“You are the pure and clear Being and you are the phantom, all which are meanings to your name; Katherine Bogle.
Bogle hung her head. It was almost too much to hope for: that she would be destined for greatness. Which was how the Devil did his work. Yep. Speaking to her vanity. She’d almost been caught up in the lie. He was as cunning and conniving as Liberty was sweet and gentle.
“And,” continued Liberty. “You had a thought when you first entered these Temple Gardens. Would you like me to confirm that your crystallo fabrica is indeed working?” She held a wry smile, one that a teacher would have for a new student.
“I don’t recall. And, I told you not to read my thoughts.” Demons never keep their promises. I should have known better.
“It was before you had asked me to turn off my telepathy.” Liberty took a sip of tea. “The human body and the Atlantean body were built to withstand the diseases of aging. I am indeed two thousand years old, give or take a year or two. Your people, as in the masses, will discover the truth of long living in the near future and aging will no longer be a detriment to your society.”
Bogle waved her hand in the air, doing her best to be polite. “Okay, let’s say I’m this person you’re seeking.” She rolled her eyes, then remembered to treat others as she would like to be treated herself. “What do I need to do?”
“Convince Kaden Jaxx, Rivkah Ravenwood, and Richard Fox to join our fight. You are their calm, you are their leader. Kaden Jaxx is the key to all of this. He is the reason we severed the holographic array around Atlantis Alta, or in your words, around Callisto, and let ourselves be known to the rest of the Galaxy. We are here to teach and in order for us to spread light throughout the Galaxy, Jaxx needs to protect us first and foremost.”
“No can do, Chief.” Bogle leaned back, crossing her arms over her stomach. “I haven’t seen Rivkah since I first enlisted. From what I’ve heard, she’s dead.”
Liberty smiled. “She’s on her way, child. And if you lean forward for me, I must fulfill a prophecy.”
Bogle shook her head. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be rude, but I’m not here to complete prophecies. I’m here for –” Bogle’s body moved against her will, leaning forward for Liberty.
Liberty pressed her index finger against Bogle’s skin, right between her eyebrows. A wave of light shot through Bogle’s mind, her vision blanketed with white. She closed her eyes, feeling the ecstasy running through her as if she’d just been shot up with some mind and body altering drug. Her extremities tingled, her cells danced, her brain flipped and twirled and swam in a tsunami of good chemicals. She soared above the treetops and snacked on stardust. She was free of cares, of pain, of all her former anguish. She was Katherine Bogle, Bringer of Light.
She drifted back to Liberty’s side. Her eyes closed and she took in a deep breath. “They are on their way, Liberty. I can feel them.”
“Who, my child?”
“The three.”
13
M-Quadrant, Solar System
Starship Atlantis
Rivkah pulled the trigger twice. Two guards hit the floor, their arms and legs twitching like maniacs.
“Fucking piece of shit IPR,” she said under her breath, wishing the rifles were automatically set to lethal, instead of constantly switching back to stun. No matter how many times she flipped the switch, it flipped back. She figured she got lucky with Cole. With him, it remained lethal. Not so lucky with these nitwits.
She pulled the trigger again. “Idiots. Never learn, eh?” She downed another guard that ran into the room, trying to be the lone hero of the group. If they kept this up, the guards would be piling up at the door and twitching out of commission, laying on top of each other and trapping her inside. She knew that would never happen, but the way these grunts were trained, you never knew.
A tracer ricocheted off a wall and to the floor, zinging past Rivkah. She ducked and rolled to another wall, getting on one knee, pointing her IPR at the doorway. A guard poked his gun through the entrance, not showing his face or his arm, though his fingers were exposed.
Rivkah spoke in a whisper. “There you go. You’re learning. You don’t just run into the scene of a battle.” She felt the trigger against her finger and pulled, aiming at the guard’s fingers.
“Agh!” the man dropped the gun and was most likely rolling on the hallway floor outside.
Before she heard him, a grunt’s heavy feet shook the floor at every pounding, thumping step. She turned. A soldier was in a full out run and mere feet away. She jumped as he dove at her. His head skimmed the bottom of her feet as she pulled her knees toward her chest and grasped the rafter above with one hand and pulled herself up onto the cold metal, holding the rifle in her other. He slammed against the wall and gazed up just as a shot of electric ion stun charges lit him up.
“Did I ever mention I’m also a good aim, you prick,” said Rivkah.
He sunk to the floor, eyes closed, slobber dribbling out of his mouth.
She hopped onto a beam parallel with the top of the door frame and aimed her rifle at the door, taking cautious, slow steps. Once she was directly above the door, she crouched, ready for more guards to burst through. If they were smart, they’d stand outside the door and out of harm’s way and wait her out. Rivkah smiled. That wasn’t true. If they were smart, they’d be as far away from Rivkah as possible. The best bet? Back on Earth, on their couches, eating ice-cream while watching Firefly reruns.
And, as if on cue, a few dumb-asses ran inside, rifles in steady position – their rifle’s hand guards resting on the “V” of their thumb and forefingers, the rifle butts firmly against their firing shoulders. Yes, they were trained to hold a weapon, but anyone could train a donkey to hold an apple in its mouth.
She jumped off the rafter, and elbowed a soldier in the chin. He fell into another guard and Rivkah pushed him forward, making sure he connected with his comrade. Shots rang out from inside the room and Rivkah bolted down the hall, their shots barely missing her, sticking to the hallway wall, ziiizzzzz ziiizzzzz.
Across the way stood an open elevator, probably from the nitwit she just elbowed.
Rivkah dashed into the elevator and pressed deck four’s button. In most starships, this is where the launch bay was. She leaned against the wall, staring up at the digitized deck numbers as the elevator ascended.
Deck 7.
Deck 6.
Deck 5.
The elevator shuddered and halted. Rivkah put her hand out to keep herself upright. She tapped deck four and “OUT OF SERVICE” blinked on the digitized display. They knew she was in this elevator. She had to get out.
She pushed the butt of her rifle against the emergency exit hatch in the elevator’s ceiling. It was locked.
“Give it more elbow grease, Riv,” she told herself.
She twisted the rifle in her hand and smashed the butt against the emergency hatch a second time. The hatch loosened. She hit it again, gritting her teeth and grunting. The lock broke, the hatch opened.
A picture of Jaxx – his eyes closed, but not like he was asleep, more like he was meditating – flashed across her mind. Her hands were laid over his and the two of them were pressing hard, though she couldn’t see what it was they were touching.
A ding and the elevator doors opened. Rivkah’s eyes shot wide, seeing a man in military fatigues, gun pointed at her, yet still shocked to see her. He’d obviously never been in combat before. Rivkah leaped up, grabbing the hatch’s frame and lifted her legs, knocking her rifle out of her hands just as the grunt’s shots rang out.
14
M-Quadrant, Solar System
Starship Atlantis
Rivkah was near. Her anger and fear erupted through Jaxx’s veins. He had to find her, to connect, to join his power to hers and blast their way out of Starship Atlantis, but Slade and Fox stood in his way.
“You son of a bitch, Jaxx. I keep putting trust in you and you keep shitting all over it.” Slade crossed his arms, crow
ding in the doorway. Fox was behind him, smirking. “And look what you did to my quarters.” He motioned around the room with his hands, as if his dog had made a mess in his house while he was gone for the day.
The Lecturn was off its track, toppled over and spitting sparks. Paintings were off the wall, their frames broken, and in pieces on the floor.
“I saw it, Slade. I know what you’re up to.” Jaxx rested his palms on his knees, catching his breath.
Slade tilted his head to the side. “What in God’s name are you talking about, Jaxx?”
Jaxx pointed to the downed Lecturn, sweat dripping from his forehead, his arm almost too heavy to lift. He was weak, drained. “I saw Star Warden cut in half, people spilling out. You are still going to Callisto?”
“Let me deal with this,” said Fox.
Slade put his arm out, clasping the door frame, blocking Fox from entering. “Not right now.”
Jaxx continued, “What are you plans for Callisto?”
“I’m going to be straight with you,” replied Slade. “We aren’t going to ask nicely for anyone’s land when we get to Callisto. We’re taking it. We’re going to make those fuckers pay for what they did to Star Warden. No one kills my friends.” Slade looked over his shoulder at Fox then back at Jaxx. “Now, the question I have to ask myself...” He strode forward, gun in hand. It was a pistol, black, semi-automatic. “Are you with us or against us?”
Jaxx put his hands up, panting, nearly out of breath. What he had just done – throwing Shaughnessy across the room, lifting him with some unknown force and tossing him like a weightless, receding hairline, pudgy pillow – must have sapped him for all he had. He just wanted to crawl over in the corner, find some blankets, and get some sleep.
Slade snickered, popping a piece of gum in his mouth. “Last chance. With us or against us?”
Fox stepped through the doorway and halted in a wide stance, fists on his hips, elbows wide. He smiled, his eyes fixed on Jaxx. “Say you’re against us. Just say it.”
Jaxx put his hands on his knees, shaking his head. “I don’t know what to say.” He took in a deep breath, deeper than normal. Energy ran though him. He took another deep breath, this one even deeper. He drew energy from that unknown source, that odd power. In his archaeological studies and in his linguistic career, the word’s prana, chi, and ki had crossed his path on several occasions. They all dealt with the subtle and powerful life-giving forces of the Universe. He wondered if that’s what he suddenly had control over, or better yet, had control over him. Perhaps that energy was working now, filling him up, giving him strength.
Slade walked up to Jaxx and came within an inch of him. He leaned down, bringing his lips even closer to Jaxx’s ear. “What don’t you know, Jaxx?”
Jaxx closed his eyes, Slade’s cold, minty breath brushed across his cheek. He wanted to shove Slade away. Jaxx wasn’t violent but he knew that this strange power he had was lethal – a power that was starting to bring him back to life. A power that loathed authority.
“I said, what don’t you know, Jaxx?” Slade pressed the end of the pistol’s cold barrel on the back of Jaxx’s head.
Fox growled. “Just fucking do it, Slade. End it, now!”
The pistol’s pressure lightened as Slade turned. “Keep your God damn mouth shut, Fox.”
“Not anymore, Slade. Do it,” replied Fox, stepping forward.
Jaxx took another breath, the power rushing through him like a river pouring through a broken damn. He couldn’t believe how calm he was. At any other time in his life, especially with a cold gun to the back of his head, he’d be shaking like he was in Antarctica.
“Why are you stepping forward, Fox?” asked Slade.
Jaxx squeezed his fists and opened his eyes, his breaths coming faster.
“Doing what I wanted to do the day you grabbed him from Peru.” Fox took a few more strides and reached for Slade’s pistol, grasping it, his hands covering Slade’s, the pistol shoving Jaxx’s head forward.
P-taaff.
A gunshot went off, lodging into the floor next to Jaxx. He turned, crouching, ready to leap into action.
He didn’t need to.
Fox threw Slade to the ground, their hands and arms locked, wrestling for the pistol’s sole possession. Slade bared his teeth, growling. Somehow they got back into a standing position, their hands tied up, gripping each other’s forearms and wrists, but only for a moment. Slade swiped Fox’s legs out from under him and Fox went up into the air, landing on his side, surprisingly still holding onto Slade’s hands, pulling Slade back down to the floor with him.
Fox kicked, landing a hard foot against Slade’s stomach.
P-taaff.
Fox curled into a ball, hands against his stomach, “Agh!” He moaned. “You...son of a...”
Slade went to his knees, eyes wide, frantically placing his hand on top of Fox’s to help stop the bleeding from his gut. He glanced up at Jaxx and pointed the gun. “Don’t just stand there. Get a medic –”
Before Jaxx could do anything, Slade lunged at him and grasped Jaxx’s shirt, twisting it and pushed Jaxx back against a wall. Slade raised the gun quickly but Jaxx caught Slade’s arm, holding it at bay, his eyes telling Slade he just messed with the wrong guy in the wrong moment.
Jaxx’s pent up energy zipped up from his central nervous system and blasted outward, picking Slade up and hurling him across the room, smacking Slade against a thick, galactic-strength glass window, knocking him unconscious.
The sound of clattering boots running down the hall pounded in Jaxx’s ears. He spun toward the open doorway. Troops were rushing his location.
Jaxx motioned for them to come in, hoping his tactic would work. “Colonel Roberson shot Captain Fox. Hurry. I don’t know if Fox is alive.”
The first man stopped at the doorway, not knowing how to react, then saw Fox and dashed to the captain’s side. He touched his neck, feeling for a pulse. “It’s weak and thready, but he’s hanging in there.” More men came in, surrounding the victim.
Jaxx slipped out of the room, passing several guards. “I’m getting a doctor. Move away, please.” He weaved through a couple more people, barking, “Let me through. Gotta get a doctor. Move it.”
Jaxx picked up his pace, moving swiftly through the lobby, keeping his head down as not to be seen.
15
M-Quadrant, Solar System
Starship Atlantis
Shots rang out as Rivkah pulled herself through the opening at the top of the elevator, barely escaping ion charges geared to stun her – or perhaps kill. She didn’t know. She didn’t care. Fuck them all.
She kicked the hatch closed. It was broken and it flipped back up as blue ion charges cut through the hatch, splitting the air, singeing Rivkah’s shoulder. She fell against the wall and touched her shoulder, feeling thick red liquid plasma soaking her finger – her blood. Burnt skin wafted to her nostrils and she held in vomit as the memories of her past surfaced, her gnarled skin flashing in her mind, the fire rising all around her, her downed starfighter burning to a crisp.
Another failure.
She shook her head, coming back to the present. “Get a grip, Rivkah.”
She clenched her fists. The guards had been ordered to kill. If the guards rifle was locked to stun, then electricity would have frizzled down her arm, temporarily numbing her and disabling her for a moment.
None of that occurred. Nothing but pain.
Again, fuck them all.
Another ion pulse blasted up the elevator shaft and then another. Across from her was a technician ladder. Her dad had once told her she was the unluckiest girl in the world. Well, her daddy wasn’t here anymore and if he was, she would have loved seeing his face when she showed him this ladder. Neither did she have to pull herself up cables nor acrobatically climb up magnetic guide rails. The ladder was her ticket to a faster getaway.
She hurried around the hatch, avoiding a guard doing his best to lift himself into the shaft, his fingers arou
nd the lip, struggling to pull himself up.
Dumb-ass move, numbnutz. She landed a hard heel to the hatch, striking the guy’s fingers. A yelp bounced around the shaft as the man crashed to the elevator floor.
Rivkah grabbed a hold of the ladder rungs. They were cold, dusty, and a zap of static electricity zinged her as she swiftly moved up the ladder. A clang told her that another guard was attempting to climb through the hatch. She didn’t look down. She didn’t have time. Any hesitation would cause a brief pause. A brief pause meant death.
Reaching the next floor’s elevator doors, she rested one leg on the limit switch and the other on the ladder, doing a split-eagle and performing a balance act that would make a tightrope artist gasp in awe. She stuck her fingers in between the cracks and pried the door open an inch, straining to open it up more and more.
Metal against metal echoed in the shaft. She didn’t need to look down to know what that meant – a rifle had been placed on top of the elevator, meaning the guard was almost through the hatch, ready to take a few pot shots at her, ending her life and receiving no prize for his efforts. Maybe a pat on the back, but that’s what they were trained for – to obey and accept.
No longer would Rivkah obey. And accepting…anything? She cracked a smile. No more. The only orders she took from now on were her own. Following the old, past script left her nearly dead and burnt to a crisp, and then coming to Slade – as an experiment. No more. She was more than happy to try another disappearing act away from them all – especially from Kaden Jaxx.
Jaxx!
Her anger rose and she ripped Deck 4’s elevator doors wide open. She pulled herself up and rolled away from the opening,
Rivkah glanced down the hall towards the launch bay and bolted towards it. She looked behind her as she ran. A guard’s head was coming just above the bottom of the elevator door frame she just exited from. She needed to get going and fast.
Destination Atlantis (Ascendant Chronicles Book 2) Page 7
