Justice Keepers Saga - Books 10-12

Excerpt from Justice Keepers Saga - Books 10-12

A golden sun dipped below the peaks of snow-capped mountains. The evening sky was a deep blue with stars twinkling faintly: calm and still and cold. But that stillness was soon broken.

Two bird-like Leyrian cruisers, each as long as a city block, swooped low over a forest of conifers. The wind they kicked up was enough to make trees sway and drop clumps of snow to the ground. They flew toward a Ragnosian installation, a square slab of concrete in the middle of the forest with watchtowers along its perimeter.

Dipping its nose slightly, the lead cruiser unleashed a raging, orange particle beam that streaked through the air. A flickering force-field popped up to protect the base, and the super-heated plasma diffused along it.

The Ragnosians were not idle.

Every watchtower supported a cannon, and those weapons twisted around to target their enemies. Green particle beams swept back and forth over the treetops, slamming into Leyrian ships, and bouncing off of their shields.

Directly behind the main assault vessels, a mid-sized troop carrier rushed toward the base at a low altitude. It was a sleek aircraft, shaped very much like a spearpoint with twin cannons on either side of its pointed nose. Those cannons released a steady stream of orange plasma pulses, but the barrage was just a distraction.

A hatch opened in the troop carrier’s belly, and then a metal triangle dropped out, descending to the forest floor. Once it had delivered its payload, the carrier pitched its nose up towards the heavens, but a streak of green ripped right through it, carving the little ship in half.

Two massive hunks of scorched metal flew right over the base and then crashed into the side of a mountain.

From space, the planet of Vandamar looked peaceful. Thin, white clouds swirled over blue oceans and continents covered in lush, green vegetation. At this distance, there was nothing to indicate that a battle was going on. Anna’s shuttle was parked so far away from the action that the planet was about the size of a large coin in her window. She knew that starships were taking potshots at each other while her people made flybys over the Ragnosian base, but she was too far off to see any of it.

Worry gnawed at her. It dawned on her that this was the furthest she had ever been from her homeworld. She was literally on the other side of the galaxy, and if anything went wrong – anything – there was a good chance that she would never see Leyria again. Seth’s anxiety echoed her own until it seemed like they were both caught in a feedback loop. She did what she could to comfort the Nassai, but their moment was cut short when an alarm started buzzing.

Seated in the pilot’s chair with her hands on the control console, Anna peered through the window. “That’s the signal,” she said. “The Gate is in position.”

She swiveled around.

Agent Aradeen Vrenara, a tiny, pale woman with a bob of short, black hair, stood at the back of the cockpit. “Guess you’re on your way then,” she said. “Don’t worry. We’ll wait for you.”

“I appreciate that,” Anna said. “But if things go sideways, you bloody well get out of here, and that’s an order.”

She got up and strode over to the other woman, clapping a hand on Aradeen’s shoulder. Then she pressed a hand against the palm-scanner, and the cabin door slid open.

Descending the steps, she found her team assembled and ready to go. Jack, Rajel, Melissa, Keli and Corovin all stood around the square table, all dressed in black from head to toe: pants, boots and thick, winter coats. Well…Except Corovin, who wore hulking, black armour with a blue visor on his helmet.

Jack looked up to meet her eyes, then nodded curtly. “Good to go when you are, chief,” he said. “Just give the word.”

Anna shrugged into a thick coat of her own, immediately regretting the way it made her feel as if she were sweltering. She mopped a hand over her face, brushing a strand of hair off her cheek. “Take positions,” she said.

At her command, they gathered near the SlipGate.

There were other Keepers in the cabin. Agents Haranel and Bassku stood by the airlock, watching them make the final preparations. “Stay with the reserve fleet,” Anna told them. There were about fifty shuttles parked a good distance away from the battle, ready to leap into action if they were needed. As far as the Ragnosians were concerned, they were backup for the main fleet. Their real purpose was to deliver Anna’s team to the planet’s surface.

She joined the others by the Gate and turned to face the cockpit door. A soft, whirring sound told her that the Gate was powering up, and then a bubble formed around all six of them, making everything on the outside – the table, the airlock, and the two young men who stood by, watching them depart – a blurry mess.

The bubble lurched through an endless, dark tunnel, rushing at breakneck speed. Moments later, they arrived at a place that was bathed in the deep shadows of twilight. Anna couldn’t see much; the trees were all patches of darkness that seemed to blend into one another. And then the bubble popped.

Closing her eyes, Anna nodded once. “All right,” she said, stepping forward. “We’re about half a kilometre north-east of the facility. Quick and quiet. Let’s move.”

Jack was the first one to trot up a snow-covered hill. He paused at the top, standing between two massive firs with snow on their needles. One glance over his shoulder to signal them to follow, and then he was running down the other side.

Melissa scrambled up the hill after him. Keli was next, though her ascent was marked by several muttered profanities in her native language. And then Corovin began his climb, lumbering up the slope and nearly losing his footing more than once. That heavy armour didn’t offer much in the way of agility. Anna followed, and Rajel brought up the rear.

It was a quick trek over uneven ground. Snow crunched under boots, but the sound and fury of the aerial assault would mask any noise. Small, Leyrian fighters rushed past overhead, spitting bolts of plasma from their wings, then breaking off in different directions. One went left, the other right. Flashes of green lit up the night sky as the base’s defenses tried to shoot down enemy craft.

Running at a quick jog, Anna shook her head. “Too easy,” she muttered under her breath. “Not a good sign.”

She followed a winding path around thick trees, nimbly avoiding outstretched branches that would scrape her. She quickly overtook Corovin, who was still plodding along and practically crashing through anything that got in his way.

Keli was down on one knee at the bottom of a gentle slope. The telepath shot a glance back over her shoulder, fixed her gaze upon Corovin and then grunted with disapproval. “Almost as loud as the ships,” she said.

“He’ll be fine,” Anna assured her.

Within minutes, the base came into view: a large, square building, surrounded by a chain-link fence with watchtowers on every side. Almost every one of those cannons was firing a particle beam into the upper atmosphere, but – according to Corovin – the base was designed to defend itself from attacks from above. No one lived on this planet. It was just empty wilderness; so, the ground defenses were minimal.