Ascendant Saga Collection: Sci-Fi Fantasy Techno Thriller by Brandon Ellis (easy to read books for adults list txt) 📕

25

Edge of M-Quadrant, Nearing Jupiter - Starship Atlantis

Shaughnessy took the control panel—the box that allowed access in and out of the room, complete with a hologram interface—off the inside wall next to his door.

He looked to his right, staring at the bathroom mirror, seeing a clammy, short man with a receding hairline glaring back at him, his lips trembling, his shirt stained in sweat. He wasn’t proud of what he had done—accidentally killing thousands of people on a ship he never meant to blow up.

He had been set up. He just hoped he wasn’t going to be the fall guy, the patsy.

Red, white, and yellow wires stuck out where his control panel had been. He slid the chip out of its expansion slot and put a new one in its place, one he had enhanced. Normally, patsies were killed shortly after being setup. He didn’t want to be killed. No one would be able to change the code to get in. The only way in was to blast the door open.

He put the control panel back on and twisted the screws, tightening the panel in place.

He wiped his forehead. “Change code on my voice command only.”

“Affirmative,” replied the control panel.

“Code is 1-1-4-5-1. Please confirm.”

“New code is 1-1-4-5-1. Confirmed.”

He walked to his bed. It was covered in food, enough food to last him weeks. He slipped his hand in an opened a bag of barbecue chips and shoved some in his mouth.

He chewed.

His phone rang.

He swallowed.

Caller ID: Craig Martelle.

It rang again. He didn’t want to answer, but by now the entire starship, as well as the entire fleet, knew that a ship was DAWD; Dead as a White Dwarf.

And Shaughnessy had agreed to change the fleet’s and the starship’s coordinates, performing the first acts of sabotage. In fact, several acts of sabotage. Two of his own knowledge, diverting the fleet. The other without his consent or knowledge, ending The Gladstone and the lives of all who lived on it.

The phone rang a third time and his hand hovered over the answer icon.

President Craig Martelle always seemed like a good, non-violent individual. If he answered the phone, then more than likely, he could explain everything to Craig and he would understand. He would have his back when Slade caught wind.

It rang again.

Shaughnessy pressed on the icon.

He froze.

“Hello? Is this Jon?”

“Yes...yes, Sir.” Jon sat on his bed, head in his hands.

“I’m going to keep this short. We have a saboteur or several saboteurs on our ship. You’re the most experienced and best-information technologist and hardware specialist on Starship Atlantis. Our course, along with the course of the entire Secret Space Program fleet, has been re-routed. We need you to fix that for us and we need you to find out who destroyed an entire ship in the space fleet.”

Shaughnessy needed to play dumb. “Wait, a ship has gone down?” He closed his eyes, squeezing his eyelids tightly, touching the bridge of his nose.

“Yes, sir. We need you to fix navigation. We can’t seem to figure out how to change the ship’s trajectory back to its original course. And you’re the man for the job, Jon.”

Shaughnessy shook his head, not wanting to be involved in anything...anymore. “I will figure it out, Mr. President.”

“Come to my quarters immediately.”

Shaughnessy nodded. “Aye, Mr. President. I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

“I needed you here ten minutes ago. Get here now.”

Craig hung up and Shaughnessy looked at his shaking hands. He was screwed. Why did Ken have him do this? And, what’s more, why did he agree? His life, once this was found out, was in the balance. Slade would take his life, but if he could fix this, maybe Craig would keep his life intact. He could make it up to Slade later.

But Jaxx. He did this for Jaxx, not to spite Slade. He’d tell Slade that. They would understand. They always understood that Shaughnessy was for the greater good and they would be empathetic toward him. They had to be. They were human.

He put on his shoes. “1-1-4-5-1.” The door opened and he headed out into the hall.

He turned the corner.

“Hey, Jon.” Slade extended his hand, a half smile crowded his lips.

“Colonel?” Jon shook Slade’s hand, the Colonel’s grip way too strong to be friendly.

“Where you going?”

Jon looked away. “The president’s suite.”

“I’ve been summoned by the president as well.”

Shaughnessy’s gut contracted. That was the last thing he wanted. Maybe he could simply crumple and sink to the ground and disappear. “Yes, Sir.” Shaughnessy walked forward, praying Slade would get an emergency call.

“So, tell me, how did you get the code to my admiral’s quarters?”

Shaughnessy gulped hard. “Uh, I didn’t, Colonel.”

Slade stopped, putting his arm out, almost close lining Shaughnessy. He leaned in close to Shaughnessy’s ear. “You gave President Martelle’s secretary the access codes to my quarters. She took my documents.”

Oh, shit. Shaughnessy’s heart skipped a beat. “What documents, Sir?”

“Documents that I didn’t want him seeing. Don’t play dumb.” He shoved Shaughnessy against the wall, his warm, minty breath blasted against Shaughnessy’s cheek.

Slade winked and patted Shaughnessy on the shoulders. “I’m just screwing with you. I think it’s very clever you hacked our rooms.” Slade walked forward. “Follow me.” He laughed. “I did the same thing.”

“You hacked his room?”

“Of course. And yours. In fact, I hacked your computer in the central ops office as well. I bugged it, and I have a constant holovid stream watching your room, your computer, your station, and the president’s suite. Not much gets by me, Jon. Not even your conversations with Jaxx while in central ops and the conversation you had with Senator Ken Furr about re-routing the fleet.”

Shaughnessy halted, digging his feet into the ground. He didn’t know what to say or do. “That wasn’t on purpose. They set me up.”

Slade gritted his teeth. “You compromised our mission.” He scrunched his hands into a fist, butting his forehead against Shaughnessy’s.

Shaughnessy’s chinned trembled. He wanted to faint. Jaxx had