Fire At Will
Far Beyond - Book 1
Christian Kallias
Contents
Also by Christian Kallias
Acknowledgments
Copyright
Far Beyond prequel: get it free
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Want to read three more books right now?
Also by Christian Kallias
About the Author
Also by Christian Kallias
The Universe in Flames Series
Book 1: Earth - Last Sanctuary (Definitive Edition)
Book 1.5: Ryonna's Wrath (Novella)
Book 2: Fury to the Stars
Book 3: Destination Oblivion
Book 4: The Beginning of the End
Book 5: Rise of the Ultra Fury
Book 6: Shadows of Olympus
Book 7: Armageddon Unleashed
Book 8: Twilight of the Gods
Book 9: Requiem of Souls
Book 10: To End All Wars (Final Chapter)
Universe In Flames - Origins
Episode 1: Course Correction
Universe In Flames - Dark Legacy Series
Book 1: Late 2018 (Book completed)
Universe in Flames - Starlight Extinction (prequel: The First Fury War)
Book 1: Coming in 2019
Far Beyond Series
Book 0: Across the Galactic Pond
Book 1: Untitled (Fall 2018)
Rewind Series
Book 0: Out of Time (Collateral Damage anthology)
Book 1: Rewind 717
Anthologies
Collateral Damage
The Expanding Universe 3
Beyond the Black Volume 1
Acknowledgments
Cover artwork by Christian Kallias
[email protected]
www.christiankallias.com
www.facebook.com/ChristianKallias
www.twitter.com/kalliasx
Production Editor & Alpha/ARC Team Lead
Paula Lavattiata Lopez
Editors
Paula Lavattiata Lopez
Proofreaders
Paula Lavattiata Lopez
Alpha Readers & ARC Team (Thank you!)
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by Christian Kallias
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
First Printing of original books, 2018
Far Beyond prequel: get it free
A Note About Far Beyond: The Story
While you can start with Book 1 (this book), Far Beyond began as a short story named Across the Galactic Pond that I had written for Craig Martelle’s excellent The Expanding Universe Anthology (Volume 3). The Story was later released as Far Beyond Book 0. If you do decide to read Book 1 on its own, below is a short synopsis to catch you up on what happened in Book 0. It was challenging writing a 10k story with the scope I wanted to give to Across the Galactic Pond. But in doing so I discovered that I really enjoy this new universe. Many of my readers echoed that they loved Kevin and the short story, so I’ve decided to write a full-length novel about Kevin and his adventures in galaxies far, far away.
If you’d like to read Across the Galactic Pond, you can get it FREE (A $1.99 value) below:
Get Across the Galactic Pond on BookFunnel.
Previously on Far Beyond.
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.
And now the continuation…
Prologue
“I need to find a way to go back to Arcadia,” Kevin murmured. “You know I have to, right?”
But his dog, Boomer, was sleeping. Not that he would have been able to answer.
Kevin smiled as he looked at his best friend in the whole world who was resting his head on his paws. “Don’t worry, this time I’ll take you with me.”
It had been less than a week since Kevin had saved the Arcadian Confederate, and already his life felt like it had resumed its tasteless, borderline depressive state. Kevin tried to convince everyone that his experience was real, only to be laughed at and ridiculed at every turn.
Shortly after Kevin had sneezed the conscience-transference device into the lake, frying it in the process, the capsule with the alien also decided to erase itself from existence. Kevin assumed that was a security measure to either not botch a first-contact situation or simply self-preservation of Arcadian technology, preventing it from being reverse engineered by the wrong people.
Kevin was more inclined to believe the latter. Not that it mattered. All that did matter was nobody had seen the crashed ship but him, and nobody believed a word he said. In fact, upon insistence by his mother, Kevin had to undergo both a physical and psychological evaluation when he insisted that what happened was real.
His father now had even more ammo to knock his son down a few more pegs. Not that he needed it, his father was already doing a bang-up job.
A wheezing sound startled Kevin, and for a split second, he thought he heard another dying alien. But it was just Boomer wheeze-snoring. The sound had been eerily familiar to Kevin’s memory of the dying alien’s last breaths.
Had he imagined it all? Could he just
have been under a tremendous amount of stress and his mind had needed an escape, and that’s what it came up with?
With no proof for him to regain a little dignity, pretty much everywhere he went, news traveled fast in their small Massachusetts village and his “issues.” And not that Kevin had many friends to rely on. As a geek doubling as a nerd and being the son of a big-mouthed, raging alcoholic, he had not had the easiest of childhoods. At one point, his sister had been his best friend. Once she started junior high, a chasm developed between them, and now, like everyone else in his life, she joined in the camp of people making fun of Kevin’s delusions. She had changed so much in the last few years. From a confidant, to someone who didn’t even ask how he was doing. All she cared about was hanging with her prom queen-type crowd and trying to land the star quarterback, Mitch Edenstack, to date her.
Kevin hated the guy. He was the embodiment of everything that was wrong with the world. An athlete built like a mountain with barely the IQ sum of a couple of oysters. Muscle and looks over brains.
If only I could go back. . .there’s nothing for me here on Earth.
To make things worse, some of his old schoolmates were actually making fun of him online with their videos reaching viral status on YouTube. Kevin felt, even more than ever before, estranged from the world.
Since it didn’t look like he would find sleep tonight, he got up from his desk chair and got dressed. Perhaps a walk under the stars would do him good. But for some reason, he felt compelled to view the latest video making fun of him. He booted up his aging PC, the one his dad had given him five years earlier when he upgraded his own.
The machine was a wreck, but Kevin had managed to upgrade a few parts so he could play some video games at the lowest settings. Though, ever since his PlayStation had been confiscated on the grounds of him lying, he had no desire to play the few crappy games that ran on this pathetic excuse of a computer. The video he was viewing was named Bozos Are Among Us, and the counter showed two point five million views. He was not only the laughing stock of the area but soon his loser standing would reach worldwide status.
Swell.
As if sensing his despair, Boomer raised his head, then jumped down from his spot at the end of the bed and came to comfort him. Kevin petted his dog playfully, patting his side and bottom. Boomer’s tail wagged.
“I’m lucky to have you. At least you’re not judging me like the rest of the world.”
Boomer barked.
“Shhh…you’re gonna wake the rest of the family.”
Kevin became distracted by the wagging tail of his cute and trusty Beagle. That is until Boomer’s fur took on a bluish hue. Kevin glanced back at his computer screen, which was filled with an error message. The dreaded blue screen of death.
“More like Winblows, if you ask me.”
Kevin sighed.
“Alright,” he whispered. “Since you’re up too, you can come with me.”
Boomer jumped around as Kevin gathered his keys and the pathetically old phone his father had given him after he’d learned that his son had lost his own in the lake. That part of the story he believed, and, in fact, it felt like it was all he had focused on when Kevin first tried to explain his otherworldly encounter.
The crappy knock-off smartphone brand was barely worth the name phone, let alone smart. But at least it would connect to the Internet. Well, most of the time, as the phone’s communication chip seemed to have a mind of its own.
Kevin and Boomer exited the bedroom in the middle of the night.
Shortly after Kevin had closed the door, the computer screen filled with static and a high-pitched distorted voice echoed.
“Hello, anybody there? Kevin? Are you there?”
1
No wonder Kevin couldn’t sleep, even if it was past 3 a.m. It was a full moon. For some reason that messed up his sleeping patterns. Almost every single time, he would just toss and turn during full moons. At least outside the air was fresh and walking around helped his mind focus on other things.
The moon was more significant than usual, orange and quite ominous looking. But it didn’t scare Kevin, he liked every and all celestial objects. His love for the stars had no bounds, and now that he had gone into galactic space once, he had to find a way to get there again. Granted, technically only his consciousness had traveled light-years to wherever Arcadia was, but it had felt like he had been there nonetheless and his memory of the adventure was still crisp and the most amazing thing that he had ever experienced.
Kevin grabbed a branch from the ground and threw it as far as he could. Boomer darted forward and caught it in midair, after making quite an impressive leap for a dog his size. He brought the branch back, his tail wagging on overdrive.
Kevin grabbed Boomer by the face and shook his head vigorously but playfully, while Boomer wiggled around. “That’s a good dog,” Kevin remarked, before throwing the stick a few more times.
Eventually, Kevin got bored with the activity before Boomer did.
From captain of a prototype warship to throwing a stick meters away. Life can be cruel.
Suddenly, Boomer started barking loudly at Kevin.
“What is it budd—” but an intense burning sensation in his pocket cut Kevin’s words short. He grabbed his phone, which was burning hot, and threw it to the ground. Smoke swirled from the device as the screen flickered madly while sparks flew.
“What the hell!” exclaimed Kevin as he shook his burnt hand madly.
Boomer growled and continued barking.
When the phone started levitating, Kevin knew something was amiss.
Is this happening? Or am I dreaming?
A red glow enveloped the smartphone, and the screen cracked like an eggshell.
“Anybody there?” a high-pitched voice resounded from the device.
“What? Hello?”
“Who’s Hello? Did I dial the wrong device? I’m looking for Kevin.”
Kevin slowly blinked twice. “I’m Kevin, who are you? And how are you communicating with me?”
“My name is of no importance at the moment. I’ve hacked your device via a subspace link, though I doubt you’ll understand the technology involved. We need your help, urgently.”
“Hacked? More like fried it. Who are ‘we’?”
“I’m an engineer with the Arcadian Confederate. Sorry about your device, its low quality and archaic design made it quite the challenge to access and modify in the first place. I apologize for the quality of the call, there’s some random weird feedback loop interference.”
That’s when Kevin realized that Boomer was still panicked and barking frantically at the flying phone. Kevin got to his knees and reached to hug his scared dog.
“Easy, Boomer, it’s not going to hurt us.”
It took a few more seconds for Boomer to calm down, but eventually, he stopped barking.
“Oh,” said the voice, “the interference seems to have lowered, that’s good. I could barely hear you.”
Boomer is not interference, you twat.
But Kevin knew that the person on the other end of the call couldn’t have known that.
“What’s going on? You said something about needing my help.”
“Yes. Princess Kalliopy has been kidnapped by the Kregan. She needs your help.”
“Who’s Princess Kalliopy?”
“The cute girl you sneezed on, does that ring a bell?”
Loser status now upgraded to interstellar fame. That’s just great!
“Yes, it does. Vividly, in fact. Just beam me out already and let’s go get the princess.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen. It’s already a minor miracle that I can send my voice from this far away into this pathetic excuse for a communication device.”
“How am I supposed to help you from here?”
“I’m working on that part. I’ve sent a probe your way through a wormhole. It should arrive not too far from your location in about twenty minutes. It contains a portable transp
orter that will beam you onto my ship. Hopefully, it will do that before it’s too late.”
“Why would it be too late?”
“I didn’t mention the fact that we’re on a tight timetable, did I? Sorry about that. The Kregan spy network has learned of your involvement in our war, and since you were instrumental in defeating them, they’ve sent someone to make sure you don’t help us again. Kinda.”
“What do you mean someone? Or ‘kinda’?”
“Mmmm…There’s no easy way to say this.”
“Say it anyway!”
“A highly trained operative, or assassin, we’re not exactly sure, might already be on Earth looking for you. Though our own intel isn’t clear at this point, they might want to kill you on sight, or they might just want to abduct you and learn everything they can about you.”
“Oh, that makes me feel so much better!”
Fire at Will: A Space Opera Adventure With LitRPG Elements Page 1
