Saturn's Rings Episode One

By Odette C. Bell

Lisa’s spent her life looking at the stars. An astrophysicist, she’s always felt pulled toward space.
It’s about to become more than a feeling. When a Supreme Outer Guardian comes crashing through her roof and crushes her telescope, she can’t get away. Not when he claims only she can help him save the universe.
J’nar Mackay is a new Guardian. He only got his stripes yesterday. An issue, because he’s about to be thrown into the greatest fight of his life. A mission gone awry sees him finding an ancient force in the ring of a seemingly normal woman.
But he’ll quickly learn that nothing is as it seems when it comes to Lisa Snow. All her life, her hand has been guided toward one purpose – opening up the stars to get to what’s beyond.
In a tale that spans universes and blasts past the stars and back again, Lisa and J’nar must learn to wield the greatest of all powers. And no. It isn’t love – yet.
...
Saturn’s Rings follows a starry-eyed astrophysicist and a newly-minted lieutenant fighting destiny to save life itself. If you love your space operas with action, heart, and a splash of romance, grab Saturn’s Rings Episode One today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.
Saturn’s Rings is the 2nd Supreme Outer Guardian series. A massive, exciting, and heroic sci-fi world where the day is always saved and hearts are always won, each series can be read separately, so plunge in today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Odette C. Bell
• Release date: Feb 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215537039

Book preview

Prologue

J’nar Mackay

Oh God, Lisa, no. I skidded into the room to see her crumpled next to the massive window. Space was arrayed beyond, the stars glinting, not like glittering jewels, but like illuminated eyes.

That made a lot of witnesses to see the single tear that trailed down my cheek and splashed onto my chin. My armor didn’t dry it. I wouldn’t let it.

I grabbed her shoulder and moved her around, fingers shaking as I feared the worst.

Her ring flashed on her finger, somehow looking more powerful than it ever had.

I clutched up her palm in my shaking hand and turned it around. There I saw black lines of the infection climbing her skin. They’d reached her wrist, gone past her shoulder, and disappeared deep into her arm only to reappear along her neck and up the left side of her face.

I slapped her cheek lightly to wake her, even though my armor told me there was no point. She was seemingly on the edge of death.

I twisted. The door opened. Dammit, I’d closed it and locked it with Supreme Outer Guardian tech. But this man could not be stopped.

Glory Tarn strode in.

He stopped in the middle of the room. His helmet was down, and I could see his face. Not once did he look over at Lisa in regret. Instead he tilted his head to the side like a curious crow trying to decide how to get into the soft belly of some poor half-dead creature. Drop her and leave her. Your part in this play is over, Supreme Outer Guardian. You’ve done as I’ve asked.

I shook my head wildly. I clenched my teeth until I could’ve chewed right through my jaw and kept going through this godforsaken ship. I didn’t do a thing. I didn’t help you—

Your part in this play is over, he said strictly. You can choose to leave on your own two feet, or you can be carried away.

I didn’t want to leave Lisa cold and alone on the ground, so I jumped up with her, pinning her limp form against my chest. Her messy hair slid over the torso unit of my armor, her infected hand and that freaking ring just there, close enough that I could see the internal light playing within. I’m a Supreme Outer Guardian. Have you forgotten—

He lifted a hand imperiously, the movements slow and deliberate. He placed one finger up. You may be a Guardian. But that means nothing here. We have been graced by the gods. Leave, or you will be assisted to. Permanently.

My gaze flashed to the left and through the open doorway. I could see his guards readying their weapons.

So what did I do? I grabbed hold of Lisa harder. Like my life depended on it.

And maybe it did.

I’d made an oath as a Supreme Outer Guardian to protect all who needed my help. But with Lisa, I’d made a promise, too.

I jutted my chin out and stared at him defiantly. Do your worst.

It will be a pleasure, Glory Tarn snarled. Then he sliced his hand to the side, and his guards leapt into the room.

I’d have no chance.

But I didn’t need a chance to win.

Chapter 1

Earlier That Day

Lisa Snow

I sat there at the kitchen table, the chipped linoleum pushing against my elbow as I slid further down and collapsed my chin into my hand. I drummed my fingers against my face. They’ve got to accept this application, right? Come on, I have a proven publication track record, and I’m an ace at applying for grants. Why can’t they just give me a job? I said all of this to no one at all. My apartment was empty. I would use the word echoing, but that would suggest it had sufficient space. It was so cramped that should I be inclined to, I could stand, lift my arms out, and virtually touch both walls. There was just enough room for a table which I used as my computer station and the little nook in the corner for my telescope.

I slid my gaze over to it again. Don’t do it. It’s not worth it. You can live on the street, I said as I shoved my nail into my mouth and chewed on it industriously. My lips crinkled to the side then paused as I tried to gather the gumption to open the email.

What was the point, though? I knew what it would say, right? Thanks but no thanks. All of our positions in astrophysics are already filled. You were a dolt for studying this at university. It’s hardly a long-term career path for more than a handful of the best.

And I was good. But I wasn’t the best.

So that’s when my gaze slid toward the telescope again. No way. I am not selling it to pay for the rent on this crappy apartment. Which leaves you, doesn’t it? My stare jolted down to the ring I always wore.

The ring that had been gifted to me along with the telescope. It hadn’t been from a grandparent or anything. It wasn’t like our family had ever had money. And if we’d earned it, we’d always blown it that day.

But my familial money management skills were not under scrutiny right now. The ring and telescope were. They’d come from the old man down the street when I’d been growing up. The same guy who’d captured my imagination. Because every day at exactly the right time, he’d taken out his telescope, set it up on his porch, and waited. His passionate routine had soon captured my curious mind, and I’d ditched the simple imagination of childhood for his learned knowledge of the stars.

When he died, he’d left me that ring and that telescope. And they were unquestionably the most expensive items I owned. Nothing else in this apartment, aside from my computer – which I needed for work – could possibly pay the rent.

And I needed it. Today.

I flexed my hands in and out once more then opened the email.

I won’t tell you that my stomach dropped. I won’t tell you that I started crying. Because I didn’t. You can’t really be that disappointed when you knew, 100 percent, that you were going to fail from the outset.

I closed the lid of my laptop without reading the rest of the rejection and crumpled onto the table.

I opened one eye and stared at the chipped linoleum, tracing the patterns.

Then I pushed to my feet.

My fingers moved toward the telescope. No way. I’ll never stop looking at the stars. So it’s gotta be the ring, then? Unconsciously, as I’d said that, my other hand had moved over and clutched up the ring. Not like it was going to wrench it off and throw it at the nearest pawnbroker. But like it wanted to protect it from my baser instincts.

Wincing, one by one, I peeled my fingers back and stared at it.

A solid chunk of gold, that alone was worth a small fortune.

The stone inside I’d never been able to identify. It was this milky black gray. It wasn’t a smoky quartz, and nor was it a strange onyx.

Whatever it was, I just hoped it was worth something.

I never left my apartment without it. Hell, I slept with it on. If I didn’t, I’d always have dreams telling me to put it back on. Because yeah, both my telescope and ring factored in my dreams. It wasn’t like I had much else to distract myself with.

I walked over to the telescope one last time. I slid my fingers along the brass base and up to the top.

I’d had it valued. Insofar as I’d looked on the Internet. It was worth about two grand. That could buy me food and rent. But I’d never sell it, even if I had to move under a bridge.

I glimpsed through the curtains and saw the sky beyond. It would be a long time before the sun set. I promised my frayed nerves that I would spend most of the night staring up at the sky, even though there was so much light pollution around here, I’d barely be able to see a thing. That wasn’t the point. The ritual was. Because the ritual reinforced one thing. No matter how consuming and petty my earthly problems were, there was always space out there to put them in perspective.

With my ring in hand, I left my apartment.

I shoved a jacket on to protect myself from the cold but kept shivering anyway. Was I really at this point? I’d dragged myself through university and grad school. I’d always been able to find work. But now it had dried up. I didn’t care what kind of work, but it didn’t care, either. Because it hadn’t manifested. Now I was here. A trained astrophysicist on the edge of utter destitution.

I walked the block, and the wind howled behind me. I swear it knew what I was doing. This was an affront, it said. This went against everything old Barney had ever taught me.

He hadn’t been concerned about earthly problems. No matter what had been going on in his life – including the cancer that had ravaged his body toward the end – every night he had always carried his telescope out onto the porch.

And now I’d be selling one of his cherished memories. He’d told me, his hand on mine on his deathbed, never to let go of these two items.

Guess that’s another person I can disappoint, I muttered bitterly.

I knew the pawn shop I wanted to go to. Another family trait. No, we didn’t fence stolen goods. It’s just, due to our poor management skills, we always got into strife. We’d buy high and sell low. Real smart, that.

I saw the pawn shop across the street. I made nothing of the fact some loner dressed in a long dark jacket was leaning against the wall beside it.

I walked straight past him and into the store, the shop bell tinkling. The pawn shop was a mess. You show me a pawn shop that isn’t. It’s the very nature of them. With so many goods flowing in and out, they will always spill over the shelves and in bargain buckets at the front.

With my nerves playing in my stomach, I walked up to the guy at the back counter. I pulled my hand out of my pocket.

He watched me. But when he saw I wasn’t holding anything, he leaned back and drummed his hands on the glass top counter. An array of watches, rings, and bracelets glittered underneath. The prices were extortionate. I could tell you they were about 10 times higher than what the guy had actually bought them for. Remember the family motto? Buy high, sell low. Because there’s really not too much strategy you can bring to desperation.

You got something for me, lady? he asked perceptively.

I was in a decent enough jacket, but my face would’ve screamed poor. I was not here to partake of his cheaply bought goods. I was here to sell my blood and bones. I was wondering if you are interested in….

The bell tinkled from behind me, and someone walked into the shop. They browsed. I tried to ignore them. And honestly, they weren’t distracting. But my freaking conscience was. The same words kept repeating in my head. Could I really sell this ring? Barney had clasped my hand on his freaking deathbed and told me to always keep it. Yet here I was, about to ruin that memory.

I closed my eyes. My brow scrunched. It felt like I was manually moving through my morality. Maybe for some people they