Star Runners 2: Revelation Protocol (31 page)

Austin shook his head. “I don’t understand, sir.”

Braddock turned to face him. “I don’t want you getting a big head over this, Lieutenant. While you certainly did some fancy flying out there, this Atlantis incident is nothing more than a blip on the Legion’s radar. It was a skirmish. A lowly pirate commander with delusions of grandeur thought he’d make a stab at taking a backwater world. You helped prevent that. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“May I ask why you are telling me this, sir?”

Braddock stepped in front of him. “I respect what you did, but Earth is nothing. I’m talking about the rest of the Legion. We need you, Lieutenant. If you were offered an assignment on a Legion carrier, could you do it?”

Austin thought about Ryan Bean and his opinion of carrier life. Of course, Bean still had a life here on Earth. With his mother leaving, Austin had no reason to return to Earth.

“I would be honored, sir.”

For the first time since entering the mess hall, Braddock smiled. “With the current events, I’ve been told I will be taking a squadron on a carrier tour near the Zahl border. I’m going to request you come with me.”

Austin blinked. “Thank you, sir.”

“The fact is; Dax Rodon had support. I know you don’t know, yet, what I’m about to tell you. Your friend Lieutenant Morris saw more than he thought.”

“What do you mean?”

Braddock lowered his voice. “What I’m about to tell you is top secret. If I’m asked about it, I’ll deny it. If the evidence can be trusted, Rodon was receiving his support from the Zahl Empire. Josh witnessed it. This is going to be a scandal if and when this gets back to the capitol.”

Austin’s jaw dropped. “I thought the Zahl Empire was in a cold war with the Legion.”

“They are.” Braddock gazed back at the water. “But tensions have been growing for some time. These orders to transfer from Tarton’s Junction to a carrier task force wouldn’t come otherwise. Brass is taking this seriously.

Austin swallowed. “Will there be a war?”

“That’s the real question, isn’t it?” He sighed. “If these orders come through, I want you to take your leave, sign your five-year papers and be ready to report to wherever they assign me. Are you up to it?”

Austin stood and nodded. “Absolutely, sir.”

Braddock clasped his hands. “I look forward to it.”

*****

The freighters stretched out in the one operational hangar of Atlantis. The ships packed in tight as possible, crew and staff falling into massive lines as they moved into Atlantis to begin the rebuilding operation. He glanced at his tablet. One of the many freighters would depart in twenty minutes for Oma where Ryker was undergoing rehabilitation. Another would depart shortly after for Tarton’s Junction and the promotion ceremony.

Austin shook his head at the amount of people crammed into the hangar.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Nubern said, stepping next to Austin, his arm still in a sling. “The perseverance of the human spirit. Support is coming in from all over Quadrant Eight. Other planets have heard of the attack. There’s more aide coming than we can handle. And to imagine yesterday, I heard some officers say Atlantis would never be rebuilt. Now look.”

“Amazing.” Austin shook his head.

Nubern eyed him. “You ready for your leave?”

Austin nodded. “Yes, sir. Very ready.”

“Decided where you’re going?”

Austin smiled. “Off world.” He adjusted his satchel on his shoulder and stared at the controlled chaos of the hangar. “It makes me very proud.”

Nubern turned to him. “How do you mean?”

“I’m proud to be a Legion officer,” he said, gazing off at the freighters. He turned to Nubern and smiled. “Very proud, sir.”

“You know, I’m glad to hear you say that. After our earlier conversation… I hope you mean it.”

Austin frowned. “Of course, sir. Why?”

Nubern released a sighed. “I’ve heard scuttlebutt about some of what your friend has been through.”

“And?”

Nubern winced. “Well, he apparently witnessed a Zahl capital ship destroy Dax Rodon in the Zine System.”

Austin blinked, remembering Braddock’s warning about keeping quiet. “Zahl? Are you sure?”

“That’s all I know and that’s all I’ve heard.” He turned to look at Austin. “If that’s true, it would explain a great deal. It’s why Lieutenant Morris left for Base Prime. Command needs to verify this.”

After his brief discussion with Braddock in the mess hall, Austin thought back to his brief classes on the history of the Galactic Legion and its contentious relationship with the Zahl Empire. There hadn’t been a full-scale galactic war in generations. If the Zahl Empire had supported a pirate organization to spread dissent in the Quadrant Eight worlds so far from the border, what else would they be capable of doing?

They stood in silence for a moment.

“A message came through regarding Lieutenant Zyan’s status,” Nubern said. “She’s recovering well and rehabilitation is nearly complete. Her leg was shattered pretty badly.”

Austin thought of Ryker, her smile and her laugh. Her voice.

“I’m very glad to hear it, sir. She’s very special.”

“That she is.”

Nubern cleared his throat. “So I’ve heard you might be assigned to a carrier task force?”

“Nothing’s sure, yet.”

“You’ll do a great job wherever you decide to go.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“I would like to say something else,” Nubern said. “I heard Josh might turn in his wings.”

Austin nodded. “Yes. What will happen to him?”

Nubern chewed on his lip. “With what he’s been through, the Legion will take care of him no matter what he decides. Maybe deskwork, who knows? It has made me concerned about your future as well.”

Austin frowned. “How so?”

Nubern sighed and stared out at the crews loading the freighters. “You’ve been through a great deal since you received your wings, son. A great deal. I wouldn’t blame you if you decided to take a different path. If you also considered turning in your wings, I wouldn’t try to stop you—not after what you’ve been through. I don’t want you flying just for me.”

Austin looked at him, then turned to the freighters. He took a few steps toward the hangar. A clump of blue Tizona uniforms boarded a freighter two hundred yards away, moving through the ocean of people.

He took a deep breath.

“I’ll never quit, sir.” He turned around, looking Nubern in the eye. He gestured to the wings on his chest. “This is what I do.”

Swinging the satchel over his shoulder, Austin strolled toward the line of departing freighters.

He stood at the edge of the room full of patients in white robes. He wore a simple hunter green shirt and old blue jeans. A screen on the wall displayed a newsfeed. The image showed a man on the beach near San Francisco. He couldn’t hear the audio, but the man pointed to the ocean, his eyes bloodshot and wide. Thick black curls of hair bobbed as he spoke. The text popped up on the bottom of the screen:

Space Debris or UFO

The man continued screaming wildly at the camera before the image cut back to a female newscaster. The amused expression on her face signified how the mainstream media treated the story of a falling satellite off the coast of California.

Josh exhaled. Austin’s adventure in saving the city had avoided the public eye, and now he traveled far away from here to the core of Legion space.

It’s the way it should be, he thought. I have different plans. 

Walking to the front desk, he moved slowly when he produced his identification.

The nurse nodded at him, her knowing glance telling him she knew his story. “Lieutenant Morris.”

“Ma’am.”

He glanced at the high windows revealing a view of the Golden Gate Bridge. After the past forty-eight hours of questioning by the EIF and top Legion command regarding his incident, the bright sunlight burned his eyes. He was tired, didn’t want to think any further about Zahlian ARCs, the vessel’s response capabilities and the response times of the interceptors. The Legion agents asked the same questions in different forms, all with the goal of finding more about this mysterious vessel.

He squinted and lowered his gaze, his eyes coming to rest on the woman in the chair closest to the window.

“How is she?” he asked, his eyes still on her.

The nurse stared at the women as she paused, apparently deciding on the proper phrase. “She has come to grips with the situation, and will be going home tomorrow to see her parents. This has been very … difficult for her.”

Josh looked at the nurse, remembering the file he had read about the incident with the Phantoms. Her parents’ home had nearly burned down in the ensuing firefight in the neighborhood. “Are they okay?”

“Her parents? Yes. Revelation Protocol was carried out on the entire family,” the nurse said with a nod. “They are waiting for her in Savannah. I was told they have spent the past hours at the Tizona Campus in Georgia.”

“I see.” He looked at her brunette hair, trying to accept it was real. After all this time, she sat on the other side of the room. “And her counseling?”

The nurse glanced at her tablet. “She has recovered from the initial shock, but has been very quiet since she was told she would be going back to school.”

Josh swallowed. “May I see her?”

“Of course. She was told she was receiving a special guest today.”

He gestured to the room. “Now?”

“Sure.”

He strolled past the tables covered in chess and checkerboards, past the people pouring their feelings out to the counselors. Some spoke in grim tones, others spit out sentences between bouts of sobbing. One pair of women spoke about a car accident.

He held his head high as he walked, and paused behind her chair. Reaching out with his hand, he froze. He closed his mouth and swallowed.

“Kadyn?” he asked.

She turned around, her hair falling over her shoulder. “Josh?” She blinked. “Oh my, Josh?”

He held out his hand, stopping her from standing. Moving around in front of her, he knelt on one knee.

“What are you doing here, Josh?” she asked, her voice soft.

He reached out, caressing her hand. He stared into her brown eyes for a long, precious moment. If he spoke, if he said anything, he knew it could end like a dream interrupted, and he wanted to feel the softness of her hand in his, wanted it to last.

“Josh,” she said, leaning forward. Darkness had formed under her eyes. She looked tired. “What are you doing here?”

He squeezed her hand and cleared his throat. He stared at the floor, struggling to realize the day had arrived. “I have come a long way to tell you something I should have told you a long time ago.”

L.E. Thomas might have been born in Virginia, but his mind was always in the stars. Long before he earned several writing awards in journalism, graphic design and fiction, he dreamed of flying spacecraft into the depths of space.

L.E. Thomas lives in Georgia with his wife and rescued dog. He earned a communications degree with a minor in writing and received his Master’s in History. He works in PR and teaches part-time as a History adjunct professor, but his true passion is writing.

Book 3 Coming Soon!

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