Shaughnessy almost fell over, pointing at the screen. Shock rocked his system. He couldn’t believe what he was looking at. “What is that?”
“It’s an extraterrestrial. A race known as the Kelhoon. If you ask me anything more about them, I won’t know.” Ken turned the volume up. “Listen.”
The screen shifted to Akbak. He sat straighter, and for an instant his head and thick neck moved back and forth like a snake. “Koojka navonja sinlanja.”
The camera switched to Slade. “You get the envoy here soon, and I’ll make sure it passes our security. It’ll arrive safely in one of Starship Atlantis’s lower decks. Eventually, your boys can feast on some of our people here, but the rest of the troops, scientists, and politicians are going to your factory farms.”
Okbak hissed. “Jonjookana foonjayjay.”
Slade raised his chin, shaking his head. “The envoy will be safe. I assure you.” He gave a chuckle. “For a dominant galactic race hell bent on herding my race for food and slavery, you’re sure paranoid about the little things.”
“Moonkaja.” Akbak bowed his head and the screen went black. The HDC’s holographic screen quickly evaporated, turning off.
“I don’t understand what I just saw there. That’s a damn alien Being.” Shaugnessy’s mouth was agape. “I knew they existed, but I haven’t seen one.”
“I had the same reaction. But that’s not what’s important here. What’s your answer? Will you help us?”
Shaughnessy paused. “What is in the envoy the Kelhoon are sending?”
Ken lifted his shoulders and dropped them. “I wish I knew. We intercepted this a week ago from an encrypted source. We decoded it an hour ago. Our decision on what to do next was quick. That decision involved you.”
Shaughnessy didn’t want to do this. It pitted him against Slade and in the real world, the world he lived in, that was never a good matchup. Pit him against Slade in the computer game League of Champions and he’d wipe Slade clean off the map in ten minutes.
This wasn’t League of Champions.
Ken stood, hand extended, his heavy wrinkles creasing his care-worn face. “What do you say? Can you hack into this ship and the Secret Space Program’s fleet?”
Shaughnessy huffed. “I don’t want to do this, but if he’s about to screw us all over and if this was truly Jaxx’s wishes, then I must. I can change SSP’s flight plan and lock it, and I can change ours and lock it, so no one with basic computer knowledge would ever see what I’d done.” He grabbed Ken’s hand and shook it.
Ken cleared his throat just as Shaughnessy was walking to the door. “You’re doing a great service to your country.”
Shaughnessy nodded, not able to count how many times he’d heard such nonsense before. “I’ll do my best, Senator.”
13
J-Quadrant, Solar System ~ Flood of Dawn, Callisto
Rivkah hung over the edge of the cliff, her fingers holding onto a bush. Its roots were giving way. If she fell, she’d be dead. There was no doubt about it.
“Fox, help.” Her voice had a tremor and her eyes were glassed over in fear. This was the first time, in a long time, that she had no control. It was up to someone else to help her. Someone in whom she had no trust. Someone who’d screwed her friends over more than once.
Fox crouched on one knee and leaned over, purposely flicking white and gray gravel in her face. He put his hand behind his ear, acting like he couldn’t hear her. “What was that, Riv? I couldn’t quite hear you. You want what?”
“You bastard. You callous piece of shit.” The brush gave way an inch and she tipped back more. Rivkah quickly inhaled. She was a dead woman hanging by her own hand.
“Oh, you want me to help you?”
If she could take out her phaser and shoot the son of a bitch right where he crouched, she would. But, again, she needed help more than she needed to end this prick’s life.
“Grab my wrist. Pull me to safety...please...Richard.”
Fox stood, hands balled in a fist. “Aw, wouldn’t you like that?”
“I die and you probably die as well. We need you, Jaxx, me and her. It’s that simple. After that, you can try and kill me.”
Fox scratched his temple, glancing over his shoulder and back at her a couple of times, making light of the situation.
It was true, if the prophecy was correct, this moon and these Atlanteans needed Fox, Rivkah, Bogle, and Jaxx in order to save them all, including themselves. Fox had to see that.
“I’ve tried to kill you so many times, Miss Rivkah Ravenwood. This time, however, it looks like I’m finally going to get my wish.”
Rivkah’s stomach fluttered and her blood drained from her face. He was right. Fox wasn’t going to help and he somehow got the upper hand, and this time he didn’t even plan the upper hand.
She closed her eyes. A cool breeze brushed across her face, the sound of silence surrounded her. This would be the last breath she’d ever take, the last time she’d ever close her eyes.
She pulled up her power, her Chi. Could it lift her in the air, make her fly? She had to try. She concentrated on her feet, rushing up energy through her legs. The root slipped. She gasped, her Chi fading.
A soft cracking sound ripped across the canyon and the bush completely gave way. Instinctively, her other hand came up, grasping for a rock, another bush, something, anything.
It caught air.
Rivkah let out a blood curdling scream as she began to fall.
She sucked in a big breath when she stopped in mid-air, her forearm being squeezed, her body lifting up like she was as light as a rag doll.
Fox was on his stomach, his fingers folded around Rivkah’s arm. Small pebbles fell off the cliff as he went into a squat and walked backward, dragging her over the cliff’s rocky lip.
He let go and she lay there, panting, her cheek against the cold stone. “Why did you do that?” she said, almost out of breath.
“You said I could kill you later. Give me your word.”
She nodded, pushing herself up, then dropped immediately back on the ground as an explosion, accompanied by a small mushroom cloud, surged upward in the north. Rivkah covered her eyes. The blinding reds and yellows glowed across the horizon. The ground shook and the roar pummeled across the land. A great wind picked up and sand and rock rushed against them, sliding over the cliff and down into the canyon.
Seconds later it died down.
Fox growled. “The Kelhoon are at it again. Looks like they’re attacking another city to the north.”
Rivkah eyed Fox. “The Atlanteans have no chance, especially with the Kelhoon and Slade coming with the SSP.”
“Nope.”
They stood, dusting themselves off.
Rivkah eyed the north. The entire hillside was lit up like glowing coals. “Let’s find Bogle.”
“Once we find Bogle and get her back into our custody, then I have my eyes on Slade. I can’t wait until he gets here. I’m going to punish that man to hell and back.”
Rivkah pushed Fox out of the way just as an energy bolt flew by. She unholstered her phaser, letting a few shots go off wildly.
Fox pulled out his phaser, aiming and pulling the trigger several times.
Rivkah rolled to the side, aiming in the direction of the first shots fired. She held the trigger down and her gun recoiled as phaser blast after phaser blast erupted out of the muzzle.
Another fizz of electricity buzzed through the air as two more shots went wide, almost hitting Rivkah.
“Boulders,” said Fox.
Rivkah nodded and bolted for the boulders. She skidded behind one, her gun up, her finger on the trigger. She glanced at Fox, already behind another boulder across the way.
He eyed Rivkah, pointing his index finger and middle finger toward his eyes. He then held up four fingers.
She rolled to the edge of the boulder and looked around it. A blast came her way and she whipped back, hugging the boulder.
Four Kelhoon, all larger than life,
their half-human, half-lizard faces scowling as they slowly moved into position, their large energy rifles aimed forward, ready to blow Rivkah and Fox out of existence. Or, worse yet, do what they usually did and take them as slaves to sell them across the galaxy or fatten them up like cattle, anchoring them inside cages, ready to sell to the hungriest lizard-face. All in the name of making galactic money, and lots of it.
Rivkah picked up a rock and threw it over her shoulder and high into the air, then slid to her stomach, and aimed her phaser, positioning most of her body behind the large rock, giving her cover.
A Kelhoon energy charge cracked across the wind and the rock Rivkah threw into the air splintered into a thousand pieces.
Perfect.
Rivkah pulled her trigger twice, quickly inserting two phaser slugs between a Kelhoon’s eyes. He dropped his rifle and slumped to the ground. The other Kelhoons scrambled, finding boulders to hide behind as well.
Rivkah ran across the ridge and jumped behind another boulder. She was now closer to those lizard heads, ready to find them a nice hole to bury them in.
She eyed Fox across the way and held up three fingers. He nodded and closed his eyes, pressing his palms against the large boulder he stood behind. His hands started vibrating and the rock fizzed, smoke billowing up from his hands.
The rock swayed and lifted and Fox’s face reddened. The veins in his neck popped out as he attempted to lift the rock to throw it across the slated ground and hit the Kelhoon’s position thirty yards away.
The rock flew forward and Rivkah held her breath, then rolled her eyes when the rock landed less than five feet away. “Doofus.”
“Rivkah! Fox! Stand down.”
Rivkah looked around her boulder.
Bogle was standing fifteen yards away, the three remaining Kelhoon stood behind her, rifles up, ready to fire.
Rivkah pressed her back against the rock. “Hell, no. You tell your lizard, shit for brain friends to drop their weapons. Then we’ll talk.”
“Done,” said Bogle.
“Are you serious?” asked Rivkah. It couldn’t be that easy.
“Yes.”
Rivkah eyed Fox, then nodded.
Fox pulled his holster around to the back of his body, touching it against his sacrum, and holstered his phaser.
Rivkah mimicked him, giving Fox a quick smile. She glanced around the boulder again. The Kelhoon indeed had their guns on the ground.
“Coming out,” said Fox, arms by his side.
Rivkah cautiously walked around the rock, keeping her eyes off of Bogle and onto the Kelhoon. They took several steps forward.
“Thank you, Rivkah and Fox. It’s time – ”
Fox reached around his back and curled his fingers around the phaser’s grip. In a quick draw, he riddled Bogle with several phaser bolts. She screamed, holding her heart and fell, purple blood gushing out of her chest.
The Kelhoon drew hidden guns from behind their backs as well, opening fire. Fox rolled away, aimed his weapon at them and pulled the trigger.
A Kelhoon fell.
Rivkah rushed forward, dodging a shot, then another. She slid on her back, her gun pointing at the two Kelhoons left standing and let loose. A Kelhoon reeled back as Rivkah poked a crater in its skull, then shifted her sights to the other Kelhoon.
She pulled the trigger.
Click.
She pulled again.
Click. Click. Click.
“Fuck!”
The Kelhoon lowered his gun in Rivkah’s direction, blasting energy spheres out of his rifle’s barrel.
Rivkah spun away. Rocks splintered from the energy bolts’ impact and pelted against Rivkah’s side and back.
She moved to her feet and ran behind a boulder, pressing her back against the rock.
Her breath came heavy and she put her hand on her chest, telling herself to calm down. She gazed at the ground all around her, waiting for a shadow to loom, telling her how close the Kelhoon was and from which direction he was coming.
Silence filled the air.
Where was everyone? Did they get Fox?
Fox guffawed, letting out an exasperated breath. “They don’t even try to hide it anymore.”
“What?” Rivkah moved around the boulder, eying all the fallen Kelhoon soldiers. Fox must have ended the last one before Rivkah hid behind the boulder.
She walked toward the dead bodies. “What do you mean?” She stood over a purple, puss-filled mess surrounding a Zompawan, its silver body lay lifeless, its green horse-like hair covered in its blood, and its shallow, thin eyes wide open, dead as a doornail.
“That Zompawan. I noticed that the last time the Kelhoons used them when we tried to take over planet Taiyo. The Zompawans didn’t want to live as Kelhoon slaves anymore. They were practically giving themselves away, shape-shifting into whatever, whenever the Kelhoon used them, and purposely using the wrong vocal resonance. It was almost like they wanted to die.”
Rivkah nudged its leg with her foot. “Or set the Kelhoon up to lose. This one, though, was good. It looked just like Bogle when it shape-shifted, except with an old woman’s voice. Too bad it couldn’t stay shape-shifted so we don’t have to see its ugly-ass face.”
“Yep, damn ugly.”
Zzzzzzzziph-kacha!
An energy dome popped up around them. Fox and Rivkah stepped back and went into a defensive stance, their weapons up in anticipation.
“Looks like we were the dumb ones,” said Rivkah.
Up ahead, past the energy surrounding them, were several Kelhoon approaching. The leader put his arm up and the rest of the Kelhoon drew their weapons.
The leader licked his lips. “Kja Oovgov!”
14
E-Quadrant, Earth ~ Lookout Mountain, Tennessee
He saw the cameras in the corners of the room the moment the Chinese soldiers burst through the oval office’s French doors. Drew put his hands up after just turning off the computer. He was a dumbass. Another rookie mistake. Of course there would be surveillance, monitoring every pocket of this facility.
“Don’t shoot.” His eyes were like saucers, his mind moving in and out of his current predicament and the videos he had just seen.
General Lin Yu pushed a guard aside. “You not obey.” His eyes were cold. “You die.”
All Drew could think of to say was, Thanks mom for leading me here. But he refrained. It wasn’t his mom’s fault. It was his. His thoughts led him here, his subconscious obviously using his mind to mimic his mother’s voice. But why would he lead himself to die? How could he possibly know Anonymous was the passcode to Anderle’s root file?
And who was invading the goddamn world and why wasn’t anyone out there fighting them? Shit, all other questions were now background noise.
A guard grabbed Drew and spun him around, putting cuffs on him, the cold steel squeezing hard against Drew’s wrists.
“What’s going on?” said Anderle, walking in, Lord of the Rings robe on, yawning. “You woke me up.” He stopped in his tracks when he saw cuffs on Drew. He bared his teeth at the general. “What are you doing? We didn’t talk about this.”
The guard pushed Drew forward. Drew dug in his heels. “Why didn’t you tell me? A global invasion is happening right now. We need to get these Chinese, all Chinese and our military and any other country that still has a standing army, and mobilize them to confront the threat.”
“How did –” Anderle glanced at his computer. “You son of a bitch.” He reared back and punched Drew smack in the chin.
Drew lost balance and was held up by the guard. He shook his head like a dog, doing his best to get the punch’s sting off his face. “You hid that shit from me? This entire time I’ve been down here, aliens were flying through our atmosphere?”
Anderle looked satisfied. “Yep.” He cocked his head toward the door. “Get him out of here.”
“Dǎjiǎ zǒngtǒng,” ordered Yu.
Anderle frowned. “What?”
A guard pushed Anderle
against a wall and wrestled him to the ground.
Anderle grunted and pushed the soldier off, only to have the man come down with a knee into his stomach. Anderle curled into a ball and his assailant grabbed his hair, pulling Anderle to his feet. Pain swept across his face.
They pushed Anderle back on the ground face first, slapping cuffs on him. They picked him up and shoved him against a wall. Anderle, face scratched, glanced up at a camera, mouthing, “Plan B. Plan B.”
Drew caught it, not understanding what Anderle was doing. He curled his lips, angry at the man who led him here, who trapped him in this White House cave, wanting to shove dirt in his eye when he was already down. “Your fucking Chinese friends here really know how to stay loyal, huh?”
Yu planted his hand hard against Drew’s chest and pushed him against the wall, next to Anderle. “Enough this. We not need you. You die.” He pulled out his semi-automatic, cocked it, and pressed it against Drew’s forehead.
15
Leonia, Canis Major ~ Galactic Arm, Milky Way Galaxy
Everything was in slow motion. The Agadon mech’s cannon barrel turned a molten red. The muzzle sucked in a few feet, then pushed out as an energy blast spiraled through the tube and exited the tip.
Jaxx raised his mech’s arm to block the blast, only to hit the Agadon mech’s leg, halting Jaxx’s arm from moving any further.
A red, fiery streak shot down toward his cockpit and Jaxx let go of his control stick and put his hands up to shield his eyes from the inevitable.
A bright light enveloped his cockpit accompanied by a bwooooom!
Chunks of metal fell against Jaxx’s cockpit window and his mech’s chest.
He touched his body, patting his face, his chest, his legs. Was he alive?
Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed a spinning Leonian Starfighter, the back portion of its fuselage, rudder and vertical stabilizers in flames, torn apart after absorbing the Agadon mech’s shot, essentially saving Jaxx’s life. It took a hard dip and plummeted into a wheat field. A ball of fire rose from the ground.
Atlantis Quadrilogy - Box Set Page 53
