods were kept. An elevator on the sides connected this tower to the main bridge above.

  The command ship was the heart of any Hashmedaian fleet, the primary way to send multiple ships across the stars via the space bridge network. Typically, an admiral was in command, issuing orders to the fleet, while the crew of the command ship provided quick repairs to damaged ships that came back to dock, and supplying extra weapons’ fire support via its two main plasma cannons on the sides.

  Jerut’s commandeered corvette returned safely, docking with the command ship. Blue light from the tractor beams sprung forward from the walls to anchor the ship in place alongside the rest of the dormant Hashmedai fleet.

  Jerut and Whigli emerged from a bolt of blue light aboard the command ship’s main corridor, which linked the bridge to the engine room. The two traversed in zero gravity across the corridor’s narrow and dimly lit shape toward the main bridge.

  They entered to see exactly what they had hoped for—no crew and no alerts, no activity whatsoever. The bridge had a series of computer terminals located across its walls. In the middle was a large chair for the person in command. Behind that was the entrance to the corridor they had just come from, as well as three elevator doors leading to the cryo tower below.

  Jerut’s body floated over to the command chair and activated its holographic display. His fingers typed in a string of letters and numbers from the Hashmedai language.

  “The codes work. I have full control,” said Jerut.

  “Was it really necessary for me to come along for this?” asked Whigli.

  Jerut turned to him. “Don’t forget, boy—you owe me.” He returned back to the holographic display. “So, yes, you are my bodyguard.”

  A new screen displayed. Jerut typed a fake incident report. It stated that Himton and several crew members were killed by a mutiny started by the recon team. In addition it reported that Himton’s final order was for Jerut to take his place in command, effectively solving two problems—an explanation for the admiral’s death and a reason to have the crew, when awake, hunt down the remaining recon team members. If the recon team hadn’t learned of the truth yet, they would very soon.

  “Ready to meet the rest of the fleet, Whigli?”

  “We’re going to wake them?”

  “Yes, there’s a new admiral in command…and mutineers who need to be dealt with.” Jerut activated a holographic map of the solar system, displaying their location and the location of the Radiance ship—it was coming in range. “And then we have our newfound friends,” said Jerut.

  The holographic display switched to a dossier listing for the recon team with kill-on-sight orders for them. Whigli’s body floated closer to view it. “What’s this?” he asked.

  “The recon team,” Jerut said. “Well, those we suspect are still alive.”

  An image of Onatiasha Ladyknight displayed. She was equipped with heavy combat armor, and her smooth purple hair was tied back. She’s quite attractive for a woman her age, Jerut thought. Information about her was listed—stage three adult (though her orange eyes were a giveaway of that), guardian class and team leader, long service record with dozens of battles against Radiance forces.

  The next slide loaded, displaying an image of Zhinbryo Braver equipped with a two-handed plasma sword and wearing an infantry exo suit—stage three adult, warrior class, specializing in frontline melee combat, unpredictable anger issues.

  Jerut took notice of Whigli’s sudden change in body language as the next slide loaded. Chidorli Clamingwind’s image was displayed—stage one adult, shipboard psionic.

  “Is there a problem?” asked Jerut.

  Whigli cleared his throat. “None, sir. I hope they will all be dealt with soon.”

  “Excellent,” Jerut said, though he knew very well Whigli wasn’t being truthful. “Head down to the docking bay. I’ll have a transport ship take you to the human world. Recover Lettielia and Nodevar once you get there.”

  “At once, sir.” Whigli exited, wasting no time in carrying out his orders.

  ………

  A local pub in downtown Los Angeles was alive with music, booze, and who-the-hell-knew-how-many people enjoying the summertime weather. Sarah sat at a long rectangular table alongside Pierre’s sister Amanda and her friend Dianna. Also in attendance were Anna and her husband Gavin, along with some of his air force buddies—James, Hendrix, and Nelson.

  “OK, let’s back up a bit,” said Gavin.

  “I know Amanda and her bro,” Sarah explained after taking a sip of beer.

  “Amanda is Dianna’s longtime friend,” said James, “and Dianna is also close friends with Gavin and Anna.”

  “So where do these fools come in again?” Sarah asked, pointing at James, Hendrix, and Nelson one by one.

  “Air force, remember?” said Gavin. “We all enlisted together.”

  “Right!” exclaimed Sarah. “I know that, was just testing!” The alcohol was starting to establish dominance in her mind.

  “So what do you think of LA so far?” asked Gavin.

  “Great so far,” Sarah said, her sultry eyes slanting up at Gavin. “Can’t wait to hit the beach—lots of hot guys here.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Gavin said, extending his fit arms upward. “Not easy being so hot.”

  Fascination increasingly grew on Sarah’s face, jealousy on Anna’s. “So, Gavin, ever been to New York?” Sarah asked.

  “I’ve flown p
assenger flights there for work, but that’s about it.”

  “If you ever find yourself there for a few days, look me up. I’ll have to show you around.”

  “Us,” Anna cut in.

  “Eh?” Sarah mumbled. I clearly said “you,” not “us.”

  “You’ll have to show us around,” Anna retorted. “You know, since we’re a couple who does things together.”

  “Whatever.” You fucking cunt.

  “So I guess you all work in the airline industry?” Amanda asked, brushing her brunette hair back.

  “Air force cutbacks,” said Hendrix. “We were all told to switch to the reserves.”

  Sarah finished her drink before saying, “Cutbacks, huh?”

  “Yeah,” said Nelson, “probably to help fund you marines!”

  James smiled at Sarah. “I would have never guessed a gal like you would be in the marines,” he said.

  “And I would have never guessed you top guns are flying planes for a living,” Sarah said with drunken laughter.

  “What made you join?” James asked.

  “Well, after 9/11 my sister Chloe ran out to enlist. I was twelve or thirteen at the time and couldn’t do much but watch. I wished I was there to fight alongside her. As soon as I hit eighteen, I signed up. Didn’t have much of a choice anyway—I had fucking terrible marks in high school. College was a no-go.”

  “Saw any action?”

  “Patrolling in Iraq, more patrolling followed by…patrols,” Sarah explained. “Chloe though, damn—that girl got to see some real action in both Afghanistan and Iraq.”

  “Speaking of action,” said Amanda with a grin to Sarah and Dianna.

  “What? Don’t tell me you’re taking one of these hot guys back and not sharing with me!” shouted Sarah.

  Amanda’s face grew red as she smiled. “What?”

  “Hold up,” James interrupted. “If that’s the case, I sure as hell ain’t one of them.”

  Sarah’s attention instantaneously snapped toward James. “Spending the night alone, are we?” she asked in an alluring voice.