Celestial Ascension (Splintered Galaxy Book 1)

by Eddie R. Hicks

  Resting together afterward, the two looked up at the cloudy blue sky above, still stroking each other.

  “Just one? I know you can do better than that,” she said.

  He laughed. “Saving it for later—we still have a mission to finish.”

  “So this is what it felt like to be an ancient Hashmedai,” she said, sitting up. “Copulating on a frozen, barren terrain—no cities, no starships, just a man and his mate.”

  “Well, that would be plural—mates if you were a male. Three women for one man was common back then,” he pointed out.

  “Still is on Taxah,” she said, her hand slowly brushing across her belly. “Looks like we’re heading to a breeding colony once we get back.”

  “Why?”

  She giggled and said, “We have no anti pregnancy chems, Whigli.”

  Fatherhood? It was not something he had considered until now. Their return back to Hashmedai-controlled space became even more important.

  ………

  Chloe sighed after laying eyes on what remained of Las Vegas as the Radiance Transport as they hovered over the runway at Nellis Air Force Base.

  “Landing now,” said Gengei, who interacted with the flight terminal.

  “I wonder if anyone got out,” Sarah said, noticing the crater outside.

  “Even if they did,” said Chloe, “there is no place here that’s truly safe.”

  Chloe eagerly stepped out of the transport as its exit slid open. The sooner they got this mission started, the sooner Earth and its inhabitants could wake up from this nightmare.

  Three figures were heading toward the transport. They looked human, and that was a good sign. They wore air force uniforms, an even better sign—survivors.

  “Wasn’t expecting humans to be exiting from that,” one said about the transport vessel as they got in range.

  “To be fair, there are more aliens on board than humans,” Chloe said. Gengei and Xyniea exited, dragging Kroshka. “I’ll make this short and sweet. We got a plan to save the world, and we need to borrow a few nukes from here to make it happen.”

  Chloe brought the three military men up to speed after a long string of introductions were made. Apparently, Sarah already knew two of them. None of the men showed any fear when the plan to get close and personal with a floater was brought up. And none brought up the fact that they officially had no authorization to go ahead and do this. Then again, no one had heard from the president in days—or anyone else high up in the chain of command. The world was crumbling, and the lines of communication between leaders and troops had disintegrated. Everyone at this point was likely acting independently.

  Gavin, Chris, and James headed back to the base’s storage facility to locate a working nuke. Shouldn’t be hard, Chloe figured, seeing how all aircraft here were about to be loaded with nukes until the Hashmedai showed up. Thank God none prematurely exploded.

  One thing that stuck in her mind was Gavin’s name. Captain Gavin Chambers—could this really be him? That woman’s husband? What were the odds of randomly finding him here and alive? Chloe still carried the gem the woman had asked her to give Gavin, and she would do so until she broke the bad news to him of his wife’s death. Or perhaps I’ll have Sarah do it, seeing how they have met previously.

  Later as the evening carried on, Chloe sat next to the transport, which was now more or less a mobile prison for their captured Hashmedai princess. Xyniea stayed inside to keep watch on her while maintaining the ship’s shields at max. Between that and the mind shield, any rescue team coming after her would have one hell of a fun time fighting their way inside.

  The short thumping sound of her bottom sitting down was a nice sound to hear. Might as well rest. There was nothing else to do but wait for the Hashmedai to show up—if they showed up. It felt like she’d been on her feet for years. Gengei stood on the opposite side of the craft, analyzing a holographic image of the command ship and finalizing the game plan for boarding it.

  “You got the right idea, Sis,” said Sarah, and she took a seat next to Chloe, removing her helmet.

  “How are you holding up?” Chloe asked.

  “Still processing everything that’s happened,” said Sarah. “Not sure it’s even a good idea to think about it at this point.”

  “Too many innocent lives gone in a matter of days.”

  “You think Mom and Dad got out OK?”

  It was a thought Chloe had blocked from her mind ever since getting word that the East Coast was hit.

  She changed the subject. “So you remember that woman back at the hospital, the one you knew?” Chloe asked Sarah.

  “Yeah, not quite the reunion I was expecting.”

  “Is that pilot really her husband?”

  “Yeah, it is. We need to break the bad news to him. Crazy, isn’t it? As Mom would say, ‘The river of fate always follows.’ She was always saying stuff like, ‘God has a plan,’ and ‘It flows like a river.’ And if she’s right, that river led us to him.”

  “We’re going to need all the help we can get since Gengei’s people are too afraid to support this leg of the operation.” Chloe understood their trepidation. A single ship like that surrounded by a fleet of enemy ships in the middle of unexplored space was a daunting undertaking—best for them to minimize casualties. “News like this is only going to distract him.”

  “Or piss him the fuck off,” said Sarah, chuckling. “A person with nothing to lose is the worst enemy. Speaking of losing partners, with the East Coast gone, it’s safe to say I’m single now.”

  “Wait, you were seeing someone?” Chloe grinned at her sister.

  Sarah laughed. “Eh, it was an on-off sorta thing. Now it’s off and probably won’t be on again.” James and Gavin returned, pushing a cart containing a large white bomb. “Nice to see James is alive, though!” Sarah said, flashing a seductive smile toward him.

  James let out a loud cheer as Chloe and Sarah slowly approached. Chloe grinned and thought, This is it. She procured the gem from her pocket, gazing at the strange sphere in the middle. She felt a tingle pass through her hand and into her arms as she held it. “Well, time to deliver this and the news attached to it.”

  Gengei appeared shortly afterward. James’s cheer must have made him curious.

  “The B83,” said James as Chloe got close. “When you absolutely, positively need to kill every motherfucker with the power equal to one point two kilotons of TNT, accept no substitute.”

  “There’s only one catch I don’t think you guys took into account,” said Gavin. “How are you gonna trigger this bad boy to blow?”

  Gengei examined the nuclear device and asked, “It is computerized, correct?”

  “Yeah, something like that,” said Gavin.

  "Psionics can connect their minds to such things. We can have one of ours on board the Abyssal Explorer merge his or her mind with it and remotely trigger it,” said Gengei. “Of course, we will have to disable the command ship’s mind shield for that to work.”

  “Something tells me this is going to be more than a dump-and-run operation,” said Sarah.

  “Yes, we will have to board the command ship after docking our captured Hashmedai ship inside of it,” Gengei explained. “The good news is, with the mind shield down, our escape will be simple—teleport to the Abyssal Explorer, then get clear of the command ship before the bomb explodes.”

  “So if I’m understanding the plan correctly,” said Chris. “We’re going to brainjack a Hashmedai psionic and then teleport along with the nuke to one of their smaller ships. We kill the crew, dock with the command ship, board the command ship, and disable the mind thingy. Then we teleport out while one of your people remotely sets the nuke off.”

  “That is correct,” said Gengei.

  “Oh, no problem at all!” Chris replied sarcastically.

  “Couldn’t we just teleport directly to the command ship?” asked Gavin.

  “Its orbit is too far out of range for that,” Gengei said.

&nbs
p; Chloe interjected. “Let’s focus on one thing at a time. If we can’t get a psionic, then this whole op is fucked.”

  “And what’s the plan for that?” Chris asked.

  “Hit the psionic with everything you have,” explained Gengei. “Enough weapons’ fire will weaken the shields. Once their shields are gone, stop your attacks. We need to take the psionic alive. I will get close and use the brainjack, while Xyniea lowers the mind shield for the transport. I will then force the psionic to jump-port you all inside. Then it will be a matter of teleporting up while under the protection of the transport’s main shields. We should load the bomb aboard the transport as well.”

  “Well, then,” said Chris, “we should get ready.”

  “Indeed, it will only be a matter of time before they discover us hiding out here,” said Gengei.

  Chris, James, and Gavin pushed the heavy cart toward the transport. Chloe grabbed Gavin’s arm, and Sarah ran behind James to give his ass a hard slap.

  “Hey, I need to talk to you about something important,” Chloe said to Gavin.

  “I’ll catch up with you guys in a bit,” Gavin said to James and Chris. “What’s up?”

  Chloe’s hand unveiled the gem. “We encountered your wife at Cedars-Sinai, and she told me to give this to you.”

  ………

  “What took you guys so long?” Onatiasha asked as Whigli and Chidorli materialized onboard the Hashmedai transport ship. “Never mind—don’t tell me,” she added after observing Chidorli’s messy hair and snow particles floating off their bodies. Phylarlie took notice as well, letting out a grunt as she turned away.

  “What was so important that we needed to be up here?” asked Whigli.

  “We found where Kroshka is likely being held,” said Onatiasha. “Scanners revealed a lone Radiance transport that landed at a human military base. A group of humans and Radiance are roaming and guarding the area.”

  “Makes sense,” said Whigli. “If they are going to keep her captive on the planet, that’s the best place. We can’t teleport directly into the transport.”

  “We’ll have to teleport down and attack them,” explained Onatiasha, “and then take down the shields of the ship to get inside.”

  “Let’s hope they don’t execute her during the process,” grumbled Zhinbryo.

  “She’s too valuable of a hostage. They’ll only do it as a last resort. They may, however, turn and flee. In that case, we need to be quick and return back here to pursue,” Onatiasha offered. “This attack will require us to strike fast.” She floated to face Phylarlie. “And as for you—”

  “Shut up. I’m coming,” Phylarlie retorted.

  “Keep your stealth systems active. They won’t be expecting an assassin,” Onatiasha said. “Once we have a visual on Kroshka, grab her and jump-port away from the action. Chidorli or Whigli can teleport you back up from there.”

  “I take it we’re working on the transport?” asked Chidorli.

  “Yes, you two can deliver enough fire power to take down those shields,” Onatiasha said.

  “When do we move out?” Zhinbryo asked impatiently.

  Onatiasha gazed at the burning blue planet from the window and said, “Right now.”

  ………

  The night sky above Nellis was briefly illumined with blue light. Four Hashmedai appeared on the runway, charging toward the Radiance transport ship—two floaters, a knight, and a warrior. Chloe recognized them. They were the same group from the hospital, no question. The floaters took to the sky and hovered in the direction of the transport.

  “Enemy contact!” Chloe shouted. She turned to Gavin, who held on hard to a P90 rifle. “Are you going to be—”

  Gavin cut her off. “I’m fine.”

  Chloe wasn’t fully convinced. The news of his wife’s death set him off really good. Gengei had had to step in to calm him down. He better not fuck this up, she thought and took cover behind the transport along with James, Sarah, Gengei, Gavin, and Chris.

  “Boyd, Sarah, with me. We’re taking out one of those floaters,” said Chloe. “Remember, stay moving!”

  “Very well,” said Gengei. “The rest of you, with me. Let us give the guardian and her pet something to worry about.”

  James, Gavin, and Gengei released a hailstorm of bullets toward Onatiasha and Zhinbryo. As expected, Onatiasha's shield was up, blocking the shots as Zhinbryo remained behind her. Chloe, Chris, and Sarah peered up, taking shots at Whigli. His reaction to the bullets splashing all over his shield was to shoot back a grin. He then blasted the transport with fireballs. He and Chidorli were ignoring the ground troops.

  “Keep firing!”exclaimed Chloe.

  Both Whigli and Chidorli rose higher into the night sky, to the point where visual contact was vague at best…until a glow of orange appeared directly above.

  “Fall back! Fall back!” Chloe yelled.

  Everyone sans Gengei ran back, taking cover behind an overturned jet. Gengei ran ahead toward Onatiasha and Zhinbryo in an attempt to draw their actions away from Chloe and the rest. Gengei stood his ground, firing nonstop, even while he communicated to Xyniea over his comm device—especially after Onatiasha’s tractor beam failed to pull him due to his shields still being active.

  “Your minions are failing,” Xyniea taunted Kroshka inside the transport. Psionic hellfire slammed into the transport’s shields. Xyniea gripped her magnetic rifle and stepped closer to Kroshka. “Have you thought about my offer?”

  “It’s just a pendant,” Kroshka said. “Why do you care so much about it?”

  “It’s more than that, and you know it!” Xyniea, in a fit of fury, ripped open Kroshka’s top. “You have no cybernetic implants on that pretty chest of yours, yet your power was strong enough to protect that human back at that ranch with a barrier,” she continued. “You then enhanced the power of his primitive projectile rifle, killing one of my best with his shield still active. Even our weapons can’t cut through a personal shield that quickly…unless enchanted by the same ability you used, one that even an augmented psionic cannot do.”

  “It…was a gift.”

  “I’m not believing that, but continue on.”

  “My father gave it to me.”

  “Where did he get it?”

  “Xyniea, now!” Gengei communicated to her over the transports comm. Phase two was a go.

  “We are not finished,” Xyniea said, storming over to the cockpit.

  The Radiance transport lifted off directly before Onatiasha’s eyes. Chidorli and Whigli were too far up and too busy bombarding it with massive white fireballs to teleport everyone back to their Hashmedai transport. Then there was this foolish Javnis, standing out in the open and forcing his attacks on her.

  “Zhinbryo, with me!” she ordered, lunging with her green glowing sword at Gengei.

  Zhinbryo followed suit, doing the same by propelling and lifting his blade to the sky for an overhand strike. Both blades struck his shield, generating a light show of blue ripples. A second swing of their blades shattered his shield. His body launch backward as Onatiasha backhanded him with her shield. She smiled at the sight.

  Onatiasha stepped forward, landing on…an object. Looking down, she saw the gift the Javnis left behind—a human pin-activated explosive device, and the pin wasn’t in it.

  “Get back!” she yelled, attempting to put her shield in front of the incoming blast.

  An explosion sent her backward, filling Zhinbryo’s eyes with anger as he leaped at the fallen Javnis. Zhinbryo fell flat on his face with three shots to his abs and legs.

  Gengei arose to the sounds of plasma missiles launching and exploding with thunderous force. He saw the Radiance transport ship hovering in the sky and the two psionics crashing to the ground. As powerful as they were, plasma missiles were designed to disable or destroy ships. There was no way their powers could have lasted long from a barrage like that.

  The two crashed to the ground below, the shield of the male psionic shattering on impac
t. The female still held, extending her shield forward to protect him. No matter, she was clearly weakened, and extending her shield like that would only drain the last bit of psionic strength she had left. Gengei charged forth with his rifle in one hand and the brainjack in the other, while his stealth detection alerted him of the presence of an assassin—an unexpected turn of events.

  As Gengei arrived, so did the four human soldiers, their projectile weapons pointed at the two cowering psionics. The female psionic stood with both of her arms extended to maintain her shield. Anger manifested on her face as she laid eyes on Gengei and the humans behind him. The male psionic slowly got up to his knees, suffering and whelping in pain. Four bullets bounced off the weakened psionic shield.

  “That’s her, isn’t it? The one you described to me, the one that attacked Anna!” Gavin exploded with anger. His P90 roared with more shots before Chloe’s hand firmly grabbed him.

  “Stand down!” Chloe yelled. “Let Gengei handle this part.”

  “It’s all your fault!” Gavin yelled. “You fucking bitch, it’s all your fucking fault!” Rage clearly consumed all rational thought within Gavin.

  “Stand the fuck down, Chambers. We’re so close to finishing this!” Chloe demanded.

  Gavin instantly fell to the ground. The humans surrounding him were in shock. Gengei, on the other hand, was not surprised. He knew an assassin stun disk at work when he saw one.

  “You should listen to her,” said a voice from the shadows, triggering the humans to move their heads around.

  “Who the fuck said that?” said James.

  “The lurking Hashmedai assassin did,” Gengei revealed. He fired random shots in random directions, hoping at least one might tag the assassin.

  “Careful there—you might risk friendly fire,” Phylarlie said.

  “So what are you waiting for, assassin?” asked Gengei.

  Phylarlie replied, “I’m just here for one reason—Kroshka.”

  “I cannot hand her over,” Gengei said.

  James stepped forward, keeping his eye on the downed Hashmedai Gengei had taken out.