“Wombak click-clack,” Ozzy yelled, baring his teeth.
They eyed Ozzy like he was the vilest thing on the planet, and to them, he probably was.
Ozzy pushed the muzzle of his gun harder into the Dunrakee’s bald head. The soldier let out a squeal.
The two Dunrakee soldiers flinched. They didn’t enjoy seeing their buddy in pain.
“Womback,” growled Ozzy. “That means thrown them on the floor, dumbasses.”
They dropped their weapons at their feet. Ozzy made a kicking gesture with his boot, motioning for the Dunrakee to kick their weapons in his direction.
They understood and kicked them over. The guns hit Ozzy’s boots, and he put one on top of a pistol and pushed it out of the doorway and into the corridor. He kicked the other one out of the auxiliary room as well.
“Sonv,” said Ozzy, saying “stay” in Dunrakee.
He backed out of the room and kicked the guns further down the corridor. Moving around the corner, he made it down two more corridors while pulling the grunt along and kicking the weapons as he went.
Up ahead was the hole in the bridge—the way he had come inside the Eagle. He could faintly hear the ships in the sky.
He pulled the Dunrakee out of the ship and into the meadow. Ozzy glanced up. The ships were coming his way, every single one of them. Gragas’s ship was in the lead and thank Mars it was fast—damned fast. Whatever propulsion system Gragas had, he wanted for his own.
Ozzy pushed the Dunrakee from his arms and pointed the gun. The Durnakee’s eyes widened, and he looked down, more than ready to die by the hands of the heathen in front of him.
Ozzy flicked his gun to the side, motioning toward the forest. “Fowo,” he said, telling the soldier to go.
The Dunrakee lifted his gaze, eyeing Ozzy and hesitating. “Fowo?” he said, pounding his chest with his hand.
“Yes, dummy. Fowo.”
The Dunrakee nodded his head in rapid succession and stood with jerky movements, again hesitating.
Ozzy narrowed his eyes and kicked the Dunrakee in the rear, saying for the umpteenth time, “Fowo.”
The Dunrakee turned tail and took off running. Ozzy twisted and faced the Eagle, aiming his gun in case the other grunts tried something stupid.
A rumbling filled the sky, and Ozzy glanced up for a moment. Gragas’s ship was heading for a landing in the meadow.
A clang echoed in the Eagle. Ozzy took several slow steps forward, poking his head inside the craft. The two remaining soldiers were walking onto the bridge.
Ozzy pulled the trigger, purposely hitting a side wall nowhere near them. They jumped back around the corner, no doubt hiding.
“Don’t think about it.” He leaned against the Eagle and waited for Gragas’s ship to land.
The wind picked up, and the craft went into a hover. The heavens cracked as engines pierced the sky.
“Damn,” muttered Ozzy, frowning at several Dunrakee starfighters en route, barreling toward Gragas.
“Always has to be a close call, huh?” Ozzy raced to Gragas’s landing ship. It touched down, and the belly ramp opened.
Ozzy rushed around a dying fire in the meadow and made it under the craft. A boom sounded across the firmament. The ships were coming closer.
He raced up the ramp and leaped into the ship. The ramp sealed closed with a hiss. The sound of footsteps could be heard down the hall, and he sat on his rear, unzipping the satchel.
Zeld came rushing into the large room, her expression tight, and her eyes dead set on the goal at hand. “Incoming missiles as we speak. Impact in eleven seconds and counting.”
Ozzy pulled out the teleportation device from his satchel. He held it up to Zeld, “Activate it,” he said, tossing it to her.
It slipped through Zeld’s hands and fell to the floor, rolling behind her. She dove for it and landed on her stomach, snagging it.
She twisted the top clockwise and the bottom counterclockwise.
Her arms began shaking. A bright light shot from the device, causing Ozzy to shift onto his side.
Zeld screamed. Ozzy curled into a fetal position, and every cell in his body vibrated, and his body numbed, a tingling sensation traveling through his extremities.
He gritted his teeth, flexing every muscle he had and grunting loudly.
Kashish!
A sound like glass shattering filled his brain. Bright light and stars clouded his vision, and an energy rolled over him like a wave.
He jerked back and trembled uncontrollably.
Then everything went quiet.
45
Earth • Ancient Athapaskan Land, California
Ozzy lifted his head. Zeld was panting and lying on her back with the device in her hand.
He looked around. Everything was in one piece, but did they make it off of Earth?
He stood and leaped over Zeld, running toward the bridge. He skidded to a halt when he saw the bridge’s vid screen. They were parked inside the moon’s warehouse where Enki’s tomb was located.
Gragas was standing as if not affected by the teleportation jump, but the rest of the crew including Dizzy, Kat, and Quad, were on the ground, disoriented.
Gragas spun on his heels. He gave Ozzy a nod. “You always have a way of pulling through.”
Right now, Ozzy couldn’t care less. “Are the Dunrakee on their way?”
“I don’t know yet,” replied Gragas.
Quad stood and walked like a drunken man toward Ozzy. He had a holopad in his hands and handed it to Ozzy.
Quad cleared his throat and steadied himself. “I found this under my holocomputer station. It gives me pleasure to give it back to you while you’re alive.” He slammed his hand against Ozzy’s shoulder, almost sending him off of his feet.
“Take us out of here, Dizzy,” ordered Gragas, helping Dizzy steady himself. “We don’t have much time until they figure out what happened to us.”
Dizzy reached for the back of a chair and sat at the astrogator station, then grabbed the controls.
The craft went into the air, and Dizzy steered them through the opening in the roof. The stars blinked across the cosmos in front of them, and Dizzy revved the ionic engines while making a few snaps and pops with his voice.
Gragas dipped his head. “Yes, set a route and trajectory to Mars. We are sending Ozzy home.”
The ship’s boosters ignited and shot them quickly into the stars.
“Any bogies?” Ozzy asked, his mind on high alert. He viewed the vid screen.
Gragas clapped his hands together. “None in sight. None on radar.”
Ozzy let out a sigh of relief. Finally, he could relax.
“Ozzy, I’ve been calling you for hours.”
Ozzy lurched back. The relaxing had to wait. It was Jonas’s voice. Where the hell was it coming from?
“Ozzy,” growled Jonas. “I’m right here.”
Ozzy looked at the holopad in his hand. He wanted to turn it off as fast as he could, but that would get him nowhere.
“Hi, Jonas.” He feigned a smile.
“Why are you smiling? You never smile.”
Ozzy blinked, moving his lips into a frown. “Just good to see you, I guess.” He blinked his lie away.
“Give me a report, Ozzy.”
Ozzy walked out of the bridge and down a corridor. His arms and hands were jittery. Adrenaline was still coursing through his veins like dogs after a rabbit. Everything had happened so fast, and now Jonas was on the holopad, awaiting a good report.
Ozzy’s update was as bad as it could get.
“Have you completed the mission?” Jonas asked.
Ozzy turned a corner and headed into what must be the viewing room. A bench sat in front of a long window—the beautiful, dark, deep galaxy displayed in front of him.
He planted himself on the bench and leaned forward, keeping his eyes on Jonas. “Yes, I completed the mission.”
Jonas’s expression softened. “The Dunrakee are dead?”
Ozzy l
ooked away. “All of them.”
“Great, so we can get the colony ships ready and headed to Earth right away.”
Oh boy. That was the last thing they could or should do. “Not yet.”
Jonas gave him a double take. “Not yet?”
Ozzy put his hands up. “Listen, Jonas. In the process of exterminating all the Dunrakee, the Ark and the crystal sphere melted. I’m afraid Earth is a little volatile right now. I’d give it a few months before you send colony ships. The atmosphere is lightning hot.”
“So, what you’re telling me is you killed the Dunrakee, and in the process, it killed the Ark and the sphere and screwed up the atmosphere?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“That is terrible.” He thought for a moment, pinching his lip on his overweight face. Eventually, he threw a dismissive hand. “Well, what’s done is done. We don’t need the Ark anymore, and we can wait for the atmosphere to ease up.”
Ozzy’s heart skipped a beat. They needed the Ark more than ever. Without it, the Dunrakee had no fear or reason not to invade Mars and end what they thought was the human menace.
Ozzy shrugged. “How is my daughter?”
“She’s having a good time at the resort. Your brother and ex-wife are doing okay, I guess.” He pursed his lips and furrowed his brow. “Hmm…your brother maybe not so much. I hear from my guards he’s still mourning his wife.”
Ozzy swallowed hard, remembering her death clearly in his head: her slit throat, the blood dripping down her neck, and her vacant eyes. “I need the coordinates to the resort so I can pick up my daughter.”
“Are you almost here?”
Ozzy shook his head. “We just left Earth. May take us three weeks to get to Mars.” Three weeks of hell. He’d be biting his fingernails the entire trip, hoping Jonas didn’t somehow find out that the Dunrakee were indeed alive.
Jonas typed something on his holoscreen. “I’m sending the resort’s coordinates. I’ll see you when you get back. The auric credits are being sent to your auric wallet right now.”
Jonas had always trusted Ozzy. Ozzy never gave him a reason not too.
Until now.
The screen blinked off.
Ozzy stared at the blank screen for several minutes. The crime syndicates had rogue satellites all over the place monitoring Earth. It was one of the reasons they always knew when a Dunrakee attack was coming to Earth a week or so before the Ministry knew.
There would be no telling when Jonas would have reports and intel telling him that the Dunrakee were alive.
“You know your daughter is dead when he finds out.”
Ozzy twisted around. Zeld was leaning against the back wall of the viewing room. She smirked.
Ozzy raised his eyebrows, his heart skipping a beat. “What do I do?”
“Keep lying.” Zeld shrugged and sat next to him, butting her hip up against his. “That’s what I’d do.” She pressed her finger softly against his lips.
Ozzy pushed her finger away. “He’ll find out soon enough.”
She sighed. “You’re so disappointing. A damn idiot, if you ask me, but you won’t ask me because as I said, you’re an idiot.”
There was something she wasn’t telling him.
He straightened. “What is it?”
She wiggled her finger in front of his face. “Not so fast. Take out your auric wallet. I know Jonas sent you the money he owed you for the mission. Empty the contents of it into my wallet, and I’ll tell you a little secret that I can do to help.”
“Hell no.” Ozzy stood and headed to the bridge.
Zeld grabbed his arm. “Okay, you win, handsome. I can scramble all the crime bosses satellite signals. All I need is a holocomputer station, and I’ll run as many viruses as I can through the satellite system. It’s easy. That’s what you’re most scared about, right? That Jonas will get information from the syndicate satellites disputing your claims the Dunrakee are dead?”
“You do this, and I empty my auric credits into your wallet faster than you can say please, which means we’ve got a deal. When do you start?”
“Money first.”
Ozzy rummaged in his satchel and slipped out his auric wallet from inside the satchel’s safety pouch. “I never leave home without it.” He held it up.
“We’re criminals, Ozzy. Leaving home without this is…well…almost criminal.” She winked and dug into a pouch inside her bra, pulling out her auric wallet.
They touched them together, and their accounts holographically displayed before them.
Ozzy transferred the funds.
She dipped her head. “Nice doing business with you.”
She marched to the bridge, and Ozzy followed.
She stepped into the bridge and slapped her thigh. “Attention, everyone. I need a holostation.”
Gragas twisted around in his captain’s chair. He stared at her without saying a word.
“Did you hear what I said, masked man? I need a holostation.”
Gragas tilted his head. “Oh, you do, do you?” He folded his arms across his chest and crossed his leg over the other. “We have holocams all over the ship, Zeld. I just watched you try to strong-arm our friend here.”
Zeld held her hands out, palms up. “Strong-arm? I was making a good business decision.”
“Well, your business decision is moot here on my ship, Zeld.” He gestured toward Kat, who was sitting at the ops station. “Your idea is grand. So, we already implemented it. For free. It will never cost Ozzy an auric credit and never will. You will give Ozzy his money back.”
Ozzy’s mouth gaped open. “What do you mean you implemented it?”
“Kat here scrambled the syndicate satellite communication’s network. We’ll keep doing so until we grab your daughter.”
Ozzy couldn’t help but smile. He located a station and walked over and sat, rubbing his face and not believing what he heard. Why was Gragas so good to him? Of all people, Ozzy didn’t deserve it. “Thank you, Gragas.” He eyed Kat and nodded. “And, thank you, Kat.”
Zeld kept quiet, her chin high until she spun around and stomped out of the room.
Ozzy thumbed in her direction. “After I get my money back, can we let her out of the airlock?”
Dizzy laughed.
Gragas shook his head. “I’m afraid I’m not into cold-blooded murder, even for a nasty woman like her.”
Ozzy sat and contemplated for a moment. He no longer had Jozi by his side to help him with whatever he wanted to do in life. He no longer had Jonas’s protection once Jonas found out about the lie Ozzy told him.
He was back to square one. No help and soon to be a criminal-at-large again. And the Dunrakee would be amassing a force to attack Mars as soon as they could.
Life was messed up, and he was smack-dab in the middle of the tornado as he usually was.
“Gragas,” Ozzy said. “I will be hunted down by the Ministry when Jonas finds out that I lied to him about committing mass genocide on your race.”
Gragas rubbed his hands together and leaned forward. “That’s why you need to join us, Ozzy. We will keep you and your family safe.”
How many times did he have to turn them down for Gragas to get the point?
Ozzy scratched his head. Joining the Knights would be best for his daughter. He didn’t want to be a deadbeat dad or be threatened with death anymore.
He bobbed his head up and down. He had to join. There was no other greater alternative. It was for Lily’s survival. It was for payback, not only for Jozi, who would have wanted him to join anyhow but also for Gragas for always helping him out.
Ozzy was always good when he needed to payback someone.
He stood tall and squared his shoulders. “Okay, Gragas.” He inhaled, not believing the words about to come out of his mouth. “I’ll be a Knight.”
“A Galactic Knight.” Gragas stood and bowed. “I knew one day you would be one of us. However, before you join us, understand that being a Knight is not an e
asy path.”
“I haven’t lived an easy path if you haven’t noticed, Gragas. I’ll be fine.”
“Aye,” replied Gragas. “When we get back to Mars and start your training, there will be times you’ll wish you had your old life back.”
“Wait. I’ll be training?”
Gragas let out a chuckle. “You couldn’t hit a target if it was a meter in front of you. Yes, you’ll be training. You’re of the bloodline, so you’ll pick it up quickly.” Gragas sat down. “And, Ozzy, about your daughter, Lily?”
“Yes?”
“She’s of the bloodline as well.”
Ozzy had a feeling since she was his daughter and of his blood. “How?”
“Our imaging detected it in her. The bloodline gene-pool is small. It’s not usual for a child to be of the line like their parent. In fact, the bloodline may lay dormant in a family for centuries, only activating when it seems to want to. And it seems to have wanted to activate in you and your daughter. It’s new to us, but it’s a gift, nonetheless.”
Ozzy pinched the ridge of his nose, looking down in thought. Lily was a master at chess, beating anyone and everyone, even at seven years old. She was fast, and in some cases, could outrun Ozzy. She was genius-level smart and incredibly athletic to boot.
“And she will be training with us.”
Ozzy looked at Gragas. “Wait, she’s only seven.”
“Practically eight, and all the better. She’ll master what we teach her, and by the time she’s a teenager, she’ll exceed any and all Galactic Knights in skill and intelligence.”
“What if she doesn’t like it? If she wants to play dolls and spend her time beating your ass in chess? Then what?”
“Then, like you, she is free to leave at any time.” Gragas gestured for all of his Galactic Knights on the bridge to walk over and come closer.
Gragas pressed his fists together at his chest. “First, though, we need to welcome you into our Knighthood. By doing so, we need to initiate you.”
“Great. What does that entail?”
“Come closer,” ordered Gragas. He motioned for every Knight in the bridge to step toward him.
Gragas put his arms out wide and stepped in the middle of the forming huddle. He pulled Ozzy and wrapped his arms around him, smacking Ozzy’s back with his palm. “Welcome to the club.”
Martian Quadrilogy Box Set Page 78
