Overlord Alliance: Book 2 of the Neon Octopus Ally Series

by L. A. Johnson

  Overlord Alliance

  L.A. Johnson

  Contents

  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

  Chapter 25

  About the Author

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters and events in this book are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Published by Chemical Zombie Press LLC

  Copyright © 2018 by L.A. Johnson

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Artwork by Venkatesh Sekar

  Editing by Elizabeth Lance

  1

  Ari had been through a lot of strange things in this galaxy. Even for her, though, the calm before the storm of a killer alien invasion was new. She wasn’t a fan.

  She rubbed her face with her hands and yawned. The Galactic Ambassador had given her the Crown Conference Room to set up computers and equipment to analyze Kruxx’s phone. Also, to dig up whatever information she could find on Hitherware, the mysterious organization behind it all. Looking around, she couldn’t believe just a couple of days ago, Kruxx was in here threatening the entire galaxy. And soon she would find out if Hitherware would make good on the threat.

  In fact, there had been a very freaky battle to the death in this very room not too long ago, but you’d never know it from looking around. Even in the middle of an apocalypse, the Galactic Ambassador was the best.

  The walls and the floor were crystal blue, hand-carved marble. It gave the room a soothing, sea-like feel. The desk was made of an ancient oak inlaid with gold trim which matched the chairs. Above them, the chandelier had its own waterfall that went cascading in a delicate, beautiful stream. Water goblets on the table were carved out of a very rare mineral and each of them had a separate constellation hand-carved into it.

  Apocalypse or not, she couldn’t complain. She looked longingly at the soft leather couch with the pillow on it. The pillow had been a very nice touch, but it had been wishful thinking. Stop wanting to sleep, Ari, she told herself. You’ve got too much to do.

  She took a deep breath and stretched her hand out at a nearby pencil, concentrating. The pencil rotated slightly and then stopped moving. There was Staar magic in her somewhere, she knew it. The magic had affected the aliens that had invaded the first time, but maybe that was because magic has a greater effect on magic than on the mundane. At least that was the working theory for her failure.

  There was a knock on the conference room door and then Kirian came in. Each step resulted in metal on metal sounds. Ari smiled to herself. Kirian must have even more weapons on her person than usual, and that was saying something.

  “Good morning,” Kirian said. She had two cups of coffee in her hand. She gave one to Ari and stretched. “I slept great. And I’m now ready. Bring on the apocalypse.” She pulled out her short sword and slashed around the room a few times before turning back to Ari.

  “That makes one of us,” Ari said. Kirian was entirely too cheerful given the circumstances.

  Kirian pulled up a chair. “You look like hell, Ari. Did you sleep at all?” She looked around the room. “And where’s Chip?”

  “I let him get some sleep,” Ari answered, yawning. “There was no sense in both of us staying up.”

  A text came through to Ari’s phone. She checked it. “It’s from Floyd. He said he did his best to figure out what was going on, but as soon as he pressed his relative for details of his involvement…” She frowned.

  “What is it?” Kirian asked.

  Ari put the phone down. “Floyd said his relative, who used to be involved in this somehow, is now dead. So much for our only lead. I have a feeling that this isn’t a corporate takeover like Kruxx said. This is personal. I think something else is going on here.”

  “What are you saying?” Kirian asked.

  “I’m saying that everything Kruxx said was a lie. That no matter how many meetings or plans we have, none of us have the slightest idea of what to expect.”

  Kirian smiled. “I’ll go down fighting with you, Ari.”

  Ari smiled back. “I appreciate the sentiment. But if it’s all the same to you, I’d like to win.”

  Kirian grinned. “That works too.”

  “Hey,” Ari said. “Thanks for the coffee, Kirian. I think I’ll go outside. I need some air.”

  Kirian nodded.

  Ari grabbed her coffee and took it with her. A walk would do her good. She nodded at the polite Galactic Ambassador employees as she made her way down to the double doors that emptied into Arcturis Square.

  Once outside, Ari took a deep breath and looked around. There was a cool breeze whipping around and it was overcast.

  Making her way to the middle of the square, she sat on the cool grass in the middle of Arcturis Square watching the sky. Strange, gray clouds gathered. The wind picked up even more. She pulled herself further into her coat, trying to hide from both the wind and the coming alien invasion. Extinction wave, Kruxx called it.

  She looked around the square at the toppled statues and the large chunks of earth missing. The destruction was courtesy of the invasion wave. Ari frowned and considered the fact that all of the Overlord Candidates working together had barely withstood the invasion wave. What chance did they have against an extinction wave? Especially with no idea what was coming?

  What she knew was that what was coming was worse than wind and clouds. How much worse, she wasn’t sure. Kruxx was a liar and a jerk, and she couldn’t trust what he said, but she still knew something bad was on its way.

  Power was finally restored to Arcturis. Once it was, she got a text from Chip. Incredibly, he had survived the first wave and had come to Arcturis to help bring up the secure Overlord Information System.

  Ari hoped that the top-secret security system available to whoever was Overlord would give her more information on this Hitherware Corporation. Her research so far had led to very few answers. Whoever these people were, they had covered their tracks well.

  Ari’s phone rang. It was Chip, so she answered it. “Tell me good news.”

  “Got it, boss,” Chip said. “We’re up and running. The only thing we need is a password.”

  “Okay, I’ll be right there.” Ari hung up the phone. As she turned to leave, though, something caught her eye. She turned back toward the square where she heard a ripping, crackling sound that made all of her hair stand up on end.

  She blinked twice and shook her head. What she saw appear out of thin air couldn’t be real, but there it was. “What the hell?” Ari asked, as she took a few steps forward.

  “What is it, boss?” Chip’s voice coming through the phone receiver reminded her she had forgotten to hang up.

  “I don’t know what it is,�
� Ari said. “But it’s not good, Chip. I don’t think we have much time.” This time she remembered to hang up. She wanted privacy to investigate this new development.

  At the end of the square, a giant crack had opened up in the sky, from the ground to the rooftop. It wasn’t wide enough for a person to get through, but it was very tall. The edges of the crack were black as night and a green light was oozing through it. This can’t be good, Ari thought. She couldn’t help staring at it for a moment. The few civilians who were out and about had stopped to stare at it too. It was hard to look away.

  A sudden flash of light streaked all the way across the sky. It would have been spectacular even if it would have been an ordinary lightning strike. Only, this strike lit up the sky with streaks of colors. The colored lightning streak was all the more incredible because it lit up the crack in the sky for a moment.

  Ari heard footsteps behind her. It made her jump, but then she heard the clanking of metal. Kirian. She turned to face her friend.

  “Did you see that?” Ari asked.

  “Yeah,” Kirian answered. “Looks like the end of the world to me. What do you think it means?”

  Ari thought about it for a moment. “Oh no. That lightning strike looked like a piece of a fractal to me.”

  Kirian stared wide-eyed at Ari. “Have you been doing a little of end-of-the-world-indulging?”

  “No, but I know who has. We have to find Fleek. Maybe he knows what’s going on.”

  “I doubt it,” Kirian answered.

  Ari smacked her own forehead. “Why didn’t I think of it sooner? Any time we ever got stuck, he’s the one who knew what to do next. Think about it. He walked out of a maximum-security prison in the middle of an alien invasion, went straight to the super-secret meeting we were holding in the Crown Conference Room with Kruxx, and saved us. How likely was that?”

  “Less likely than a rainbow lightning strike,” Kirian answered. “He never seems to know what’s going on outside of his own little world, but oddly enough, you’re right. He usually knows exactly what to do.”

  A new crackling sound echoed in the sky across the clouds. It followed the lightning strike with a deep rumble. A dimly green light was bleeding in through the rip which remained after the crackling sound died away.

  Ari and Kirian stared at it in horror.

  “Okay. I will admit that crack in the sky is super creepy. What do you think it means?” Kirian asked.

  “I think it means that we’re running out of time. And that we need to get the Overlord Alliance, plus Fleek, back together.”

  On her way back inside the hotel, she dialed Soda and got her answering machine. You can run, but you can’t hide, Soda, she thought. Then she hung up and called Drexyl.

  2

  Soda extended two of her tentacles to the sky. She took a deep breath in, held it to the count of three, and then exhaled. Her phone flashed a message. She turned her head and ignored it.

  “Ocean breath,” the tanned and blonde pony-tailed instructor said. “Deep, cleansing breaths, people. And remember; just because this world is ending doesn’t mean that another world won’t begin in its place.”

  Soda breathed in and out, wishing that her regular yoga instructor was here instead of this bimbo. She wasn’t ready for her world to end. Life was just getting interesting.

  Soda’s phone flashed again. It was another message. It’s the end of the world, idiots, and I’m in the middle of a yoga class. Leave me alone.

  She knew they wouldn’t leave her alone, and she knew things were bad. That’s why she needed to focus. That’s why she needed yoga.

  The instructor’s voice droned on. “Center yourself for today. Today is all that matters. Let the future and the past go.”

  Soda changed positions. This was the most exclusive yoga studio in Arcturis. It was packed. Everyone in the yoga class was trying to attain a more peaceful state.

  She smiled. Suckers. She wasn’t trying to be more peaceful. For the first time in years, she was trying to remember how to focus her rage. And her memory. Focusing her rage increased her power. And as for memory, well, she was sure that somewhere along the way, she had heard stuff about Hitherware, she couldn’t remember it. And so, she was here, trying to focus. The constant influx of messages to her phone was blocking her focus though. It was also disrupting the class.

  Another message vibrated its presence against the beautifully polished hardwood floor. The other participants gave her icy stares. She grabbed her phone with a tentacle and hurled it across the room. It landed with a clunk. “Don’t look at me that way, morons,” she said. “You people know who I am. I was the Neon Octopus Overlord. I’m now an official Overlord Candidate again and we’re under attack. I have a lot on my mind. Do you really think this galaxy will end without my cell phone blowing up with messages?”

  She stood up to her full height and stared at them until they went back to their own little worlds. Then she got back into position, closed her eyes, and tried to refocus. Breathe, Soda. In through your mouth, and out through your beak.

  Then, at the instructor’s command, they all changed positions once again. Soda leaned forward on several tentacles, lifting herself high into the air.

  The door to the yoga studio burst open, thudding against the wall. All the eyes in the room turned to see the very handsome guy who just burst through the door. Soda knew who it was by the looks on their faces, she didn’t even have to turn around.

  “What is it, Drexyl? I’m in the middle of something.”

  “We have to go,” he said.

  Soda, on command, switched positions again. The other patrons at this point were just going with it, deciding against giving her dirty looks. Good choice.

  “If this is about another meeting, then my answer is a hard pass. There have been nonstop meetings for two days. There’s a special hell for people whose only way to deal with a coming apocalypse is by wasting other people’s time.”

  “It’s not about a meeting,” Drexyl continued. “It’s a message from Ari. She got the Overlord Secure Information Center up and running again. She will run the information she got from Kruxx through the system and try to find out what’s coming and how to stop it. She just needs the password. And that’s why she needs you.”

  Soda switched into one more yoga position while she thought about it. Ari wasn’t a dreary time waster. And getting the Secure Information Center back up was a great idea. At least somebody around here was doing something intelligent. And as it turned out, she had the password. “Fine,” she said, getting up and stretching. “Tell her we’re on our way.”

  Froggy sat at his favorite seat in his lair, furiously and pointlessly tapping at his keyboard. Finally, he swore and smashed the keyboard. “Why isn’t anything working?”

  His girlfriend Cecilia came into the room. “It’s all down honey. Everything. The internet is kaput.”

  He turned to face her only to realize she was dressed for the beach. She wore a tight-fitting tank he loved over her bikini top and a flowered skirt. And flip-flops.

  “Um. Have I missed something?” Froggy asked. “It’s overcast and windy and fifty degrees outside. Also, there’s the whole thing about the imminent alien invasion and our deaths.”

  “Exactly,” she said, walking up to him and whispering in his ear. “It’s the opportunity of a lifetime. We get to choose our own death. At least we have just enough notice to let us die in the manner that we always hoped.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Froggy asked.

  “The immediate future,” she said. “Let’s go get wasted on a beach in Vega. The world’s about to end, right? That means an unlimited budget, sand between our toes, and enough booze to make damn sure that we don’t feel a thing when the event finally happens. It’s the perfect plan.”

  Froggy let the idea sink in for a moment. A few days ago, it would have been an easy decision. He would have joined her in a second. But now he was part of an Overlord Alliance trying to
save the galaxy. Damn it. “I can’t. I wish I could. I kind of have to stay now. To try to save everything. I kinda wish I had never put my name in for Overlord. I’m so sorry that it ruins your plans.”

  “It doesn’t,” she said, kissing him on the cheek. “I invited you to come with me, but it was never a negotiation.”

  The words hit him harder than he expected. “Yeah,” he answered. “That makes sense. Just go have a party and die. Don’t help me or anything.”

  “Don’t be mad,” she said. “I’m a researcher. The internet is dead. There’s nothing I can do. And I know it’s bad. You’ve been talking in your sleep. I love you. I do. But at least I invited you into my plans, you assumed I’d join yours.”

  “You’re right. I’m sorry.” Froggy massaged his temples with his hands. He couldn’t blame her.

  “Hold on.” He reached out and opened a drawer. He rifled through it and pulled out a credit card. “Here.” He handed it to her.

  “What’s this?” she asked.

  “Four hundred thousand galactic credits. It’s my way of saying I’m sorry about all of this. I’m sorry I have to stay. And I want you to have a great time. Just promise to have a few drinks for me. Ok?”

  She accepted the credit card and then fixed him with a stare. Her expression softened. “Do you really think you guys have a shot at this? Surviving the invasion? Because your dreams tell another story.”

  “Say what you will about us freaky wanna-be overlords, but one thing we’re not is quitters. Wish me luck.” His cell phone buzzed, and he checked it. “Looks like I have to get back to the Galactic Ambassador Hotel.”