Showing results by author "Scott Baron" in All Categories

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Friends and comrades had put their lives on the line, defending not only their homes and loved ones, but their galaxy as well. Both galaxies, to be exact. And more than a few had paid the ultimate price. Now the threat of a massive war spilling over between both realms had gone from a vague threat to a deadly reality, and facing Visla Dominus’s incredible power, Charlie and his friends were forced to call in every favor they were owed.

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. His friends were spread across two distant galaxies, separated by a heavily guarded magical portal and struggling to deal with a war now spilling over into both the technological realm as well as the magical one. And it was beginning to look like they’d reached their breaking point. But Charlie wasn’t about to give up, nor would he give in.

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.

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.

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.

Thrown for the biggest loop she would likely ever be forced to experience, Daisy found herself at a complete loss for once. While a course of action normally made itself clear to her, her new predicament made following her instincts impossibly dangerous. One misstep, and she not only might harm those she cared for, but could even fracture the universe itself.

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.

Like poop on your shoe, bad luck had a knack for sticking Charlie wherever he went. And it sure did stink. Wormholes to a distant galaxy? Done it. Alien slavery? Yup. Forced gladiatorial combat? That too. Space pirate and eventual rebel leader? Check. Rising to the pinnacle of power as Dragon King? Uh-huh. Charlie, it seemed, had seen and survived it all, and at long last it looked like he’d finally earned himself a little peace and quiet. That is until a whole new threat reared its ugly head.