Ascendant Saga Collection: Sci-Fi Fantasy Techno Thriller

by Brandon Ellis

  Before arriving on this planet, he’d attained a strange state he’d only read about in ancient yogi books that he’d always rolled his eyes at. Not to mention this same type of power spoken about in Taoist traditions in Tibet and the Toltec traditions in Central America. As an archaeologist, he’d read up on all he could regarding ancient knowledge and oral teaching, keeping in mind that myth mixed with reality. Yet the power pouring through him, maybe called Chi, or Ki in Japan, or Prana in India, puzzled him. With his pineal gland open, large, and not calcified like the rest of the human population—minus Captain Rivkah Ravenwood—he could do things most would consider extraordinary, including himself.

  The lion gave a hearty laugh. “I thought you didn’t fear me.” He stood straighter and threw off his brown robe, revealing his muscle-bound, athletic build—no shirt, but pants that reminded Jaxx of a Lanna: Thai fishermen pants, wide and loose, wrapped at the waist by a silver rope.

  The lion had black chains crisscrossing his chest, knives sheathed and dangling from the chains. Bulbous, rounded glass bottles filled with a red liquid were attached to the rope around his pants, with guns slung low around his hips.

  The lion threw his bamboo weapon into the air. It spun several times until he caught it and aimed toward the sky. “I never thought I’d have to come to fighting again, Jaxx. You brought us war.” He glared at Jaxx, then back up at oncoming combat-mechs descending from the sky like star crafts. “We were a peaceful lot until you showed up and opened the pyramid network. But peace on our planet? Not anymore. Not for a while.”

  The lion turned, thrusting his giant weapon upward then pulled the trigger with his claw. A bright burst of purple plasma exploded from the weapon’s barrel just as a flying combat-mech came into view. The plasma bolt slammed against the mech’s hip. Shards of armor splayed outward, twisting the combat-mech around, changing its trajectory.

  The lion roared. “Run!”

  Whooooj! Whooooj! Whooooj!

  More purple bursts shot from several different positions inside the wheat field, cracking against combat-mechs, lighting them up, but doing very little damage.

  Jaxx spun on his heels, pushing at stalks, bending and breaking them to make a path as he raced away from the lion. He zig-zagged, avoiding falling debris, crashing through the grain. There was no end, no way out. Did this field go on forever?

  A furry arm, yellowish-gold in color, jutted out from the stalks, close-lining him and lifting him off his feet. He came down hard, knocking the wind out of him, grain from the stalks spilling down on him like snow.

  A lioness loomed. She smiled, her sharp teeth shining, her purple eyes glowing. “I hear you’re Jaxx?” She held her hand out to help Jaxx up. Her muscles were toned, though she was a few feet shorter than the other beast he’d just met. She had on the same pants and chains crisscrossed over her tan shirt. She held a bamboo rifle in her other hand.

  Jaxx extended his hand, doing his best to catch his breath, his stomach and ribs tightening around his diaphragm, making it nearly impossible to suck in the planet’s rich oxygen.

  He touched the lioness’s paw. It was soft, inviting, reminding him of a comfortable blanket.

  She helped him to his feet, then pounded the rifle against his chest, slamming him back on the ground, the back of his head striking hard against the earth. He rubbed his occipital bone and moaned just as thunder blanketed the sky.

  A black, diamond-shaped ship with heavy rockets, punched through the blue heaven above.

  The lioness’s whiskers twitched. “You’ve brought the Agadon upon us.” She gnarled her face in fury. “You fool.”

  She swung her bamboo stick upward, slid her claw into the trigger, and pulled. Blast after purple blast shot toward the diamond ship, evaporating against the ship’s energy shield.

  She narrowed her eyes. “They bring black science, blended with Agadon magic. The inhabitants of those ships are as bad as it gets. Those AI breeds should have never been created. One wrong program glitch in their mainframe systems and these nasty Beings turned on the entire galaxy.”

  Jaxx attempted to get up but was met with the lioness’s boot against his stomach, shoving him to the ground. “Stay.” She shot off another round of purple projectiles. “Can you fight?”

  Jaxx nodded. “I can.”

  “You will.” She unstrapped a gun from her chain and dropped it on the ground.

  Jaxx grabbed the gun and she pulled him to his feet. “Follow me, peach-face. We’ve got combat-mechs to pound and an Agadon race to shove off our planet.”

  2

  J-Quadrant, Solar System - Flood of Dawn, Callisto

  Rivkah pinched the ridge of her nose, the knot in her throat growing. She couldn’t stop thinking about Jaxx. Wishing he was here with her. She’d finally be nice. Maybe. But his presence for some odd reason gave her hope. There was something inside of him that exuded light, that gave her confidence, and allowed her to kick butt in whatever she did.

  “Get over it, Riv,” she told herself as she swiped her black hair out of her eyes and walked away from a pyramid she dare not look at. It stole Jaxx from her.

  She let out a gush of air. “Jaxx, I miss you.” She folded her arms over her stomach, clutching tightly. Callisto’s chill seeped deep into her bones, and each breath clouded in front of her as if she was on a snow-capped mountain in winter, less the snow.

  Fox, the wide shouldered nitwit, walked away from her and toward a domed city known as Flood of Dawn. The city was born on the backs of Atlanteans that escaped Earth before the end of the last Ice Age around thirteen-thousand-years ago—before the Ice Age’s fast melt created a flood that took out Altantis and most of the major cities on Earth. A flood that Jaxx told her on countless occasions could be heard in almost all Native American traditions, read in Aztec lore, in the Bible, on the Sumerian tablets, and the list was endless.

  The Atlanteans fled Earth in ships with advanced propulsion to a Jupiter moon, Callisto, where they figured their culture could forever live in peace. They figured wrong.

  “Hey, Fox,” she yelled.

  Fox stopped and turned, his square jaw and unshaven face curling into a scowl. He went to speak when the ground shook, and his feet and legs jostled back and forth. Mouth open, he looked down until a heavier quake made he and Rivkah lose their balance. They both met with the cold, hard ground.

  “What the hell?” On her side, Rivkah twisted around and eyed the pyramid. Her mouth gaped open. “Oh, no.” Violent, angry reds and yellows glowed on the vista. A boom shuttered the earth again and what appeared to be a gale-force wind caused by an explosion blasted toward her. Head over heels, the wind tossed her away from the pyramid.

  A cloud appeared and mushroomed towards the sky, beautiful but deadly.

  Rivkah scrambled to her feet. “What’s happening? I thought we ended this. No more war. I thought Jaxx’s death—” She fought the urge to scream. She had to get a hold of herself, to pry herself free from Jaxx. “He gave his life to end the war. The war should be over.”

  Fox stood and laughed. He clapped, perhaps to get her attention, perhaps in a show of bravado or machismo. “Stop should-ing all over yourself,” he said. “Military life doesn’t have any shoulds, coulds, or woulds. Liberty just killed Jaxx, a Secret Space Program asset that the SSP very much needed. These Atlantean nutjobs know exactly what they’re doing. I see it clearly, now. They’re looking to sabotage the SSP. We need to warn our people…”

  Rivkah dashed toward the domed city, Flood of Dawn. There, Liberty, the city’s leader, would know what to do. She was from Callisto. This was her home. She’d set them straight.

  Fox followed.

  They passed through the doorway to the glass-like domed city, their boots slapping hard on a cobblestone pathway that led to a forest a short ways ahead. Into the forest, a branch from a green needled tree slapped Rivkah across the face. Another branch, this one with a pink tufts, poofed away like blowing dandelions puffy, ripe seed heads when maki
ng a wish as Rivkah ran by.

  The outside cold now transformed to warm and humid inside the dome by some type of terraforming technology the Atlanteans had. Birds chirping somehow calmed the continued mayhem outside the city along with Rivkah, her heartbeat slowing a tinge. She breathed in the soft air, the oxygen rich and bringing vital life to her lungs and body, the forest’s fragrant aroma seemingly doing the same.

  Flood of Dawn was designed to soothe the senses, but she couldn’t allow herself to fall into a beauty-stupor. She needed to hold on to her anger, her alarm, her sense that something awful had just happened. She waved Fox forward, her voice low. “Come on.”

  “I do my own bidding, woman. If you want to see the leader of this place, then so be it. To me, she’s a traitor.”

  Rivkah picked up her pace, leaving Fox behind. The cobblestone path opened up, widening as the forest ended. A palace was before her, crystalline in nature, like all the structures in Flood of Dawn.

  Liberty stood at the palace’s entrance, her long dress ruffling in the breeze. She was vocal, gesticulating fiercely, as she talked with one of her commanders. She was confused, angry. Something Rivkah hadn’t seen from her in the short time she’d known her.

  “Liberty,” Rivkah yelled. “What’s going on?” She took long, confident strides toward the pair, readying herself for any attack, just in case Fox was right and that Liberty was a traitor.

  Liberty motioned for the commander to enter the palace, turned, and walked toward Rivkah. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Tell you what?”

  “About XO Katherine Bogle. She left us. We can’t locate her.”

  “Why does it matter?”

  Liberty crossed her arms. “You knew she was named in the prophecy. She was a major player. Someone we needed.”

  Rivkah put her hands out, palms up. “So? Spill it.”

  “She wasn’t in the vicinity. Jaxx left us, but didn’t die, which is why the battle still rages. But, we have something worse on our hands now. All Negatives are inbound and heading our way.”

  A spark lit in Rivkah’s heart. “Wait, Jaxx is alive?”

  “More so than ever.”

  “Where is he?”

  “We don’t know.”

  Jaxx was alive? Her chin trembled, but she held it together. If she could jump in relief, she would, but for some strange reason, this woman in front of her was like Fox and seemingly couldn’t care less about Jaxx being dead or alive.

  “Death is nothing to fear. It’s moving from one vehicle to the next, only to enter another vehicle in time. There is no pain. It is all love,” said Liberty, as if responding to Rivkah’s thoughts. “I love Jaxx as if he were my own. Our bodies are priceless and I do not take what Jaxx attempted to do—give himself for the benefit of the rest—lightly. But he’ll be back. He’ll attempt the other path to save us, to save humankind.”

  “To save humankind?”

  “Yes. But we must find Bogle. She’s one of the keys.”

  XO Katherine Bogle fell into this mess much like Rivkah. She was the XO for a Star Carrier, Star Warden, in the United States’ Secret Space Program. After attempting to bombard Callisto, the Star Carrier met its end quickly by the Atlanteans here on Callisto. With thousands of crew, Bogle was the Star Carrier’s sole survivor.

  Rivkah huffed. “Bogle tried to kill me. She killed Grenik, for God’s sake.”

  Liberty lurched back, clutching her chest. “She killed Grenik?”

  “Well, not necessary killed him, but purposely led us to slaughter.”

  Grenik, an Atlantean, and Rivkah led a small team to kill the Kelhoon leader, a half-lizard, half-human race hell bent on killing everyone on Callisto to take everything as their own. Bogle was their eyes and their map, but instead of leading them to the Kelhoon leader, she led them into a trap, and knowingly.

  Liberty narrowed her eyes. “Dakin!”

  A sabretooth tiger stepped around a large brush, snarling and padding over to Liberty. He nudged her back with his cheek and gave a ferocious growl.

  Rivkah jerked her head, getting into her signature Muay Thai fighting position, as if that could possibly fend the giant cat off if it attacked.

  Liberty tapped the tiger’s head and he lowered into a crouch, licking her hand. She jumped on his back. “My weapon.” She put her arm out and a man emerged from the palace, a long trident in his hand. The man threw the trident at Liberty. She caught it, never taking her eyes off of Rivkah.

  She dipped her head. “Go find Bogle. I’m raring to lead a charge.” She looked over her shoulder. “Warriors, today we continue this fight!”

  On cue, warriors in the hundreds ran out of the palace.

  Liberty flicked her feet against the tiger’s sides. It leapt forward, running in the direction from where Rivkah had just come. The soldiers ran around Rivkah, roaring and bellowing like beasts.

  The ground vibrated and a hum reverberated off the palace walls. Rivkah turned and faced a dozen or more battle hover-vehicles that were shaped like jet fighters without wings. A large booster was at the stern. Cannons were mounted at the bow and where wings would attach. They flew by her and took the lead in front of Liberty and her troop.

  “What just happened?” asked Fox, coming up to Rivkah.

  “We have to find Bogle.”

  “What?” said Fox.

  “Follow me. I know of a craft we can use.”

  “When we find her, we kill her.”

  She swallowed hard. If they killed Bogle, it meant no matter what, the prophecy couldn’t be fulfilled and Jaxx could stay alive longer. “Kill her? Maybe.”

  3

  E-Quadrant, Earth - Lookout Mountain, Tennessee

  Two Chinese guards stood next to Anderle. An entourage crowded the corridor behind him.

  In the time it had taken the entire US Government and Administration to vacate the planet to Callisto, a Jupiter moon, Anderle had morphed from one of the world’s leading cyber-geeks into something resembling a president…or leader…or…

  Drew wasn’t sure what, but the guy was definitely in charge. In the old days when Drew was a crack journalist, hunting for the truth, Michael Anderle’s rise to power would have been the perfect exposè.

  Economic collapse, rioting, food shortages, and global panic made Anderle’s story a blip on the radar. Drew was a day late and a dollar short. No one cared what Anderle was doing or how he’d risen to power; they cared about where their next meal was coming from.

  “Get your hands off of me,” growled Drew, his face flush red.

  He batted the Chinese guard’s hand away, unraveling his shirt where the guard’s hand had twisted it. The guard pushed him into a room, Mya right behind him.

  Mya hid behind Drew’s legs, grabbing on tightly.

  She trembled.

  So did Drew.

  He had been guided to this underground facility and he was treated like this?

  “Where’s Anderle,” Drew asked one of the guards standing in the doorway.

  “Right here, buddy.” The guards parted and Anderle walked in, a king among kings. “Relax, my friend. It’s just protocol. You’re safe. These Chinese military men are a little suspicious. Once they sniff that you’re good and all, you’ll be treated like a prince.” He paused and clapped his hands together. “Meet my friend, General Lin Yu.” Anderle looked like the proverbial cat with the proverbial cream. Was he totally nuts? This was an underground prison. Drew could see no windows, no side doors, no way of escape except through the meat, muscle, and machetes of the standing guard.

  General Lin Yu pushed his way through his men and stood, bow legged but no less daunting. He pointed to the girl. “Ràng wǒ xiànzài yǒngyǒu tā.”

  Anderle snorted. “Now? Bad idea. But…let me think on it. Uh…no.”

  “What did he say?” Drew pulled Mya closer.

  Anderle dismissed Drew’s question with a swat of his hand. “Don’t worry. He—”

  Yu jumped forward, pushing D
rew aside. A guard followed the general’s example, and took it a step too far. He shoved Drew and Drew lost balance and fell on his hip.

  Mya screamed and hurried toward Drew. He held her at bay with one hand and as the guard bent down to grab him, Drew threw a haymaker. Knuckles against the guard’s nose, a crack of broken bones popped in the room. The soldier fell on his side. A boot from another soldier sunk hard into Drew’s gut.

  Drew curled forward with a grunt, both hands on his stomach. Winded, he gasped for air as a hundred questions swirled inside his brain, making less and less sense of everything. What was Anderle up to? Why were the Chinese soldiers being aggressive toward him? Why were Chinese soldiers in America?

  But Mya. Why was the General interested in her? Other than her being an innocent child, something deep inside told him that he couldn’t let them take her. No. Matter. What.

  A guard went for Mya and Drew shifted and in spite of the pain, lifted his knee, tripping the trooper. The grunt collapsed, his head whipping into a bed frame post. He rolled on the floor, hands over his eye.

  A clack of rifles, and soldiers aimed their weapons. General Yu loomed, arms crossed.

  “Stop that at once,” yelled Anderle. He stepped over Drew; a foot on each side of him. Straddling his friend sent an unequivocal message: this specimen is mine. Lesser of two evils? Maybe. Drew fought the urge to vomit on Anderle’s Converse.

  “General Lin Yu. You need to be patient with the girl. She—”

  “Zhàn qǐlái bóhuí!” Yu said.

  The guards put down their rifles and marched out of the room. Yu’s eyes on Mya, he grabbed at a guard holding his nose. Blood streamed down his lips and chin.

  “Bǎochí jǐngtì,” Yu said.

  The guard nodded and sat on a stool that was against a wall near the entrance.

  “You want that guy?” Anderle’s eyes were wide, perplexed. “He’s got a broken nose, man.”