Backlash Rising

by Brandon Ellis

  “Do I get a choice in the matter?”

  There’s always a choice. You can take me or leave me. Another will come along. Another will fulfill his or her life mission. But I think I know your choice.

  Ali didn’t reply, knowing her choice as well; to use this ship to get her friends off of this planet. “Wait, wait. We need to turn around and destroy that massive weapon heading Sirona’s way.”

  I scanned the area. We have time. The weapon is on a slower course than when it originally started. Someone has interrupted its navigation and driving systems.

  S jumped into Ali’s mind. The Anunnaki most likely worked his or her magic, messing with the weapon.

  The slit in the mountain opened as they drew nearer. Tranquil’s bow thrusters hummed loudly, slowing the ship down. Ali shifted uncomfortably in the seat.

  Are you prepared?

  “What do you think?” Ali grimaced.

  You’ll be fine.

  “Easy for you to say. They won’t yell at you.”

  No, they won’t.

  Entering the mountain’s belly, the opening rumbled to a close behind Tranquil. The ship shook when it touched down, and Ali’s nerves felt like they spun erratically through every facet of her body.

  She stood and walked toward the viewscreen. A hoard of Bawn warriors gawked at the ship, their long axes resting on their shoulders, their hands clasped around the axes’ handles.

  This didn’t look good.

  21

  Eden

  Starship Sirona, Eos

  Eden crouched lower, her gun hand shaking, the Sirona Guards pointing their rifles at her. Calm, Eden, she told herself. Adrenaline coursed through her veins. She took a deep breath, and her hand steadied. “Diana, tell them to stand down.” Eden slipped her finger through the trigger guard, her muzzle aimed at a guard’s nose. “This is a plasma weapon and your men don’t have a chance.”

  True or not, perhaps different technology, unknown to anyone in Star Guild, would put some hesitation in the guards’ minds. Several clicks sounded from the corridor, and a few of the guards flinched, glancing to their right.

  “Do you want to die, mortal?” Nyx’s voice echoed off the walls in Eden’s sleeping quarters.

  “Tell them to stand down,” yelled Eden. “You don’t want blood on your hands, Diana…Sirona blood.”

  “I’d do as she says,” came Skye’s voice.

  A pause and Eden steadied her aim.

  “Stand down,” said Diana. The guards lowered their weapons.

  “And back away,” ordered Nyx.

  Eden stood and moved toward the doorway. The guards moved aside, slowly backing down the corridor. Eden leveled her gun, tracking the middle Sirona soldier. Entering the corridor, she found Diana and Sleuth.

  Diana’s hands hung by her side, empty. She didn’t have a weapon like Eden thought. Perhaps she actually had come to talk, and not to kill, but better safe than shot.

  Jantu walked past Eden, his blue fur brushing her arm. He held a long rifle, his face calm. How the hell did that guy do that? In the middle of stress and potential combat, he kept it cool and compassionate even.

  “Do we have a problem, Diana?” asked Skye.

  Diana nodded. “That’s a bad question, sir. You ever see weapons drawn when there’s not a problem? The answer is yes. Major Eden Gaines pulled a gun on a superior officer. She’s going to the brig. There she’ll answer many of my questions.”

  “Under what Space Templar law do we allow Star Guild military to apprehend our own officers?” spat Skye.

  Diana cleared her throat. “She’s not a Space Templar, and if I considered her part of your…gang…she’s on my ship. On my ship, Star Guild laws apply.”

  Skye shifted his eyes to each of his small crew. “Put your weapons down.”

  Eden lowered her weapon to her side. Jantu and Nyx did as well. A light in the corridor flickered just above Sleuth. His eyes focused on Eden, a scowl across his face.

  Skye continued. “I’ll tell you what. If I promise no more incidents on your boat, will you let this one slip?”

  Diana cocked her head to the side. “Slip? No.” She bit her lower lip, thinking for a moment. “All right. A warning, but that is all and never again.” She eyed her men. “Let’s go.” They marched down the corridor, Diana in tow. She flicked a look over her shoulder. “Do not point another weapon at my crew or me. If I see it again, I’ll throw your entire team in the brig.” She disappeared around a corner.

  Skye’s hand gently fell on Eden’s shoulder. “May I have a word?”

  Eden dipped her head. “Yes.”

  He looked at Nyx and Jantu. “We need to be alone. Guard the door.” Skye led Eden into her sleeping quarters. The door shut behind them. “One word of advice, if you don't mind me giving it?”

  She stiffened, wondering what else she’d done wrong. “I defended myself.” She pointed at the door. “They came here with their weapons drawn. I had no choice but to draw my own.” She patted her holstered pistol.

  He folded his arms, tapping one finger on an elbow. “I understand. I need you to understand that I’m on your side and always have been from the moment we met. If they took you to the brig, we’d bust you out.” He motioned toward the door. “You saw how quickly we responded to a threat to your life? We are watching.”

  Eden’s muscles relaxed. “What do you mean you’re watching?”

  “Your crystal.”

  She touched her pendant. It radiated warmth. “You monitor me through this?”

  He shook his head. “It’s monitored through mine, Nyx, and Jantu’s wristband.” He showed her the gold band he wore and tapped on it. A line shot from it and a holographic schematic of the ship fizzled outward, displaying above his wristband. The entire ship, however, didn’t come in view. Only areas she traversed on this craft displayed on the blueprint. “If your crystal senses stress beyond normal, it lets us know.”

  She wrapped her fingers around her pendant. “This thing senses me?”

  “Yes, but don’t let that get to you. All it does is report when you’re in danger. Nothing more. We don’t have a holocam inside of it if that’s what you’re thinking.” He folded his arms across his chest. “But that’s not why I want to talk with you alone.”

  “What is it, then?”

  Skye sat on her bed, his eyes bright. “It’s time to train. It’s time for you to learn the Sight.”

  “Now?”

  “Yes. Until you learn the Sight well, Nyx remains the lead. Watch her. See how she does things. When she feels you’re ready, she’ll give you the position back.”

  “The captain position?”

  “Yes.”

  Eden snorted. “What makes you think she’ll ever give me the position? She dislikes me like a fish to dry land.”

  “She will. I assure you. She has honor. She has brains. It doesn’t matter if she dislikes you, she’ll see with her own eyes when you’re fully qualified.”

  “Why can’t you promote me when the time comes?”

  “It’s an agreement between Nyx and me.” He looked off, shrugging. “Let’s just say she’s not done with her training either. Observing and noticing when you’re ready is an assignment I’ve given her, because like you, she has a lot to learn. Plus, the last thing she wants is to be a captain. She leads squads, not fleets. It’s just not her style.” Skye sat cross-legged on her bed. “Copy me and close your eyes.”

  “Now?”

  “Now. Your training with the Sight begins at this very moment.”

  Eden stood motionless. “I just about got blasted by the Sirona Guard, and you want me to train this minute?”

  “There’s no better time than here and now.”

  “Wow.” Eden shook her body, her arms flailing back and forth to get the sensations out of her central nervous system. Only minutes ago, men pointed deadly weapons her way. She took a deep breath and exhaled, then sat on the bed across from Skye. She crossed her legs and closed her eyes
.

  “Clear your mind,” he said.

  Eden scrunched up her nose. “Easy for you to say.”

  “Focus on your breathing. In through your nose, out through your nose. Hold for two seconds before exhaling, expanding that count at each breath until you reach twenty seconds before each exhale.”

  Eden slowly shook her head. “All right.” She took a deep breath, then held, breathing out two seconds later.

  After ten minutes of deep breathing, Skye spoke, “Open your eyes.”

  Eden jerked back, her mind focused on the breathing, her body now relaxed. She opened her eyes and blinked several times. “Everything is brighter, clearer.”

  “Good. Now, focus on your pillow, and ask to partner with it.”

  She furrowed her brow. “Partner with it?”

  “Yes, it’s an ask and answer partnership. You ask, and you feel the object’s answer. Watch.” He took a deep breath through his nose, and the pillow lifted off of the bed, floating. With a dip of his head, it slowly lowered, resting gently back in its place.

  Eden’s mouth gaped, and she put her hands up. “What? How?”

  “Energy makes up all of life. By Universal Law, we’re allowed to partner this energy. When you feel the confirmation, the energy is subtle, yes, you and what you’re partnering with will…partner. When partnering with the pillow, I felt the confirmation right here,” he touched his heart, “and the more you practice the Sight, the faster and easier it is to partner, and the quicker you feel the link.”

  “You lifted the pillow off my bed.”

  “A bend in physics, yes. A lightening of the energy around the pillow, lifting it up, and setting it down.”

  “So, you partnered with the energy around the pillow, too?”

  “Yes, simultaneously, but I needed confirmation from the pillow and the energy around the pillow to allow me to lift it, and back down again.”

  “Again, how?”

  He tapped his head. “With imagination. I imagined it lifting. It’s like robotics. You can place a chip behind your ear, a chip that’s connected to a robot. You can imagine the robot moving its arm, and the chip senses that brain impulse and tells the robot to move its arm. It’s almost instant, but with the Sight, and all the wonderful things the Sight can do, it’s not almost instant, it is instant.”

  Eden bit her bottom lip, doing her best to understand.

  Skye brought his hands together at his chest and dipped his head. “Close your eyes and continue. By the end of the day, you’ll lift that pillow. Then we move on to the next step.”

  She closed her eyes, and breathed through her nose, held her breath for several seconds, and exhaled. After several minutes, she opened her eyes and stared at the pillow. She silently asked if she could partner with it. Her heart felt the connection, like a ship docking with an airlock. She imagined a glow of energy surrounding the pillow and asked to partner with the glow. Her heart warmed, and she pictured the pillow lifting off the bed.

  Her eyes widened as the pillow shifted. She pulled in another breath. Energy, emotion, and anything she could muster flowed from her gut, and out like a geyser ready to explode as she exhaled. Her abdomen contracted, and the pillow jumped off the bed, landing on the floor.

  Skye clapped his hand and grasped her wrists. His lips curled into a smile. “I’ve never seen someone pick up the Sight so quickly.”

  “It jumped off the bed. How did I do that?” She looked at his hands. He sat at the foot of the bed and far from the pillow. He couldn’t have kicked or pushed it off of the bed, especially without her noticing.

  “You partnered. That’s the first step. Next, you’ll learn to control the pillow and the surrounding energy.” He touched her chest, the energy coming from him practically calming her to sleep. “Now, close your eyes and begin. This time, you’ll attempt to lift the pillow from the floor to the bed.”

  22

  Ali

  Dirn Garum, Eos

  A torch’s flicker cast shadows from the cell bars, striping Ali’s face.

  She cracked her knuckles and leaned against the cold ebb-rock wall, then slid to the ground. She shook her head. “These Bawns will be the end of me.”

  She’d placed herself in a bad predicament. When she first arrived in Dirn Garum, she was a hero. Now, locked up in a cell, surrounded by ebb bars, she had been downgraded to a prisoner. Harak threw her behind bars while King Bilrak, Thun, and Chan had seemingly disappeared, but to where? Harak no doubt locked her up without his father’s knowledge.

  “That bastard tricked me.” She leaned forward and touched a bar, pulling hard on it to test its strength. She sighed. “Impossible.”

  Bawns were master ebb craftsmen and craftswomen. They built statues, homes, streets, and most likely cell bars that withstood earthquakes of the worst sort, let alone her attempts at breaking or bending them.

  She felt the baldric’s fabric and touched the hilt of her sword sheathed to her side. Maybe Sol’s blade could make a dent in the bars, or more. She curled her fingers around the hilt, then relaxed. Just in case, she didn’t want to break the sword. She let her arm flop by her side.

  Hours ago, she landed Tranquil with a hoard of Bawn warriors waiting. They informed her King Bilrak needed a word with her immediately. She followed them, thinking it was a strange path they’d taken her on. She passed an open jail cell, then they shoved her inside, the door swinging shut before she could react.

  They locked it, and Harak walked down the tunnel a moment later. “Since I can’t kill you with Sol by your side, you can starve to death in here.”

  “What are you doing? Does your father know you did this? Or Thun and Chan?”

  “Don’t worry about them,” he said, his voice echoing down the tunnel as he walked away.

  Ali huffed and leaned against a wall. How the hell did Harak constantly convince several Bawns to join his side? First, he had a gang try and help him end her life. Now a group of warriors had done Harak’s bidding and threw her in a cell. What the hell did he tell them? His race branded her the Chosen One. Upholding the prophecy apparently didn’t matter to some.

  She banged on the cell bars for the umpteenth time. “Help. Anyone.” She sat down, wanting to be free of this mountain, and of this sword. She tossed Sol to the ground, the metal clanging as it settled on the rocky floor.

  Guild, she wanted to be free of it all. Not just this prison, but everything that felt like a prison. On Earth, she remembered many times as an archaeologist that she wanted freedom from the female stigma. Men didn’t consider females smart or resilient enough to lead an expedition. That’s all she ever wanted to do, lead an excursion, uncover ancient artifacts, decode them, and share her findings with the world. Finally, when she led one, it threw her into this world—Starbase Matrona, Star Guild, and Eos. A world of slaves. She couldn’t get around it. Lack of freedom filled every nook and cranny of her life, no matter which planet she lived on.

  During her last weeks on Earth, near the time of her expedition, her mom begged her not to go. “Ali, I lost your dad when the military asked him to leave us. I can’t let you go. Something doesn’t feel right, just like it didn’t feel right when your dad left.”

  They stood at the University of Michigan’s main entrance where Ali taught, the spring flowers beginning to open on the trees, and a slight breeze swirling in the air. Ali held a suitcase, packed and ready.

  “Mom, it’s the Joint Chiefs of Staff. You don’t turn down orders from them. Plus, I can make history. I’ll be the first woman in the United States to lead an archaeology expedition, especially one of this magnitude.”

  Helen lowered her gaze, her large-brimmed hat hiding her facial features. “I know you want to do this and badly, and it’s your dream, but please wait until the war is over.”

  The United States hadn’t entered the war, dubbed World War Two, but the Nazi’s were fully involved. Their experts and soldiers scoured the ancient lands, finding relics and artifacts of immense proporti
ons. Rumors floated that Nazi expedition parties followed foreign digs, and had killed foreign expedition teams, running off with their prizes.

  She understood her mother’s fear. “I’ll have a small troop with me, plus some professional archaeologists. I’m in good hands.”

  Helen glanced up, her eyebrows curled in worry. “I hope so.” She held out a note. “I’m giving you this to see you off.”

  Ali opened the small, folded paper. “I love you” had been written in her mother’s pen. And “I believe in you.”

  That had occurred years ago, and as Ali sat in the prison cell, she buried her face in her hands. “She knew like a mother does. She knew I was heading into trouble.” She shook her head. Even though Ali didn’t listen, her mother still believed in her.

  She picked up a rock from the ground and rubbed it between her palms. She pushed to a standing position and jumped up and down, performing jumping jacks, something her father taught her. Commotion came from the corridor and she halted, her eyes on the torch flame dancing on the wall across from her cell.

  Footsteps and garbled words echoed down the hall. Someone, or several people, came closer. She stepped back as the footsteps grew louder, and the muffled words turned into Daf’s coherent demands. “Get your hands off of me.” Long, wide shadows approached. Daf and two small men. The shadows shortened until Daf and two Bawns appeared. “I said, let me go.” Daf pulled away from them, thrashing her feet. They pushed her, and she fell on her rear.

  Ali reached for her sword as a Bawn thrust and turned his key in the keyhole, unlocking the cell. Ali flexed her fingers around Sol, a flame blazing around the edges.

  The Bawn kicked the bars hard, smashing the cell door into Ali. She stumbled back. They threw Daf in and slammed the door shut. A click, and the door locked. The Bawn pulled the key out of the keyhole and laughed down the tunnel, vanishing from view.