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

He spun a one-hundred-eighty degree turn, slowing himself in the process. He lit the attackers up with countless plasma bolts, downing the lead starfighter and clipping the wing of the starfighter behind it. The lead ended like the rest, an explosion of hot colors, and the tail fighter twirled end over end, hitting the earth and toppling trees as it slid across the hillside. It left a scorched trail.

“Time to punch out and get back to Liberty,” Fox bellowed.

Fox pulled up from another strafe run that left the city full of smoke and light, a portion of the city now unrecognizable. He sped toward Jaxx with enemy fighters on his six.

Rivkah was still being chased.

It was either Jaxx saving her or she’d have to pull a lucky one and get off-planet alive. That wasn’t likely.

Fox turned his afterburners on, reaching the clouds. “Get back to Liberty.” He disappeared into the clouds.

“I can’t shake him,” Rivkah shouted. “Leave me and get on Fox’s six, Jaxx. He may need you.”

A beep filled his cockpit and Jaxx’s stomach sank. “We have twelve more incoming. Fall away east and let them follow. Get low, use the terrain as your defense. I’m going to get some to chase me. Understand?”

“Negative, Jaxx. Orders are orders. Get out.”

Jaxx flew in a wide arc toward the twelve incoming and twisted around to bother them as best he could. It worked.

Half of the bandits broke off in perfect unison, as if piloted by computers. Jaxx pulled a wide loop and they tailed him. The others kept formation, Rivkah in their targets.

A shrill boomed in Jaxx’s ears. “I’m hit. I’m ejecting, Jaxx. I’m ejecting.”

“Pull up, Rivkah.”

“Too much damage for that, Jaxx. The hole is the size of Alaska. I’m out.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Jaxx saw an outburst of fire, dirt, and debris as Rivkah’s Air Wing pounded into the Taiyo forest. His heart thudded dully in his chest until he saw Rivkah falling toward the ground, her parachute ensuring her slow descent.

The starfighter who downed her could have easily picked her off. She was a sitting target. Instead, he pulled a barrel roll, Jaxx being his next victim.

But now Jaxx was everyone’s target. He broke and veered sharply across his attackers’ flight path to increase his angle off the enemy starfighters’ noses. It exposed him to the enemy’s weapon fire for a brief second. He twisted on his side. Their shots went wide.

Jaxx angled toward the city, speeding into the black smoke plumes caused by Fox’s devastating strafe runs. The dozens of enemy fighters closed in, part of Jaxx’s plan.

He hit the plume at 2,200 miles per hour and immediately descended and leveled out just above the trees, coming around to sneak a few shots into the back of the pack. Targeting, he let his PC’s cut through an enemy’s tail, then heard a massive pop. A burning sensation spread through his spine like fast-growing roots. The pain catapulted him back into his physical body. No longer one with his Air Wing, he sat like a heavy piece of lead in his cockpit, his hands gripping the control stick, doing his best to keep his starfighter stable. It didn’t respond.

Already low to the ground, the terrain rushed up at him like a tsunami. Jaxx slid his hand down his seat’s side and punched the ejection button. The cockpit burst open and wind blasted him like an F3 tornado. He flung up and away from his craft, his parachute opening, his craft crumpling into the dense forest below. Fire rose into the air, a baroom sound a second later.

The ejection pushed him away from the coming impact, but that didn’t make him invisible.

He floated towards the canopy, watching a bandit round on him. One string of tracer fire and he’d attain dead man status in a flash. He closed his eyes, tightening his muscles, waiting for sharp zaps coming to rip him apart. He’d done okay. Sure, he’d disobeyed orders, but he hadn’t abandoned Rivkah and that counted for something in his book.

The air around him buzzed, then shuuushboooom rocked his seat up and down, as if he rode a jackhammer. A starfighter flew by him, leaving him to rock in its wake. Perhaps the Taiyonians were consigning him to the predators down below, like they had with Rivkah.

Smoke filled the air and his nostrils. The remains of both his and Rivkah’s crafts sent up pointless smoke signals. He sank somewhere between them. Tree branches snapped as his seat hit the top of the canopy. He was alive, but a sitting target. He had no idea where Rivkah was or how he was going to get down.

Jaxx woke and dripped with sweat.

Donny hovered over him. For once, he looked genuinely concerned. He handed Jaxx a dry towel.

“I don’t care what Slade wants,” said Donny. “We can’t go any longer if we want to keep your mind and body healthy. We’ll have to make this a day, Mr. Jaxx.”

Jaxx lay back on the couch, his pulse elevated. He thought about Rivkah, swinging from a branch on a world millions of miles away. He had to get back. He had to know what had happened next. Slade despised him. Fox hated him. But Rivkah was his friend and he wanted to know he’d done right by her.

For once, though, Jaxx agreed with Donny. He needed to be in better mental shape before he dove back into his past.

40

June 8thUnderfoot Black, Grenada

There’s got to be a way out of here.

Rivkah was in a hotel-like room. Bathroom, small fridge, and a bed. It smelled like a hotel. It was as if this place purchased their items from a Suite Inn, down the street.

Her room was locked from the outside, something that pissed her off to no end.

She paced the room, checking the door handle every so often. There would be no more experiments on her and she wanted out; out of her