“Get back!” Onatiasha shouted.
The elevator entrance saw the same group of Marines and their Javnis pet leap forward with guns blazing. Onatiasha stood, trying to draw their fire, while Jazz, Zhinbryo, and Chidorli took cover behind the transport. Jazz returned fire, shooting a hail of bullets just off to the side of Onatiasha’s shield coverage.
“Frag out!” one of the marines yelled before throwing a grenade. The explosive device entered the air but was pushed back toward the marines. Chidorli, you cunning quick-thinking gal, Jazz thought. Their four adversaries leaped back into the elevator before the device exploded. Chidorli’s hand reached out toward the elevator doors, which slammed shut and stayed that way with her telekinetic might.
Staring at the Radiance transport, Jazz asked, “Any of you know how to fly this thing?”
“I hijacked one a few years ago,” said Onatiasha.
“Good, let’s get on board. The way I see it, no ship, no transfers.”
“They have other ships,” Onatiasha said.
“Which aren’t here yet. This will buy us time till Alisha arrives.” If she arrives—she might have left already.
Onatiasha communicated the plan to Chidorli and Zhinbryo as they stepped aboard. Onatiasha sat up front, interacting with the flight computer terminal. The transport slowly rose to the sky, while Jazz stood at its front entrance to watch the elevator door below…slide open. To his disappointment Alisha and Hannah did not step through—instead the marines were still there. Chidorli countered by conjuring a psionic barrier, blocking the entrance to the elevator. Chloe, however, managed to slip through seconds before the barrier was erected.
Chloe sprayed a barrage of bullets toward the climbing transport, impacting just below Jazz’s feet. The sudden shock and surprise caused him to lose footing, and he fell to the helipad below. The impact produced a brief scream from him, but he knew that no bones were broken.
Chloe slowly stepped forward, her rifle aimed directly at him. “Captain Chloe Vaughan, United States Marine Corps,” she announced. “Stand down, and put your hands up—final warning.”
Jazz got to his feet, trying his best to ignore the pain from the fall. He said, “Jake Johnson—”
Suddenly she was knocked away toward the edge of the rooftop.
Chidorli strikes again. “Get fucked, bitch,” Jazz said.
Chloe’s eyes opened wide as the sight of the parking lot below—and her rifle tumbling toward it—came into view. It was a long way down, and that floater had nearly thrown her over the ledge. Right, gotta stay mobile so the floater can’t lock on. Keep moving, Chloe. Jumping back to her feet put Jazz back into her view. The two were unarmed, and he had just called her “bitch”—time for a lesson.
She sprinted toward him like an Olympic runner going for gold. Then she leaped to tackle him to the ground, like an NFL player working to win the Super Bowl. Her right fist drilled his face, and the left came up—only to be held by his right hand as he countered with a head butt. The impact sent her back, giving him the chance to jump to his feet. She got to her feet, only to take three consecutive punches to her gut. Those were followed by an uppercut and roundhouse kick that sent her back to the ground.
He’s fast, I’ll give him that—not that I’m finished. She leaped right back to her feet to dance around him. Gotta stay mobile. With her fists up, she yelled, “You know you shouldn’t hit a woman, right?”
He retorted, “I don’t hit women…but bitches? Y’all are fair game.”
The transport ship lowered back to the helipad. Looks like his masters want to play, Chloe thought. Time to end this. Her right fist lunged toward his face, but he shifted his head to the left, the hit not connecting. He threw his body weight on her, tackling her straight to the ground but failing to see her quick hands grab hold of her dagger. As her body fell backward, she carefully placed the blade directly below his belly. It sunk right into him as he landed. She rolled him onto the ground and whispered into his ear, “Who’s the bitch now?”
The force field blocking the elevator door dissipated, resulting in Sarah, Gengei, and Sanders charging through.
The female Hashmedai knight leaped out from the transport as it landed. That purple hair—she looks familiar. The corner of Chloe’s eye caught Johnson removing the blood-coated dagger from his gut and throwing it…right through Sanders’s left eye. The marine collapsed upon contact. Son of a bitch.
“Chidorli, pull him back!” ordered Onatiasha, her shield engaged.
Three bursts of blue light flashed, one after another. The end result—Jazz was behind the transport, with Chidorli attending to him. Chloe was quite an opponent—her moving constantly and staying close made it difficult for Chidorli to use her psionics. She either couldn’t target her accurately or faced great risk hitting Jazz in the crossfire. Now he lay on the ground, quite possibly drawing his last breaths of air. With Chloe’s helmet removed, Onatiasha got a better look at her tied-back brown hair and familiar green eyes. The woman who was fraternizing with Hermaei—how delightful.
Onatiasha felt vengeful toward the human female soldier. “Zhinbryo, kill her.”
“I shall consume her flesh when I am done,” he said.
Onatiasha charged forward, placing her body and shield between Gengei and Sarah while the targeted unarmed Chloe stood behind her. Weapons’ fire from the two collided with her shield, providing just enough cover for Zhinbryo to go in for the kill. Chloe was trapped—running toward her comrades would end in her hitting Onatiasha’s massive shield.
Zhinbryo closed in toward his target. Onatiasha maintained her stance, blocking the unarmed human’s attacks with her shield and deflecting a storm of bullets. Chloe had two choices—face Zhinbryo head-on or jump off the building. The woman ran toward the edge of the building. Coward.
Zhinbryo’s jump jet-launched him toward her as she tried to make a run for it. His massive blade came down, missing her by inches. He made another wide swing with the blade, going right to left, but it failed to hit his target. She was getting away, a mere two or three meters to the ledge. Let her run off and die? Not a chance. If they had learned anything from humans, it was that they always had something planned for when things went wrong.
His wrist-mounted plasma blasters activated. They weren’t very powerful, but she was too far for another cleave. Jump-jetting toward her might result in him overshooting and falling off the rooftop as well. Zhinbryo aimed his right arm at her, and small green balls of plasma shot out. Two bolts hit her square in the back as she leaped off the ledge and out of sight. There was a good chance she survived the not-so-strong wrist blasters with her armor, but there was an equally probable chance she was wounded.
Whigli and Kroshka materialized in front of Chidorli, who knelt before Jazz. A psionic barrier was cast over his wounds to prevent further blood loss, but that wasn’t going to be enough to save him. He needed quick medical attention…or something much greater. The sight of Jazz in this state brought sadness to Kroshka’s red eyes. The news of her brother’s death was bad enough, and now Jazz was dying.
“Thank you for bringing her, Whigli," said Chidorli.
Whigli took a quick glance from behind the transport. “I take it things aren’t going so well.”
Chidorli nodded and said, “Your support will be much appreciated.”
He floated to the sky with his psionic might. “I’ll try to save some for you!” He moved out of sight, and multiple explosions were heard.
“Why did Whigli bring me here?” asked Kroshka, her hands trembling.
“Save him, Kroshka. Use your gifts,” Chidorli said among the sounds of more explosions.
"Psionics aren’t effective at healing. You should know this.”
Chidorli grabbed onto Kroshka’s pendant. “I know what you are capable of—Hannah told me everything.” Chidorli stared right into the sphere within the pendant. “I won’t tell anyone else, I promise.”
An aqua aura surrounded Kroshka’s left
hand, and she gently placed it on top of Jazz’s wounds. A few minutes passed, and the aura melted away from her and entered Jazz’s body through his stab wound. During the whole process, the sphere within her pendant emitted light.
Another Radiance transport ship flew down from the sky and hovered over the rooftop battlefield. It was all up to Kroshka now.
“I’m going to assist the others!” Chidorli said and then, like Whigli, ascended to the air to unleash her psionic power.
Really? Two fucking floaters now? Sarah thought to herself. The one they were just dealing with was bad enough, and now this murderous green-haired witch was back.
“Get back!” Gengei ran back into the elevator, his rifle spitting a nonstop barrage of bullets.
Sarah complied and fell back, not a moment too soon, as the floater duo rained down white fireballs across the helipad. The elevator doors slid shut as Sarah hit a button for a lower level.
“We cannot take two of them. I am sorry,” said Gengei.
“Don’t be. It’s not over yet.”
“But your sister—”
“Is still alive. That warrior was staring at something or someone along the walls. Can you communicate with that ship?”
“Yes.”
“Good, I have a plan.”
… … …
Xyniea grinned after taking a second glance at the two psionics chasing off Gengei and Sarah. She was initially asked by Telinei to help him secretly transfer a few of his experiments up to the Abyssal Explorer. However the decent back down to the city revealed a unique window of opportunity. She guided the transport ship to just below the rooftop of the human hospital, carefully maneuvering it to the other side of the parked transport. Her fingers inputted a series of keystrokes, prompting the entrance door to swing up. Her transport then ascended a few meters up to the rooftops. There we go.
She saw Kroshka sitting next to a wounded human, who was familiar to her. Xyniea’s grin transformed into a joyful smile as her tail straightened upward. Kroshka and that slippery human from out east on the same day. Glory awaits.
She aimed her magnetic rifle toward the two, and neither heard the ship slip in behind them. The sounds of explosions made sure of that. Xyniea figured the easiest way to handle this was to unload everything into Kroshka and the human and call it a day. But as tempting as it was, it had too many risks. Kroshka’s death needed to look like it was done at the hands of humans. All it would take was a recording of Xyniea carrying out the act, and the Hashmedai empress would switch her fury from humanity to the Radiance Union—although they were already at war.
The flight recorder onboard the transport would record such an act. Kroshka needed to expire at the hands of humans…or, like her brother, appear to. The city streets below were filled with angry humans who had intense hatred for the Hashmedai. Toss her defenseless and unarmed body into a mob, and let them do the rest. Oh yes, this is the plan.
Xyniea guided the transport closer to the ledge and, without warning, leaped off onto Kroshka. The weight of her body sent Kroshka to the ground, and the weight of her rifle slamming on the back of her head knocked her out.
Now for target number two. She aimed her rifle down at the human. Three bullets ripped through his chest…and one through his head.
Chapter 20
“You used to be able to see the Vegas Strip from here,” a voice called out to Chris. He was surprised someone else was here, as all signs since his arrival at the base gave the impression Vegas and its surrounding area had become a forsaken land. Two men, a black man and a white man, both wearing fighter pilot jumpsuits, approached.
Most of the aircraft on the base were either burning or lying in pieces. Bodies of mutilated soldiers were scattered in almost every location. Sadly, there were not a lot of Hashmedai bodies, meaning they more or less took this place with overwhelming force.
“I was starting to think everyone out here evacuated or was killed,” Chris said, stepping closer. “Petty Officer First Class Chris Boyd, Navy SEALs.”
“Lieutenant Kyle James.” He pointed to the other pilot, “and this is motherfucker.”
Laughter bellowed from all three before the other pilot spoke. “Actually I’m Captain Gavin Chambers.” Gavin examined Chris. “Navy SEAL, wearing that getup?”
“Long story—didn’t have much of a choice,” Chris said.
Gavin spoke. “Well, it’s just the three of us here—no means of getting out and no working radio. Plenty of time to share stories.”
………
Gengei’s holographic image projected in front of Xyniea. Leave it to him to plea for assistance right when I am going to deal with a captured target.
“Xyniea!” He was clearly shocked to see she was the one in command of the transport. “Swing the transport toward my signal,” he said.
No, sir, was what she truly wanted to reply with, but that would destroy the image of her being a loyal Radiance Union ranger. “Yes, sir.”
The transport ship’s doors shut, and she sat in the cockpit to interact with the nearby control console. Kroshka lay in the back, still unconscious and sporting a new accessory around her neck—a slave collar.
Gengei’s signal guided her transport toward a shattered window located around the midsection of the human medical facility. His hand extended outside, waving to her from a distance. He needed an evac…and he also had a guest. The entrance to the transport once again opened. The two leaped across the half-meter gap between the building and the transport, and they were safely onboard.
The woman hastily positioned herself next to Xyniea, pointing to the rooftop and speaking in the human language. Xyniea turned to Gengei for a translation.
“Sarah requires you to pilot the transport to the rooftop on the other end of the building,” he said.
Xyniea complied, and the transport was in motion. She stopped after Chidorli and Whigli floated into visual range and unleashed a storm of white fireballs. Her quick reflexes inputted a series of commands, which activated the ship’s shields and raised the transport high above the medical facility. The blue sky was the only thing that could be seen out the front window until Xyniea readjusted the transport’s course, aiming it downward to the medical facility, which was now in view.
The two psionics faced up, extending their arms. Another attack was imminent. Below them was an odd sight—another female human soldier clinging to a section of the structure. Had she fallen off? Not important—what was important was that she made it aboard alive. The soldier who had boarded with Gengei got excited—this was what she was trying to point at earlier.
Xyniea’s piloting resulted in the transport pushing down faster, ignoring the barrage of psionic flames that came afterward—the shields were holding. This was a time-sensitive rescue mission, with no time to lock and fire missiles, no time to strategically plan something better. They needed to get the transport within arm’s reach of the soldier right away.
Gengei and the human soldier aboard the transport rushed to the side of the entrance as their rescue target became visible. The two reached over, firmly securing her as Xyniea irised the shields covering the entrance—rescue successful.
The rescued woman was lucky both psionics on the rooftop had chosen to focus on the incoming transport and ignore her—hanging on the ledge like that put her at risk of basically every trick in their arsenal. Of course, that focus came at a cost to the ship. Xyniea glanced at a display that showed ship status. “Shields down to thirty-two percent,” Xyniea said. “Those two psionics are quite the heavy hitters.”
“Just get us out of here,” Gengei ordered. “The Abyssal Explorer is sending down more ships to deal with this situation.” His glanced at the unexpected sleeping guest behind him—the princess. “Is that—”
“I think a promotion is in order, Commander,” Xyniea said with a devious grin as the transport zipped across the sky away from the action zone.
………
Odelea entered a sudden state of fear
and panic as Telinei’s teleportation finished, placing the two of them in a dark lab filled with cryo tubes and human test subjects. Her body trembled while her legs slowly backed her away from him. This was not the same high scholar who had educated her during her years studying at the academy.
“Oh, please don’t be scared. This is all for a good reason.” His voice was calm.
“Did these people even volunteer?” she asked.
Telinei looked around at the many test subjects. “I do admit, our methods here are…extreme. But it had to be done, Odelea. The gods want it to happen.”
“The gods? They only want us to spread gifts across the galaxy.”
“Tell me, Odelea, what do you know of the gods?”
Data dump—one of the few things that could put her mind at ease was spitting out knowledge. “Stoarior, Tym, and Livie are the three gods who uplifted the Aryile race. They taught us how to travel through space and heal our dying home world. The gods only asked that we worship them, help other races across the cosmos, and uplift others who are deemed worthy. They gave us the gift of population control by sterilizing everyone while allowing reproduction facilities to produce infants for married couples who wished to raise a child.” After taking a quick breath, she continued. “Their final gift was the gift of psionics.”
“What happened afterward? What else have the gods done?” he asked.
“Nothing—we made the mistake of sharing some of those gifts with the Hashmedai, who not only refused to believe in the gods but set out on a campaign to defile the Divine Expanse, the holy space belonging to the gods. The gods will gift us when the Hashmedai are dealt with.”
Celestial Ascension (Splintered Galaxy Book 1) Page 32