“I’ll be right there.” Slade clicked off his watch’s comm link. He grabbed Craig’s arm.
Craig held his ground. “What are you doing?”
“Rivkah found us. But she’s trapped with nowhere to go. We have her.”
“Just kill her already.”
“I will, and when I do, it will be slow and hideous.”
18
J-Quadrant, Solar System - East Rise, Callisto
Kajka Okbak stood slowly, his hand on his holstered weapon. Two Kelhoon soldiers were at his side. “Who did-kja this-a.” He flicked his finger several times toward the green blood streak on the ground, then made a clicking sound with his throat – an indication that he was more than pissed.
“I did,” replied Jaxx. “In fact, I disintegrated him with my powers and I’ll do it to you if you don’t listen to what I have to say.”
Okbak hissed and scaly flaps lifted on the back of his head, making him look like he had a reptilian mane. “Do not…zz…threaten me.”
Jaxx nodded over at Fox. “Your master puppet – Mr. Fox – stopped me from killing two other grunts of yours. They left in a hurry. Is that how you train your minions? To run when they’re a little out matched?”
Okbak turned his eyes to Fox. “Jijoshaja moovja noja.”
Jaxx stared at Fox, unblinking, hoping he would cooperate, would find it in him to act like the Kelhoon slave he had been less than ten minutes ago.
Fox turned his phaser toward Okbak and gave the green monster a cold stare, deepening his tone. “You asked me if what Jaxx said was true?” He snorted. “Fuck you two. I’m done with this.” Fox pulled the trigger.
A Kelhoon soldiers jumped in front of Okbak. The photon bolt dug into one of the soldiers, twirling him in the air, green blood splattering across the wall. The soldier scrambled to his feet, trying to remain in front of Okbak, but one more shot brought the grunt to the floor, limp and lifeless.
A second soldier positioned himself in front of Okbak and aimed, pulling his rifle’s trigger.
Fox jumped out of the way, the ion bolt blasting his phaser out of his hand. The phaser twirled in the air and exploded. Gun shrapnel riddling the wall.
Jaxx went to one knee and brought down the universal energy that was tied to his DNA. His hands burned until he couldn’t hold it any longer. He drove his hands to the ground, plunging the energy toward the Kelhoon warrior.
The soldier froze, then lifted off the ground and soared across the room. His face hit firmly against the wall and an ear-splitting crack erupted inside the room. The Kelhoon dropped, motionless.
Jaxx brought his eyes to Okbak and gasped. “No, Fox. Let him be.”
Fox was behind Okbak, his arm wrapped around Okbak’s neck. His legs were draped around the alien’s stomach as he arched back, closing Okbak’s air way with the crook of his arm.
Okbak flailed, reaching for Fox, battling to get this pest off of him.
“You kill him, Fox, then you kill our mission,” screamed Jaxx.
“Screw this mission,” said Fox, squeezing tighter.
“Fox, listen to me. He is a key, just like I am. We are all the key to this fucked up prophecy that we can fulfill if…and only if…you don’t kill Okbak. He is part of the plan. And he knows it.”
Fox shook his head, his eyes moving about like a crazy man. He breathed heavily, his mouth turned up into a smile. “Nah, this sentient Being right here is a dead lizard walking.”
Jaxx closed his eyes and shot his consciousness at Fox, doing his best to take over Fox’s mental state. An energy helix wrapped around Fox’s brain and Jaxx touched one etheric strand after another. Jaxx convulsed, connecting to Fox’s thoughts.
Jaxx whispered in Fox’s mind. “Let go.”
“Never,” responded Fox. “You can’t –”
“Drop Okbak and leave now,” whispered Jaxx. “You are to find Rivkah. Leave me to my own devices. I’m working this one alone.”
Fox dropped Okbak.
Okbak grabbed his throat, wheezing. He took quick breaths, his arms dropping to his side. He slouched up against the wall. The big lizards was spent; close to death. Close, but no cigar. The lizard-lord lived.
Fox stood. “Let’s go, Jaxx. Break yourself out of this damn electric jail cell and let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Jaxx shook his head slowly. “I’m here to stay. Go, Fox. Now. More Kelhoon are coming and you may be the only chance we have – I have – to survive.”
The door opened and a Kelhoon soldier entered. And then two more. They rushed to their downed leader.
“Go, Fox.”
The soldiers paid Fox no heed. They were more concerned for their leader than anyone else in the room.
“Stupid move, Jaxx.” Fox gave Jaxx the middle finger and hurried out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
Okbak murmured something to his troops. They exited the room as quickly as they came, most assuredly going after Fox.
Okbak took a few seconds to catch his breath, slowly pushing himself up to a standing position. He clutched his neck. “You’ja are passionate about this-a. What you-jo want to say, Jaxx?”
“I’m offering you a way to live – a way for your species to remain, for the time being, on Callisto without conflict from me and my friends, including what is left of the Atlantean rebellion. I’m also giving your race a chance to survive a galactic genocide by the Agadon.”
Okbak touched his belly and cackled. He leaned up against the wall to stay up right, his breaths coming even faster. “We hab…zz…the Atlanteans and are-ja gathering more of…zzz…them every-jo day.”
“Your race’s survival depends on you hearing me out.”
Okbak dug into his satchel clipped to his belt. He pulled out a small, oblong device. “You put on. I k-then listen to what you have-a to say.”
Okbak walked forward, the device between his index finger and thumb. He slid his hand between the electric bars. He gave a nod to the device and then dipped his head at Jaxx. “If put on, I listen.”
Jaxx put his hand out and Okbak dropped the device in Jaxx’s palm. “Agreed.”
Okbak blinked several times, his lips upturning. “Put…zzz…on. Now.”
Jaxx turned the device over and over in his palm. It didn’t look like the gizmo he’d removed from behind Fox’s ear, but he was leery of putting any Kelhoon device anywhere near his cranium.
Okbak’s lizard lips were compressed, neither smiling nor grimacing. His eyes gave nothing away. Jaxx did a quick scan of the Kelhoon’s aura, but all he got was a cold, hard brush off. Either the lizard was cloaked or had no soul for Jaxx to read.
“Put…zzz…on…” said Okbak, pointing at his throat. “Sign-a of good-yo faith…zzz…between us two-ya races.”
Jaxx weighed his options. He wanted to no more blood on his hands, regardless of the color. He wanted peace with the Kelhoon, so they could rout the Agadon scum. He caught himself. Yep, he was cool with Agadon blood being on his hands. He was faced with a choice: trust Okbak or not. An alliance lay one way, death in an electrified cage the other. Bottom line: no choice.
He pressed the device to his throat. “Argh,” he yelled. His head jerked back and a bolt of electricity zipped through him. The oblong device slid around his neck and nestled under his ear, coming to rest in the exact location Fox’s brain-controlling device had been. He felt the prongs pop out of the device and break his skin, then force their way into his cerebral spinal fluid, taking over his central nervous system. He cringed, his mouth opening on its own, and his voice escaping from deep within his belly. “You piece of intergalactic lizard shit. We made a deal. This was not…” He fell on his back, screaming, willing the pain to leave him, wishing he’d listened to Zara, Kiyo-zan, or even Fox. At that moment, he realized being alone and doing this on his own was the exact opposite of what they all needed – of what he needed.
An instant later, he was still as a rock. The screaming had stopped, the thrashing, even the thinking. A
fog covered his mind. His mouth opened. Something in the deep recesses of his brain spoke for him. “What shall you have me do, Prime Chieftan?”
19
J-Quadrant, Solar System - Outskirts of Namuh Farms, Callisto
A Kelhoon soldier grabbed at Rivkah. She pushed the warrior’s arm away with her forearm and shoved him in the chest, pushing him backward. He lost his balance, his rifle spinning in the air, and tumbled down the hillside.
Abdu kicked another warrior’s rifle from his claws and side kicked the Kelhoon. The grunt fell back against another Kelhoon. Abdu caught his rifle and shot a soldier in the chest. Abdu then aimed at the many soldiers on the hilltops surrounding them.
“Halt,” came an all too familiar voice.
“Slade,” muttered Rivkah.
Slade sauntered up the hill, his hand clutching a phaser, his eyes dead on Rivkah’s. He spat on the ground and wiped his lips with his wrist. “You aren’t going to bother me anymore. Today, you’re done.”
The Kelhoon backed off, giving Slade more room as he neared his target.
Rivkah suppressed a smile. “You’re in the slave and factory farming business now?” In a way, she hoped he would say no and all the visions she had of Slade taking children for this evil operation would have been just that – visions, and only visions.
“I’m in any business I damn well please to be in.”
Rivkah dug her back foot into the ground, the snow and pebbles crunching under her soles. “Let the children go and I let you live. That’s a promise.”
He stopped a few feet in front of her, his frame reverberating with adrenaline. He closed his eyes, brought his fists together, and stomped his foot.
The entire hill shook.
Rivkah gasped. “How?”
Slade dusted off his shoulders, his lips curving into a malicious smile. “Just like you, I received a transfusion of Jaxx’s Atlantean blood.”
Abdu stepped forward, ready to end Slade’s menace.
Rivkah put her hand out, stopping him. “This is between me and my old, asshole friend here.”
Slade raised his hand in the air, his fist curled as if he was grabbing someone’s neck and gripping tightly.
Rivkah’s chin rose and she lifted off the ground. She sliced her hand through his energy grip, dissipating his power. She dropped and landed on her feet. The force of her energetic slice pushed Slade down hard on his rear end.
He took a deep breath, punched the snow, then pushed himself to his feet. “Dammit, Rivkah. You’re always a pain in my ass.”
“Literally, apparently.”
Slade punched the air, sending a shock wave across the hill and into Rivkah. She lifted off her feet and flipped in the air. She landed face first and slid to a stop, her face half-buried in the snow.
Rivkah jumped up and blew the snow off her nose. “You little cheap shot. What you say we don’t use Jaxx’s fucked up energy coursing through us and fight street-style.”
Slade slowly shook his head. “I don’t hit women with my bare hands.”
“Oh, I see. You only kill innocent boys and girls or sell them as slaves.” She stood. “Why don’t you man up?” She clenched her fists and widened her stance, standing like a bad-ass woman ready to beat the shit out of this mother fucker.
A Kelhoon jumped from the adjoining hill, landing beside Slade.
“No,” yelled Slade. “She’s mine to take.”
The Kelhoon lifted its phaser.
Wapooo!
A blue energy bolt slammed into the Kelhoon. The soldier dropped his gun, touched the smoking hole in his chest, and took a last breath. His eyes rolled back and he slumped to the ground.
Wapooo! Wapooo! Wapooo!
Slade ducked and dove, avoiding more energy bolts heading his and his Kelhoon warriors’ way.
Rivkah dashed toward Abdu. He had one knee bent, the other knee sticking straight out, using the tip of his boot to rest a Kelhoon rifle on. It was odd-looking, but the balance was as skilled as any she’d ever seen. A Kelhoon was on the ground next to him, clearly being the soldier he stole the rifle from.
Wapooo! Wapooo! Wapooo!
Abdu continued to pull the trigger, catching Slade and the Kelhoon off guard.
Rivkah grabbed Abdu’s chains and hauled him from his firing position. “Follow me.” She had spotted a cave. From her brief experience on this moon, the caverns here all had a network of veins to run through, hide or get lost in. She needed to recoup for a while and regain her strength so she could sneak into Slade’s walled city and save some kids. With Abdu alive and by her side, she stood a chance.
Human and Leonian ran down the hill’s decline, matching each other stride for stride. Together, they jumped around a massive outcropping. A few yards beyond a boulder lay Abdu’s bamboo rifle. He tossed the Kelhoon’s inferior weapon and swiped his bamboo rifle in one sweeping motion, strapping it over his shoulder. Moving his legs at a fast pace, he leaned down and grabbed a handful of hefty rocks.
Rivkah sidestepped a desolate tree and barreled down the hillside, running faster than any mortal man or woman. Abdu was by her side, photon beams and ion bolts zipping by them as they rushed toward an indentation near the bottom of the cold, rocky hill.
Rocks exploded and splintered in the air, raining down on one side of Rivkah’s body and face like sand. She glanced at Abdu. He tossed a rock far in front of them just as an ion bolt smashed into it, turning it into a thousand pieces. He was the source of the sand storm she found herself in, but that storm was keeping them alive.
“Oh, shit,” screamed Rivkah.
Up ahead, dozens of Kelhoon grunts were heading their way. Any plan to divert from the cave and keep running was now out of the question. They were surrounded on three sides. They leapt off a small ridge, ducked under another outcropping and burst headlong into a cave.
“Keep going,” yelled Rivkah. “Let’s find an exit down a tunnel vein.” That’s if, thought Rivkah, there are veins in this cavern.
They rounded a jagged corner, and thank the cave goddess above, they came upon several veins that led in multiple directions. But which one to choose?
The problem wasn’t the choosing, though. The problem was the light. It was getting darker and darker the farther they ventured through the tunnel. About now would have been good for Bogle to do her hands-on-fire thing and guide the way.
Rivkah dashed down the farthest tunnel from them with Abdu on her heels. They turned a corner, then another.
“Let me lead the way. I see better at night, anyway,” said Abdu. “Hold on to my belt.”
Rivkah grabbed his belt – a thick rope tied around his waist – and Abdu trekked forward. The light dimmed more. Rivkah had no choice but to follow. She held on as tight as she could. Even if she fell, she would never let go. Adbu could drag her ass through the cave. There wasn’t any way she’d get herself captured by Slade again.
Abdu halted in mid-stride. “Dead end,” he said.
“Dammit,” Rivkah cursed. She grabbed her hair and yanked hard; something she used to do when she needed to divert the pain of a beating from her father. Better the pain you inflict on yourself than the pain they inflict on you, right? She would rather have died than be taken. But they weren’t there yet. Certainly not while children were being enslaved. “Now what? We can’t go back. They’d surely find us.”
“I see something,” replied Abdu. “Grab my belt again. In front of us are boulders laying on top of each other. Looks like there was a cave-in. I’m going to climb and pull the rocks out at the weakest point.” He clambered up the rock face. “We start at the top…to prevent an avalanche. An exit is no use to us if we’re buried under rocks.”
Rivkah held off from tapping her foot. Abdu didn’t need to see her frustration. The lion was doing his best.
Voices and clicks echoed through the cave along with the sounds of feet pounding against the ground. Slade and the Kelhoon were well on their way and had for certain found the vein Rivkah and Abdu
went down.
“Shit, Abdu, faster. Just get that one big-ass rock moved.”
Abdu shook his head. “No time.” He took a giant step down toward her and placed one foot on the boulder. “Take my hand.”
Rivkah took his hand, hauling herself up the fallen rockface. As soon as they were parallel, she hooked herself onto the chains that crisscrossed his back, as she had done before.
Abdu reached up, grabbing a jagged handhold, and yanked himself up again, carrying Rivkah with him. “You have to go invisible.”
“What?” replied Rivkah.
“Not invisible, per se. What I’ve feared was between you and Slade is active at this very instant. He knows exactly where we are because he is tracking your energy signature. You did it with him, but I didn’t know he had the ability to track your energy ribbon as well.” He grunted, moving up to another boulder. “You must ethereally cloak yourself. This will inhibit Slade’s ability to track you. If you do, we have a chance that he will change directions and lose track of us.” He pushed off the side of a boulder, easily throwing his leg up on the next boulder, and pulled himself up.
Rivkah held on tightly, moving upward along with him. “How?”
“Close your eyes and go deep within. Find your energy thread and imagine it disappearing. Then draw in white light that you see in your mind’s eye literally washing your physical body away. He’ll no longer be able to track you, let alone see your energy cord.”
Abdu pulled himself up to the next boulder. He jiggled the boulder in front of him, picked it up, and placed it on a jutting boulder next to him.
Kelhoon boots vibrated across the walls. They were catching up to Rivkah. “How can I concentrate knowing they’ll be on us any minute now?”
Abdu pulled another boulder. “Almost through, Rivkah. Close your eyes and attempt it. No matter how feeble your attempt is, it may still work.”
Rivkah closed her eyes, seeing Slade’s energy ribbon. He was in the tunnel and close behind her and Abdu. But where was her energy field?
Atlantis Quadrilogy - Box Set Page 77
