Book 1: Across the Galactic Pond
Kevin receives a rejection letter from MIT, and his father loves to tell him how much he’s a failure and a loser at every turn. Having skipped dinner, Kevin witnesses a spacecraft crashing into a nearby lake. Going against his common sense, he swims toward the crashed craft to find a dying purple-skinned alien who implores Kevin to help save his people. All Kevin has to do is put a blinking pill under his tongue. After a short inner debate, Kevin does, and his consciousness is teleported to a far beyond (see what I did there?) galaxy where his thoughts are remote-controlling a deceased alien crew member aboard a super-duper top secret R&D ship with superior firepower. That ship is not only the key but the last hope for the Arcadian Confederate to defeat, or at the very least, repel the Kregan final assault. There’s only one hitch, the ship’s AI, Mira, has been disconnected from her ability to fly the ship, which is about to be destroyed. Kevin’s arrival changes all that, and his extreme compatibility with neuronal interfaces make him an ideal candidate to not only become the ship’s new captain but also save the Confederate.
Armed with renewed motivation, Kevin helps Mira save the ASF (Arcadian Space Fleet) Thalamos and turn the tide of the Confederation War, thanks to the latest in R&D weaponry called Project Sigma. Paired with Kevin’s astute piloting skills honed from countless hours of video game practice back on Earth, Kevin is victorious, even though the Thalamos, a one of a kind prototype ship, is destroyed in the process.
When presented to the princess on board Arcadia Prime, he’s granted one wish. He chooses a kiss that he, unfortunately, never gets the opportunity to receive, as the Arcadian Princess’ exotic scent makes him sneeze, and the device that allowed his consciousness to be present in the far beyond galaxy is lost in the process.
Book 2: Fire at Will
Kevin is back on Earth after saving the Arcadian Confederate by having his consciousness sent to an alien body in another galaxy. Upon his return home to his boring life, nobody believes his far-fetched story of intergalactic war.
But when a Kregan agent is sent to capture or kill Kevin, the 17-year-old boy is thrown back into the mix. This time though, he and his pet beagle, Boomer, get transported aboard an actual Arcadian Confederate ship called the Osiris.
There, Kevin meets Ziron, a cat-like creature called a Sphynx, who is the Confederate’s most inventive engineer. He develops next-gen weaponry and some more or less stable super suits called smart armor. Ziron enlists Kevin to help him save the Arcadian Princess, Kalliopy. The same princess Kevin was about to kiss (via the alien proxy body) before sneezing the tech into a lake.
Kevin agrees to help Ziron save the princess, secretly hoping he’d finally get another chance to kiss the pouty lips of the beautiful Kalliopy. And so their adventures begin. First, Kevin and Boomer must locate the princess, and, to do so, they have to infiltrate a dangerous and extremely tall building on the planet Omicron each armed with smart armor that allow them to morph into anything their brain can conjure. The smart armor also allows Kevin’s dog, Boomer, to speak. Once they arrive at their destination, they meet with their contact, only to learn that person has been replaced.
Enter Lacuna, a ruthless and manipulative humanoid who only agrees to help Kevin if they agree to take her with them. She tempts Kevin into getting the Arcadian Confederate an aging fleet of ships rumored to have disappeared a thousand years ago. They find the fleet and obtain information on Kalliopy’s location, but Lacuna tries to double-cross them and keep the fleet for herself.
Kevin and Boomer thwart her plans, and while both Ziron and Boomer ask for Lacuna to get spaced, Kevin decides not to execute the young girl. Instead, he ties her up inside one of the Osiris’ shuttles and programs it to return to Omicron at a slow speed. A trip that would take many days.
Meanwhile, Kevin and Boomer engage a fleet of pirates and Xonax’s capital ship. Xonax holds the princess hostage and tortures her trying to get vital information for the Kregan to win the war against the Arcadian Confederate.
Kevin manages to rescue the princess, and right before he’s about to get his first kiss, she plants a personal transporter on him, and Kevin is beamed into the ship of the leader of the pirates—Altanor.
And now the continuation…
Prologue
Kevin beamed down to the Tranaxian ship, right smack dab in the middle of their bridge.
That’s just great! thought Kevin. Though I guess I should be grateful I wasn’t beamed right down into their fusion drive.
Fortunately for Kevin, the crew’s reaction time left something to be desired, which gave him enough time to make the first move. While he hadn’t expected to land right in the middle of the busiest part of the ship, his training and new skills automatically kicked in.
By the time the first Tranaxian officer reached for his blaster, Kevin had cast his first spell. His hands moved gracefully in the air, a trail of purple light following behind his fingers. When the first incantation rune was completed, it activated the spell. A bubble of blue energy expanded from his chest outward, growing bigger with each passing millisecond.
The enemy had raised the deadly weapon in an attempt to aim for Kevin’s head when the bubble of energy swiftly passed through him and kept going, traveling through to the outer edges of the bridge’s bulkheads as if they weren’t there.
Every member of the bridge froze as if having been hit with a paralyzing ray. But that was not what this spell was for. This one had a high energy cost, and one Kevin could not use again for several hours.
The bubble distorted time for any organic matter that came in contact with it, and, while the crew seemed frozen in place, in reality, they were only slowed down. Dramatically.
The spell, however, had a short life, so Kevin had to act fast. He raised both his hands and drew more runes in the air, but this time the trails following his fingers were red. He finished drawing the symmetric runes and then grabbed them with both hands.
He took a moment to scan the room from every angle, noting where his targets were, just before the effect of the time bubble started dissipating. When he knew the spell would end, he crushed the glowing red runes in his hands. The red energy embalmed his fists, making them glow red.
His eyes also glowed red briefly, and a small smile curled at the corner of his mouth before all hell broke loose.
He opened his left hand and made a fist again, which created a circular red shield of energy around his arm, just in time to deflect the first shot from the previously frozen Tranaxian officer. The blaster fire hit the shield as it came to life and was deflected right back to the officer. It entered the top of his scalp and burned through his flesh and bones.
A mixed look of dismay and horror locked into his eyes, and the officer tipped forward and fell toward the matte-black synthetic floor. He was dead before his head smacked onto the cold, hard surface.
Shouts of panic and fear filled the room.
“It—it’s a tech sorcerer! Kill that boy!” shouted the captain from his chair.
As Kevin reopened his left hand, the red shield vanished into thin air. He made clawed hands and the red glow intensified around his arms, as a blaster shot from behind grazed his cheek, burning some of his skin in the process.
Kevin quickly turned and threw his right hand at his new attacker. A powerful and invisible shockwave hit the crewman and sent him crashing onto a console, back first, with a satisfying bone-crushing sound. More blaster fire reached him, and he jumped forward, rolled on the floor, and attacked two more crewmen with similarly powerful shockwaves. As a result, the first enemy hit his head hard against the metal bulkhead, knocking him unconscious, while the second avoided injury by grabbing onto a piece of equipment protruding from his console, though he dropped his blaster in the process.
Kevin wouldn’t let him recover his weapon if he could help it, so he cast another spell with intricate finger movements in between both his hands. A red sphere of pulsating energy grew, and like a skilled
sorcerer, he waved it toward his enemy.
The fireball hit him slightly left of his chest, sending him spinning in the air. The Tranaxian never came back in contact with the floor. As he spun around, the energy consumed his body into nothingness.
Seeing this terrible sight, two of the remaining crewmen dropped their weapons on the ground.
“Don’t shoot!” they implored.
Kevin pointed a steady finger at them. “Don’t either of you move a muscle if you value your lives.”
The crewmen nodded, one of them shaking heavily.
Kevin turned around and walked to a nearby console when the door of the bridge split open and the air filled with intense blaster fire. Before he could react, Kevin was hit twice. Fortunately, his armor took the brunt of the damage. He slammed his hands together, and a cylindrical shield rose from the ground and deflected the next shots.
However, the spell wouldn’t last forever. Kevin needed a distraction. Fortunately, he had just the right spell for that. He waved two fingers down, leaving trails of suspended red light floating in the air and then used his other hand to cross the parallel red energy lines with five more. The entire symbol flashed before disappearing, just when the shield was about to give in. Kevin reached for an item on his belt and smashed it on the floor.
Upon impact, the small rounded device broke and smoke engulfed him almost instantly.
“Keep firing!” said one of the assailants, most likely the leader of the security detachment.
The smoke cloud forced the security guards to aim wider. Kevin emerged from the fog, but almost immediately after, so did another Kevin and another. The doppelganger spell created five chimera projections of him, which proved to be a very effective distraction. The spell cost was very high and would only last a dozen seconds, but that was all the time Kevin needed.
Hidden by the smoke, he crawled behind the console for cover and reached for a small device in his pocket. He cast another spell that made an area on the lower part of the console glow orange, indicating where he needed to place the device for it to work as intended.
He swiped the top of the device, which came to life with blinking green lights, and he attached it on the console. It sealed magnetically, and the green lights flashed faster. The doppelgangers faded into nothingness.
Kevin held his breath. The smoke had dissipated enough that it wouldn’t take long for the security team to find, and no doubt, execute him. Just when Kevin thought he would need to request an emergency beam out, the green lights froze, and the device bleeped twice.
A wave of translucent energy expanded around the console and traveled outward as it passed through the Tranaxians, who lost consciousness instantly and collapsed to the floor. Kevin waited about five seconds after the last blaster fire could be heard before peeking out of cover.
The coast was clear at last. He got back up and swiped a control on the armor of his left forearm.
“All clear.”
Moments later, five more people beamed in. The pirate leader had a broad smile on his face, showing his many rotting teeth in the process.
“Well done, Kevin.”
For a moment Kevin didn’t answer. Then his entire demeanor changed.
“I can’t believe you had me do this!”
“I told you before, whether or not you want to help us doesn’t matter.”
“We’ll see about that,” Kevin muttered under his breath.
One of the pirates took his blaster off of his belt and pointed it at one of the stunned Tranaxians.
“What are you doing?” Kevin shouted.
The pirate paused and looked at his boss, who nodded. A second later the Tranaxian crewman had a hole in his forehead.
Kevin wanted to protest, but found he couldn’t speak. He tried reaching for his throat, but his hands wouldn’t move.
The pirate leader smiled. “As I said, doesn’t matter what you want.”
* * *
—== Three days earlier ==—
Kalliopy had her head down as she returned to the Osiris’ bridge.
Ziron jumped from his levitating cushion and ran toward the princess.
“Are you alright, your majesty?”
Kalliopy shook her head softly and couldn’t help but let the tears flow onto her cheeks.
“Are you hurt?” asked Ziron.
“No, Ziron, I’m not hurt.”
On the other side of the bridge, Boomer yawned. “I guess I must have drifted off. What did I miss? Where’s Kevin?”
Ziron looked around. “Yeah, where is he?”
Kalliopy wiped the fresh tears off her cheeks. “He—he’s gone.”
“What do you mean, he’s gone?” barked Boomer. “Gone where?”
“I’m sorry,” said Kalliopy. “He’s no longer on the ship?”
“What?” said Ziron in disbelief.
“How can he not be on the ship?” insisted Boomer. “He was here minutes ago!”
“I—I helped the Kregan so they could transport Kevin to their ship.”
Boomer growled and barked loudly multiple times.
“Easy, let her finish,” cut in Ziron with a hiss. “Why would you do that, your majesty? After all he’s done to rescue you.”
“All we’ve done,” protested Boomer.
Kalliopy looked away. “Don’t you think I know that? I—I can’t even imagine what you went through to find and rescue me. Which made this an even more difficult decision.”
“Oh, boo-hoo!” said Boomer in between growls.
“I’ll be right back,” said Ziron as he ran and jumped back on his floating cushion.
He pressed a couple of holo-controls.
“Better,” added Ziron.
Boomer barked repeatedly and stopped, confused.
“What did you do?” Kalliopy asked.
“I temporarily disabled the implant allowing him to speak.”
“I don’t think you should have done that, he has a right to be upset. As a matter of fact, why aren’t you?”
Boomer barked a few more times and growled before walking to Kalliopy and raising his back leg.
“No!!” Ziron both screamed and hissed at the same time.
But Boomer relieved himself on Kalliopy’s leg, and she didn’t even try to move away. Boomer then gave the princess an intense look before leaving the bridge.
“I—I’m so sorry about that, your highness. We’ll have your dress cleaned.”
Kalliopy’s eyes were watery again, and she shook her head.
“Have you even looked at it? This dress was already a goner, and the dog had every right to express his emotions the way he did. Kevin risked his life to save me, and I probably sent him to his death. If I could trade my life for his, I would, but it—it’s not that simple.”
“What do you mean? Why did you give Kevin to the Kregan then?”
“They…they have my sister.”
Ziron meowed loudly. “I’m sorry to hear that. But what assurance do you have that they’ll release her?”
“Only their word.”
“I wouldn’t put much faith in that, no offense.”
“None taken. We need to make sure we get her back; I don’t trust Xonax one bit. As a matter of fact, he’ll probably double-cross me again and again.”
“That’s all well and good, but what about Kevin?”
“We’ll try and get him back too. He’s a resourceful young man and will find a way to bide his time.”
“That he is, a little impulsive and too trusting, evidently, but he’s not the kind of person to easily give up.”
“I’m counting on it.”
“Should we try to track this Xonax person then? Get Kevin back and rescue your sister?”
“I’m afraid we can’t do that. We’ll have to rescue Athala first, or Xonax will use her against me over and over. In fact, there’s no telling what he’d do if we got Kevin back now.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Kalliopy walked toward
the viewport and looked at the stars outside. “So do I, Ziron, so do I.”
1
Kevin blinked his eyes open. The first thing he noticed was that he was in a dark and damp room. The second thing he noticed, almost at the same time, was the splitting headache pounding against his skull. To make matters worse, he couldn’t move. He was being restrained, floating a few centimeters above the ground by levitating devices holding his hands and feet.
What the hell had happened? Kevin remembered seeing Kalliopy cry and tell him she was sorry. Obviously, she was responsible for his predicament, at least partly. That made him both sad and resentful. After everything he’d been through to get her back from the Kregan, had she just sold him out to them?
Why though? Kevin tried to think what would compel her to do such a horrible thing. But perhaps he had overestimated her gratitude for saving the Arcadian Confederate. Perhaps gratitude meant piss off in this galaxy. No matter the reason, it didn’t bode well for Kevin.
Perhaps this is all a bad dream, and I’m going to wake up.
Kevin closed his eyes and concentrated hard on trying to wake himself. No dice.
“Ahhh, crap. Not a bad dream.”
“No such luck,” said a teeny, tiny female voice. “More like a nightmare. This place is cold, and the people around aren’t very nice.”
“Who’s there? Show yourself!”
“Don’t you see me already?”
“No, where?”
“Look on your shoulder.”
Kevin looked at his right shoulder.
“The other one,” said the voice.
When Kevin looked at his left shoulder, he couldn’t help but yelp. A tarantula-sized yellow spider was sitting on it. A sensation of itchiness and fear overwhelmed him. Kevin instinctively screamed while he tried to shimmy his shoulder up and down to make the spider fall, but the hovering devices were keeping him steadily in place.
“Help! Get this thing off of me!”
Across the Galactic Pond - Box Set: The Complete FAR BEYOND Space Opera Series Page 21