Mars Colony Chronicles (Books 1 - 5): A Space Opera Box Set Adventure

by Brandon Ellis

  He flung his arms outward in protest. “How? There are hundreds of MMP Agents out there right now.”

  Jozi tilted her head and closed her eyes. “There are exactly fourty-three MMP agents.” She opened her eyes, looking deeply into Ozzy’s.

  Ozzy wanted to ask if her brain was also new? Also a machine or a computer?

  Ozzy huffed. He didn’t like any of this, not even the enhanced, cybernetic Jozi, and especially not the idea to infiltrate Gledhill resort without a perfect plan to get his family back.

  Maybe they could strike a deal? Jonas liked money. They could offer him millions of auric. One of the Galactic Knights had to be rich. Perhaps Kat?

  Gragas halted, and spoke into his helmet mic. “Quad, I need your assistance.” He nodded his head. “Yes, we need you for combat. There are forty—” Gragas dipped his head, listening to Quad’s reply. “Yes, you’re correct. There are forty-three MMP Agents outside.”

  Boots clanked against the floor down the corridor. Quad turned a corner and came into view. He held a large double barrel photon rifle in each hand. He motioned to Jozi. “It’s time to put your new design into action.” He walked past her, and strode down the hall, his bulky shoulders nearly touching both sides of the corridor. “Let’s get busy.”

  4

  Gledhill, Mars

  “You’re staying here, Ozzy,” said Jozi, her face expressionless.

  A heat rose in Ozzy’s chest. This was his family, not hers. Ozzy knew she didn’t have one, and understood she used the MMP agents and those in the Ministry as somewhat of an alternative family when she was an agent, but she wasn’t an agent anymore.

  She didn’t understand what family was, especially now that she was a cyborg, or something similar.

  He reached for her and pulled on her jumpsuit. “The hell I’m not going.”

  “We’re doing this for you and since you’re emotionally attached to the situation, you may screw this up.” She paused, and her eyes twitched back and forth as if she was receiving a download. “The Dunrakee are coming.”

  Ozzy flinched. “What? Now?”

  Jozi looked down and sighed, her shoulders drooping. “I don’t know where that thought came from. I saw an image of them exiting Earth’s atmosphere, and a large fleet coming our way. It’s probably a glitch in my synapses.”

  “A glich or not, I’m a Galactic Knight just like you. I’m coming along to rescue my family, and that’s final.”

  He marched down the hallway, passing Jozi, and catching up to Quad and Gragas. Kat was with them.

  They stepped down the hall and curled around a corner, and halted in the ship’s holding bay.

  Kat was by Ozzy’s side. “You about to get into some action, are ya?”

  Ozzy straightened in his posture, his confidence high. “Yes.”

  She slapped his back. “On my home planet they say, Batay ayenah eros davei auweh.”

  Ozzy gave her a blank stare. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “Balk the enemies power; force him to reveal himself.”

  Ozzy tilted his head and looked away, then back at Kat. He stepped back in a start. She was gone, vanishing like a ghost. “Where the hell did—”

  “Are you ready, Jozi?” Quad glared at the ramp, and inhaled deeply, glancing over his shoulder.

  “Wait, where did Kat go?”

  Ozzy looked at Gragas, who appeared to be in deep thought, cocking his head to the left and rubbing his chin.

  “I’m ready,” said Jozi, stepping along side Ozzy. She squeezed her fingers around her gun’s hand grip. “Let’s go.”

  “Stand fast,” yelled Gragas. He strode between Quad and the ramp, still looking to be in deep thought. “I have another plan.”

  “I’m sorry, Gragas, but you’ll need to move.” Quad gestured toward Jozi. “She and I are going to hammer some nails in the fellas on the other side of the ramp, alright?” There was pleasure in Quad’s voice.

  “Not now.” Gragas stepped out of the holding room, tugging Quad with him. “This way.”

  “Alright, Jozi,” huffed Quad. “We do as the boss tells us.”

  They walked past the canteen where the food and tables were, and down another corridor. Gragas stopped in front of a door, and put his hand on it. A whooshing sound echoed against the walls, and the door opened vertically.

  The launch bay.

  Three starfighters were parked, and facing the bay door. Ozzy had been in here before when he stole a starfighter in order to fly to the crystal sphere’s location when he was on Earth.

  But where the heck was Kat? “Have any of you seen where Kat—”

  No one answered.

  “We fly and retrieve Ozzy’s daughter, then fly back here. I’ll notify Dizzy and the rest of the Galactic Knights to be armed and ready if the MMP decide to blast inside this ship and take them by force.”

  “They could just attach a bomb on the ship’s belly and blow this thing to shit and back,” said Ozzy. “We need someone in one of the weapon’s pods just in case an MMP agent comes up with a wild idea.”

  Gragas shot Ozzy a look. “If the MMP attempt to do such a thing, the explosion would tear a hole in the cleaning bay and send the oxygen out of the city, bringing in carbon dioxide. They would be fools.”

  Good point. Two minutes of pure carbon dioxide exposure meant quick death. The city, and the MMP, wouldn’t want that.

  Jozi walked up a ladder leaning against a starfighter and plopped in the cockpit.

  Gragas and Quad did the same.

  “Ozzy,” said Jozi. “Looks like you’ll have to stay behind after all.”

  Ozzy rushed up her ladder, and jumped behind her seat, scrunching into a tight and narrow area between the side control panels. He held on to Jozi’s seat, and rested his back on the bulkhead.

  “I can barely move back here.”

  Jozi turned her head, her lips pursed. “You don’t listen well. You’re a stubborn human. Hold on because this is going to be bumpy.”

  Stubborn human? When is this new Jozi going talk more human than robotic?

  “We’re heading to the resort,” responded Ozzy. He had to get that inside her cybernetic-enhanced body. “It’s not like we’re heading into a galactic space battle or anything.”

  She winked at him, and faced the front of the cockpit. “You never know.”

  Gragas’s voice boomed over the com line. “We’re opening the bay door. Get ready, they’ll want to pound us hard as soon as we jet out of the bay. We’re going to move fast through the city and to the resort.”

  “Roger,” replied Jozi. Her starfighter purred on, and the cockpit vibrated.

  The craft’s launch bay door opened. MMP agents rushed into view, their guns, cannons, and rifles targeting the ship’s bay, and sending bright flashes Ozzy’s way.

  The starfighter rocked back and forth.

  The MMP were hitting their targets.

  5

  Gledhill, Mars

  Jozi pushed the throttle forward. “Here we go.”

  Ozzy’s back pinned against the bulkhead, and his head slammed against it.

  Jozi rocketed the starfighter out of the bay, blasting quickly through the open cleaning port door in less than a second.

  Ozzy gritted his teeth and contracted his muscles from the g-force pressing against him. Even though they were on Mars, they were in a city, and all cities were graviton domed with oxygen and artificial gravity fields activated.

  “Turn on anti-grav unit,” moaned Ozzy, smashed into the bulkhead.

  “Right,” replied Jozi.

  She reached forward and pressed a button. The pressure eased up and Ozzy relaxed.

  Jozi banked left in the flyway port, barely missing a wall. Quad’s and Gragas’s starfighters were in front of her. They veered to the left, heading straight for a large wall of glass that led into the city.

  “Like I said,” commented Jozi. “Hold on.”

  Ozzy grabbed the seat in front of him tighter, and
held his breath.

  Jozi upped her speed, passing Quad and Gragas. The starfighter’s nose met the glass wall and the glass exploded into a million pieces.

  Ozzy let out a gush of air, and glanced behind him through the cockpit window. Quad and Gragas were on her tail, and a large glass pane was now a shattered remnant of itself on a Gledhill sidewalk and street.

  People were on the ground, gathering themselves from the shock of starfighters flying through a large flyway port window and small glass beads pouring down on them.

  Jozi banked right. “Heading to Gledhill Resort. Let’s hope that Jonas isn’t there yet and that your family is.”

  If Zeld ratted them out shortly before they entered Gledhill, then the better. Jonas probably wasn’t even at the resort yet, and maybe still back at his compound in Tagus Valles.

  “We have bogies, Jozi,” came Gragas over the com link.

  “Of course,” responded Ozzy, his pessimism blaring. Nothing was ever easy on this shit-hole crimson planet. “How long until we get there?” asked Ozzy.

  Jozi put the craft into a climb, heading toward the graviton shield that domed the city. “Quicker than you think. Maybe five minutes. We’ll get in, grab your daughter, and get out.”

  “What about Venessa and Lou?”

  Jozi swerved away from a few skyscrapers, and barrel rolled into a descent, avoiding a bridge. “Venessa and Lou will have to be collateral damage. We’ll use them as a shield to get your daughter out, and if there aren’t any agents or any of Jonas’s thugs, then we’ll have to leave one of them behind. We don’t have enough room on these crafts. I vote Venessa stays at the resort.”

  Ozzy furrowed his brow. Did he just hear Jozi correctly? Collateral damage? Or using them as shields to take photon blasts? “Not on my watch. We’ll extract everyone, not just my daughter.” He brought his fingers into a fist. “Because we’re getting them all out alive, do you understand?”

  He had to get this inside Jozi’s thick skull. Maybe her new brain or whatever it was that was controlling her thoughts were getting their wires crossed.

  Jozi drooped forward, her tone changing. “I’m sorry, Ozzy. I don’t know what came over me.” She lifted her shoulders and steered toward the resort. “That won’t happen again.”

  The cockpit beeped. Jozi brought up rear cams. “We have seven MMP craft, six o’clock.”

  He craned his neck to take a peak. He let out an exasperated breath when he saw that seven S-9 Mars Ministry Police ships were indeed coming in fast.

  The cockpit beeped long and loud. “Weapon’s lock,” said Jozi, her voice calm as could be.

  Ozzy, on the other hand, fumbled around, doing his best to do something other than just sit there. He wasn’t used to the controls in another person’s hands.

  “Be still, Ozzy,” ordered Jozi. “Don’t distract me.” She pulled up, heading straight to the top of the dome.

  A photon beam screamed by them, barely missing.

  “How are Quad and Gragas fairing?” questioned Ozzy.

  “They are dodging just like I am.”

  “Get them in range, and open fire,” screamed Ozzy.

  Gragas staticked over the com line, hearing Ozzy’s orders.

  “No can do,” said Gragas. “We aren’t going to be killing innocent MMP agents unless we are in imminent danger.”

  Ozzy slapped his hands in disgust. “What do you call this?”

  Jozi pushed forward on the control stick, taking her ship into a quick descent. “It’s up ahead.”

  Ozzy looked behind him, doing his best to catch a glimpse at the incoming bandits. “What’s up ahead?”

  “Gledhill Resort.”

  The cockpit alarms beeped faster.

  “We’re about to get hit,” said Jozi. “Grab hold of my seat, Ozzy.”

  “What?”

  “Do it. We’re ejecting.”

  The cockpit window blew off and upward. Ozzy wrapped his arms around Jozi and the seat, squeezing tightly. Wind whipped around him like an Earth hurricane.

  A loud pop and the seat catapulted into the air. The starfighter dipped.

  Kachboom!

  The craft split into two, hit by an MMP craft’s missile. A ball of fire rose and expanded outward, the wings breaking from the fuselage, twirling toward an industrial complex below.

  Ozzy’s feet dangled, and he hung on with every ounce of muscle he had. Jozi activated the seat’s thrusters just as an MMP craft zipped by, and went into a long turn. It was coming back around to end Jozi and Ozzy.

  The seat jerked forward, and Ozzy’s hand slipped.

  “Help,” he yelled.

  His other hand slipped. He dropped and managed to grab the bottom of the seat.

  Jozi reached down, and grasped Ozzy’s arm. “I got you.”

  Ozzy glanced toward the ground. Another explosion from his starfighter erupted as the ship slammed onto an empty industrial parking lot, sending flames into the sky.

  An MMP S-9 screamed closer. It let loose another missile, flames spurting out of the missile’s back end, pushing the metal beast toward Ozzy and Jozi.

  The missile corkscrewed, spinning as it drew closer.

  Ozzy gulped hard. Being a deadbeat family member was one thing, but being dead as a doornail was another.

  6

  Gledhill, Mars

  Ozzy was frozen in terror. He wanted to move, but all he could do was hang there by Jozi’s strong grip.

  His stomach dropped to his feet, and his body went numb.

  The missile flew closer.

  Jozi steered the ejection seat closer to the ground. What was once a couple hundred feet above the red tarmac was now less than a hundred.

  Barooj!

  A bright light flashed, and heat enveloped Ozzy like a warm blanket.

  Ozzy craned. Quad flew his starfighter threw a small fire ball.

  Ozzy blinked rapidly. “Did Quad just target and hit the missile?”

  “Yes, a direct hit,” responded Jozi.

  The flames died down seconds later, and Jozi lowered the ejection seat closer toward the ground.

  “I can’t hold you and control this thing at the same time, Ozzy,” yelled Jozi, her hand on the seats control stick and her other hand helping Ozzy hang on for dear life.

  A Mars Ministry Police ship flew by with its sirens blaring, its red and yellow lights flashing.

  Gragas’s starship zipped by Ozzy in pursuit.

  The ejection seat dipped and tipped to the side.

  Jozi’s grip around Ozzy’s wrist loosened and Ozzy slipped an inch.

  “Whoa!” he yelled.

  Jozi squeezed harder. “Sorry about that.” She leaned forward, and grasped the control stick, straightening the ejection seat. Rocket boosters engaged, leveling it out.

  “Trust me,” she hollered.

  “Trust you with wha—”

  Jozi unstrapped herself and let go of Ozzy.

  Ozzy yelped, and flailed his arms. He went into a free fall, his arms and hands tingling as the rushing wind blew against him.

  He went to scream but nothing came out.

  Jozi’s arm wrapped around him, and she pulled him against her chest.

  “Impact in three—”

  “Impact?” said Ozzy.

  “Two,” she continued. “And, one.”

  A thud, and Jozi fell back, her legs buckling and sending her to the pavement and onto her back. Ozzy rolled out of her arms, and somehow landed with a thud against the cement. He pushed off the ground, moving to his feet.

  Jozi shoved him to the side and he stumbled, crashing back to the ground.

  Krackow!

  The ejection seat crashed no more than ten meters away, sending chunks of leather and metal in all directions.

  Ozzy lay on his side, gathering his whits about himself, trying to figure out how the impossible just happened. They both survived the fall?

  Jozi stared at Ozzy, breathing heavily. Her eyes were blinking and her arms were by he
r side. No scrapes. No bruises. No nothing, except a rigid posture and bulging eyes.

  She was probably just as shocked as Ozzy.

  He bent forward, resting his hands on his knees. Sweat dripped down his forehead and to his cheeks. “How did you do that?”

  “I don’t know, but maybe we weren’t as high off the ground as we suspected. Maybe we were just twenty feet above the cement when we fell? You could have landed that just fine too.”

  Ozzy shook his head. “Nah, I’d have a few broken ankles, if not more.”

  She averted her eye contact, obviously avoiding Ozzy’s statement. She pointed ahead. “The coordinates where your family is leads us to there.”

  Ozzy turned. A palace stood high above several industrial warehouses. The tops of tropical trees were in view, and different colored flags waved high atop white obelisks.

  It was Gledhill Resort.

  His wrist band vibrated. That hadn’t happened in months, and he almost forgot he had one one. He glanced at it. Lyra No Tail’s name appeared on the band, and a message titled, “Gaia Stones,” blinked in red.

  He turned it off and shook his head. Does she want to hire him to find the Gaia Stones? He shook his head. It was probably a trap, especially since she was aligned with Jonas Moon.

  Karooj!

  Ozzy fell on his rear. An explosion erupted above. An MMP ship went down.

  Jozi punched the ground and her eyes flashed anger. “The High Judge is sending my MMP friends to their death. This is not protocol. This is not how a police chase is conducted.”

  The ground shook, and Gragas’s ship came into view. It flew over a warehouse and descended for a landing. The craft’s skids extended, and the ship touched down. Steamed swirled from the seams of the cockpit as it opened, and Gragas jumped from the cockpit to the wing, then to the crimson asphalt.