Course Correction_A Bounty Hunter Story Read online

  Course Correction

  Universe in Flames Origins Episode 1

  Christian Kallias

  Contents

  Also by Christian Kallias

  Acknowledgments

  Copyright

  Course Correction

  Universe in Flames Dark Legacy

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Damocles Fall

  Wings of Destiny

  Also by Christian Kallias

  About the Author

  Also by Christian Kallias

  The Universe in Flames Series

  Book 1: Earth - Last Sanctuary

  (Book 1.5): Ryonna's Wrath (Bonus Novella, now exclusively contained in Book 1 & this eBook)

  Book 2: Fury to the Stars

  Book 3: Destination Oblivion

  Book 4: The Beginning of the End

  Book 5: Rise of the Ultra Fury

  Book 6: Shadows of Olympus

  Book 7: Armageddon Unleashed

  Book 8: Twilight of the Gods

  Book 9: Requiem of Souls

  Book 10: To End All Wars (Final Chapter)

  Universe In Flames Trilogies

  The First Universe in Flames Trilogy (Books 1-3)

  The Second Universe in Flames Trilogy (Books 4-6)

  The Third Universe in Flames Trilogy (Technically a Quadrilogy: Books 7-10): Coming Soon

  Universe In Flames - Dark Legacy Series

  Book 1: Coming Summer 2018

  Rewind Series

  Book 1: Rewind 717

  Anthologies

  Collateral Damage

  The Expanding Universe 3

  Beyond the Black Volume 1

  Acknowledgments

  Cover artwork by Christian Kallias

  [email protected]

  www.christiankallias.com

  www.facebook.com/ChristianKallias

  www.twitter.com/kalliasx

  Production Editor & Alpha/ARC Team Lead

  Paula Lavattiata Lopez

  Editors

  Paula Lavattiata Lopez

  Proofreaders

  Alpha Team (Thank you Daniel P., Buick, Mike L., David K., and Millie. You guys rock!!

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2018 by Christian Kallias

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Course Correction

  (A Universe in Flames Origins Story)

  A laser impacted near Keera’s head, hot sparks burning her face.

  That was too close for comfort.

  “Some bounty hunter you are!” protested Eleni.

  “Not now!” said Keera. “Stay under cover. Unless you want your pretty face blown up.”

  “At least give me a weapon; there are three of them out there. We stand a better chance of survival if I can help you return fire.”

  “That’s not going to happen. You’re my prisoner; I’m not giving you the means to take me out.”

  “You only care about your warrant, and you know very well you’re signing my death warrant, anyway.”

  Keera swore inside. This latest mission hadn’t turned out to be the easy “grab the mark and collect the bounty” that she initially hoped for. Ever since she had captured Eleni, things had gone from bad to worse. And, now, they were pinned down.

  Laser fire exploded and impacted around them.

  “Give us the prisoner, and we’ll let you live,” shouted one of the assailants in the distance. “We don’t care about you.”

  But Keera wasn’t accustomed to obeying threats. The past year had been a nightmare with almost none of her warrants going well, to the point where she was dangerously close to losing everything she had been working toward. The early retirement that she had worked so hard to achieve felt more and more out of reach with each passing day.

  “Why are you hesitating?” asked Eleni.

  “Because my mission is to bring you back alive.”

  “I’m dead anyway. The moment you deliver me to your client, he’ll have me executed.”

  “And that’s my problem why, exactly? You’re the criminal; I’m just doing my job.”

  “Some job.”

  “I’m not gonna stand here and debate the value of my profession with the person breaking laws and trying to shame me into letting her go. Believe it or not, I’m sorry to hear your life is over; but if I let my personal feelings get in the way of my warrants, I’d never collect my bounties and be able to support myself.”

  Eleni snorted. “Whatever makes you sleep at night.”

  Keera ignored Eleni’s ranting and instead tapped her wrist device, which displayed her holo-map that showed their area and overlaid life-sign signatures. The three men currently firing at them were getting closer with each passing minute. Soon, she’d have no other choice but to engage them or give Eleni up.

  Except, she couldn’t fail this mission. If she didn’t pay Tron’Tak with this bounty, she’d have to make a run for it, and she could lose her bounty hunter license altogether. What would she do then?

  There was no denying that she had grown weary of her job, and as more time passed, the less her heart was in it. Days like these, she wondered why she had taken up the profession in the first place. She knew why, of course. Her first warrant had given her the satisfaction of getting revenge for the loss of her soul mate.

  It had not felt as good as she had hoped, though, taking another man’s life. Nor had it given her the closure she craved. It didn’t bring back the person she loved more than anything in this world. It had; however, empowered Keera and made her stronger, tougher, and more determined to bring scum from around the universe to justice. Though only for a short time as the hole in her heart still lingered, fresh and ever painful.

  Glancing at her holo-map, Keera noted that she had less than a minute to come up with a plan, or they would both perish. She couldn’t trust Eleni with a weapon, that much Keera’s gut told her with absolute certainty. Her prisoner had tried giving her the slip numerous times in the last couple of days. In fact, she was the reason they were hitching a ride back to this scum-infested transport rather than returning home in Keera’s rental ship. They had lost it, thanks to one of Eleni’s ill-fated attempts to escape.

  Keera wasn’t as cold-blooded as she was trying to project. She understood Eleni’s will to survive; in her place, she would have attempted to give her the slip as well, at any turn. But, the job required her to project an image. A weak or emotive bounty hunter was a dead bounty hunter. And, even though she didn’t want to see Eleni die at the end of her warrant, no matter how much of a pain in the butt she had been up until now, she had little choice.

  Then again, if scumbags had a king, Tron’Tak was as close to this position as anyone she knew. While she didn’t fear him, per se, she had heard stories about him that would make her pretty green hair turn grey. And, right now, he was holding all the cards. He had both her ship and the precious cargo from her last few runs. Fortunately, Tron’Tak couldn’t put his hands on her personal possessions because she had invested in secret-shielded compartments.

  It wasn’t much, but it was all she had left, and without cashing in on her cargo, she’d probably not have enough money to survive the next few days, let alone months. She had to get Eleni’s bounty, pay Tron’Tak, and perhaps reassess her career choice and life path.

  “Are you just gonna sit there and get us both killed?” complained Eleni.

  “I thought your fate was sealed either way.”

&nb
sp; “That doesn’t mean I’m willing to be slaughtered without a fight.”

  “Nobody’s dying today; well, except those three men, that is.”

  “And yet you’re just hiding here instead of doing something about it.”

  “Shut up,” said Keera between clenched teeth. “Or I’ll shoot you myself.”

  Eleni narrowed her eyes and shot her a calculating look. “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “We’re in this mess because of you, so don’t you dare tell me what I would or wouldn’t do. Now, keep quiet, and let me deal with this mess of yours. Do NOT move from your position; if you do, I swear to the Olympian gods that I’ll end you.”

  Eleni threw her arms in the air but didn’t argue further.

  More laser fire exploded near Keera’s face. The moment the salvo was over, she leaped out of cover, instinctively lined her blaster toward the only exposed mercenary, and squeezed the trigger, burning a hole between his eyes.

  The man fell on his knees, a look of utter shock locked onto his face before falling onto the cold, hard metallic floor. His head made a satisfying wet thud.

  One down; two to go.

  When a second mercenary rolled on the floor and lined his weapon toward Keera, she tried jumping back behind cover unsuccessfully; laser fire grazed her thigh, burning part of her tight leather suit in the process.

  The pain was a reminder that she needed to be more careful if she wanted to live past today. That move had been reckless, and while her shooting skills had paid off, she knew better than to just wing it.

  Brain over muscles, Keera, brain over muscles.

  Before she could think of her next move, the pounding of distant running footsteps got her attention. She checked her holo-map to see not two but four people converging on her location. They spread out, trying to flank her.

  Dammit!

  She looked at Eleni, making sure she wasn’t trying to use the chaos to escape once more.

  “Give me a weapon,” Eleni murmured.

  Keera slowly shook her head from side to side and raised a finger to her lips.

  Keera crawled behind some stacked crates, allowing her to stand up. She’d need a distraction of some kind, and she knew very well that trying to eliminate the men one by one would expose her to further danger. The more time she waited to take them down, the more chances additional reinforcements would make their way into the already boiling situation and turn the precarious odds closer to nil.

  She quickly glanced over her crate cover, as laser fire scorched a lock of her hair. She crouched and assessed her weapons. She had several options, a couple throwing blades, a spare blaster, a nano-blade, and her trusty light-blade.

  She only had a moment left before two of the men would force her out of cover, and the last thing she needed was to fight on somebody else’s terms. That was a surefire way to get killed.

  As much as she hated wasting perfectly good and expensive pieces of equipment, she unholstered her spare blaster and set its power source to an overload cycle. The weapon hummed as it got hotter. A quick glance on her holo-map helped her determine the most efficient location where she needed to throw the blaster pistol.

  “Bye, buddy; we’ve seen a lot, you and I, but I’m afraid it’s time to say goodbye,” she whispered.

  She threw the weapon high above the crates and counted to three before exiting cover at the exact moment the blaster exploded a few feet from the approaching mercenaries. The blast acted as a flash-bang grenade giving Keera an extra couple of seconds to put her plan into action.

  Temporarily blinded, the men discharged their weapons randomly toward the explosion, far away from Keera’s current location. Leaping from crate to crate like a black panther in the silent night, she positioned herself on higher ground, putting her in position to pounce on the unsuspecting prey.

  “You’re gonna pay for this, bitch!” shouted one of the mercenaries, mushing his hands on his eyes as he desperately tried rubbing away the burning sensation.

  That mouth; I guess you’ll be my next victim, then. Time to teach you some manners.

  Stealthily, Keera dropped from above and planted her knee at the top of the man’s spine, while grabbing his arms to better control the rest of her fall. The man’s chest impacted with the hard floor, and Keera heard the crunching sound, as multiple bones broke, followed by a painful moan. She violently hit him in the head with the handle of her blaster. Blood sprayed as the merc lost consciousness. The second mercenary spun around in horror and aimed at her.

  Keera reacted instantly and rolled out of the way of the merc’s panicked shot, causing him to miss. Instead, the bolt impacted his colleague’s back, leaving a small charred divot. Keera shot the blaster out of the merc’s hand the moment she ended her roll. The pistol blaster sparked as it flew in the air. Before he could grab his backup weapon, Keera darted forward and sent him crashing against the wall. She swiftly took a blade from her thigh stock and flung it, impaling the man through the shoulder.

  A second later, she was upon him and grabbed his backup weapon, pressing it against his genitals.

  The look of utter shock in his eyes made Keera smile.

  “Please, don’t,” he said, desperation in his voice.

  “Time to say goodbye,” she said, her tone icy cold.

  “I take it back.”

  “What about trying to kill me? You take that back, too?”

  She holstered her blaster and punched the blade deeper into the man’s shoulder, preventing him from uttering an answer. She didn’t need or care for one. Distant footsteps from the other converging mercenaries reverberated around her. She needed to get out of there.

  She jabbed the muzzle of the gun under the man’s chin and pressed hard.

  “Balls or head; decide quickly, or I shoot both…Tick tock!”

  The man’s eyes grew wide, and his body began to shake involuntarily. Since it didn’t look like he was going to make the decision, and Keera didn’t care if he did, she ripped the blade from the man’s shoulder and planted it in his windpipe.

  “I said tick tock, bitch,” smirked Keera.

  With the other two men around the corner, she could use another distraction. She set the shocked mercenary’s weapon to overload and thrust it into his pants just before head-butting his lights out.

  “Both it is.”

  Before the two mercenaries arrived, Keera merged into the shadows. They both defensively aimed around them when the overloaded blaster exploded, sending parts of the man’s body everywhere in a bloody mess.

  “This bitch is crazy! Look what she did to Waryl!”

  “Keep your eyes open, Mika, and stay sharp.”

  Mika nodded, but his entire body was dripping with sweat, and he reeked of fear.

  “I love the smell of roasted nuts, don’t you?” taunted Keera from the shadows.

  Both men turned around and aimed their blasters at her voice. Keera emerged from the shadows, radiating a confident smile.

  “Stupid move; now you die,” said the one called Mika.

  Both men opened fire and scored multiple hits on Keera, but the laser fire passed through her as if she wasn’t there.

  “She’s a hologra—”

  The mercenary was unable to finish his sentence as Keera kicked him from behind, sending him crashing to the floor. His blaster slipped from his hand and skidded across the floor, passing through the still active, still smiling Keera hologram.

  Mika instinctively slashed his elbow toward Keera, but she blocked it with one hand.

  “I’m afraid you got it backward, Mika…”

  A light-blade pierced and protruded out of Mika’s stomach as his insides boiled and burned. The flashing white light of the blade reflected in the man’s dying eyes.

  “You first!” added Keera.

  Panicked, the other merc jumped forward darting through Keera’s still standing holo-decoy. Once he grabbed his blaster, he started shooting before he was able to aim.

  Keera turned t
he light-blade off and used Mika’s carcass as a shield. A lucky laser shot bounced off of a nearby crate and hit Keera on her wrist. Fortunately, it didn’t result in a wound, but sparks flew from her wrist device, and her holo-decoy projection twitched and disappeared.

  Keera threw the body toward the other merc and dodged to the side, disappearing into the shadows behind more crates.

  The mercenary rolled out of the way of Mika’s body coming toward him, and he sent a dozen blind shots around himself as he was getting back on his feet.

  His gun overheated and misfired. The man’s eyes widened at the realization, and he darted forward, trying to make a run for it. The whisper quiet sound of a nano-blade cutting through the air ended whatever hope of survival the mercenary had as his head was severed from his body while he was running. Before the head hit the ground, the man’s body continued to run a few more paces and smashed against a stack of crates.

  Keera returned the nano-blade into its sheath behind her back and tried checking her holo-map, but more sparks flew from her wrist device.

  Crap!

  Losing no time, she ran to where she had left Eleni. To Keera’s surprise, Eleni had obeyed and stayed under cover.

  “Let’s go! We better not stay in this cargo bay for much longer. That shit-haul of a transport is slow, but at least it’s a huge ship with numerous decks where we can hide for the last few hours of our journey.”