Showing results by author "Scott Baron" in All Categories

It seemed the unthinkable had happened. Someone had actually targeted the Ghalian, an order of assassins known and feared across the systems. It was madness. Only a fool would go after the likes of them. But, it seemed, the galaxy had no shortage of fools. Retaliation most bloody was in order, and one man stood ready to spring into action. Hozark was his name, and he was no ordinary man. He was a Master Ghalian, an assassin skilled in the ways of death. Practical, mechanical, magical, to him it made no difference.

With interstellar victory behind him, his greatest enemies vanquished, and two galaxies now at peace, Charlie and his friends had settled into a happy life of contented normalcy on the beaches of Earth. Even his dragon companion had made new friends and found a fulfilling life. And with Leila's first child on the way, Charlie really thought the universe was smiling on him at long last.

As if nearly burning up in a freak accident on her way to Earth wasn't bad enough, Daisy had a whole mess of other trouble on her plate. Big trouble. And she was going to get to the bottom of it if it was the last thing she'd do, which it was starting to look like it very well might be. The thing is, Daisy had a simple rule for space travel. Don't blow up, and so far she'd been managing to abide by that, but mere survival wasn't enough.

A magic wielding astronaut fighting off an alien invasion with his dragon friend? Charlie thought they might actually pull it off...that is if Lady Luck decided to play nice for a change. Unfortunately, knowing his fortunes, the odds of that were slim to none.

When your luck just plain sucks in not one galaxy, but two, most people would throw in the towel. But not Charlie. In fact, it almost seemed like he was a glutton for that sort of misery.

As if the creepy cyborg and the mechanically-enhanced human crew weren't bad enough, what was supposed to be a simple flight home to Earth was going horribly wrong. A deadly plot was unfolding. One that could jeopardize the entire human race. And Daisy found herself stuck in the middle.

Sucked through a wormhole, Charlie's spaceship crash landed on a distant world, yet somehow he survived. But survival was about to get a lot harder as he found himself not just stranded on a new planet, but in another galaxy entirely. One ruled not by the laws of technology, but by magic. A realm of space pirates, deadly assassins, alien gladiators, and even dragons. For the spaceman from Earth, it was enough to make his head spin.

Only a fool would target the deadliest order of assassins in the galaxy. The galaxy had no shortage of fools. Someone had attacked the Order, and done so with both blades and magic. It was utterly unheard of, but even the most elite of killers sometimes faced the unexpected, and on this occasion, that could even mean their demise. That is, unless they could get to the bottom of the nefarious plot.

Revenge was the sort of temptation a master assassin would never succumb to. But when one decides to make an exception things can get very ugly. Many years had elapsed since Bawb ascended to the ranks of the elite Master Ghalian, but his upward climb was not yet complete. A mysterious hint of greater things to come lingered, but despite his best efforts and all manner of challenges, he was still in the dark as to what exactly that might be.

Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Bawb knew he would face the latter far more often than the former. But this was his life now. His destiny. Surviving his indoctrination into the elite order of assassins had been a challenge unlike any he had ever faced in his young life. It had been brutal, violent, and painful, but he’d made it past those initial hurdles. If he wanted to excel, however, to reach his true potential, he would need something more—a competitive edge of some sort.

Life as an orphan was quiet, if not exciting, but that existence was turned upside-down in a life-changing instant. Abruptly snatched up and whisked away light years from home, young Bawb found himself thrust into an entirely new life. One that would see his days filled with brutal training of both mind and body, and where failure could have extreme consequences. It would be a difficult existence of sweat, pain, and struggle, where injury and even death were on the line.

Years of training flew by in a whirlwind blur of sweat and blood, and Bawb had excelled like no other in recent memory, shaped into a Ghalian of extraordinary skill under the tutelage of one of the finest their order had ever produced. But even the most talented were not invulnerable. A traitor was in their midst, and the elite assassins found themselves on the defensive, working hard to unearth the lurking rot and excise them with brutal efficiency.

With powerful forces working behind the scenes, Daisy seemed to be on the path to what may very well be a rousing victory. Or a glorious death, should she fail. For obvious reasons, she hoped for the former rather than the latter. She and her friends had persevered and come out on the other side time and again. Now they just had to pull together one last time to stand against their greatest foe. Success would mean victory. Failure would mean the loss of all they held dear.

It was looking like Lady Luck had quite a grudge against him. In fact, at this point merely crashing the multi-billion-dollar ship he had helped design would have felt like winning the lottery compared to his current dilemma. If only he were so lucky. Things had started off all right - that is, until a freak wormhole unexpectedly swallowed his ship, leaving him stranded on an unknown planet far, far from home.

He had survived a spaceship crash, alien slave traders, space pirates, and fierce gladiatorial combat. Hell, he’d even faced an actual fire-breathing dragon and lived, but now, he was presented with an even greater challenge. Domestic living, captive on a strange world. Charlie almost had to laugh at his changing circumstances, having seen it all since a wormhole spat him out in a distant galaxy. He learned to fight, he learned to use magic, he even learned to kill - to survive at all costs.

Her moment of triumph was finally at hand. Or at least that’s what Daisy thought before everything flipped on its axis and went to straight to hell. But that was par for the course in Daisy’s life, and she was becoming somewhat accustomed to expecting the unexpected. This, however, took it to a whole different level. One far worse than she would ever have thought possible. Daisy once more found herself forced to step up and take charge, fighting the hard battle she so desperately wanted nothing to do with.

Escaping from deranged cyborgs and a malcontent artificial intelligence had been the run of Daisy’s life, but one from which she had miraculously come out the other side, and in one piece, no less. Unfortunately for her, she had survived that ordeal only to find herself in a far deeper mess. With an even more dangerous turn of events throwing her in harm’s way, Daisy’s original plight was now dwarfed by the new issues at hand.

Kill or be killed, that was the assassin's way. It was an easy choice. That is, unless you found yourself fighting your former lover. Hozark was a master assassin, one of the finest the galaxy had ever seen. But when a routine contract goes horribly wrong, it becomes clear something sinister is at play. A powerful foe is hunting slayers, and only one weapon can end the bloodshed. A legendary vespus blade. But there's just one enormous problem. Those with the arcane skill to craft them all perished long ago. Or so it is believed.

Underestimating an opponent is a common mistake made by people wielding power. And when the most elite sect of assassins are involved, that blunder could prove to be a particularly fatal one. In times of subterfuge and plotting, though, it is clear they are not the only ones with tricks up their sleeves, and sometimes death is a two-way street.

Someone had Charlie in their crosshairs. A war-like race hell-bent on galactic domination. But unlike Charlie’s enemies of the past, this new threat had a few tricks up their sleeves, namely, using technology and magic interchangeably. Suddenly, what was once Charlie’s biggest advantage had been negated. Worse yet, his own magic, as well as that of his friends, wasn’t quite working right in this new corner of space. In fact, they learned the hard way that if they weren’t careful they could just as easily harm their allies as well as their enemies. Strike two for Team Charlie.