Empire Reborn (Taran Empire Saga Book 1): A Cadicle Space Opera A.K. DuBoff (guided reading books TXT) 📖

full set on the weights. It was a welcome task now, but he would have needed to do it regardless; artificial gravity wasn’t as strong as planetside, and the workouts were an important part of preventing muscle atrophy.

Feeling a pleasant level of worn-out, he exited the gym and headed toward his quarters. Halfway to the elevator, his handheld buzzed with an incoming vidcall. Still sweaty and flushed from the workout, he didn’t particularly want to answer it, but he saw it was coming from his sister’s personal account. He spotted a munitions storeroom nearby. He palmed it open with the biometric lock and ducked inside to answer the call.

Raena beamed the moment her face materialized in the holoprojection. “Jason! I wish you were here.” She stuck out her lower lip in an exaggerated pout.

Behind her, his parents, grandfather, and Ryan waved.

“Good to see you,” Cris said.

Jason smiled. “Looks like you’re having quite the party!” He hadn’t spent appreciable time with his grandfather, so there wasn’t much closeness in the relationship in the way he had with his parents. While he was used to things being the way they were, he couldn’t help but feel like he was missing out by not being on Tararia for the gathering.

“We spent a good portion of the morning digging through a musty basement. It’s not as glamorous as it seems,” his mother said.

“But wine!” Raena grinned. She was definitely a little tipsy; he wasn’t used to seeing her that way.

“Rough day?” he asked her.

She took a gulp from her glass before replying. “Oh, wait until you hear the story about what they found!”

Jason perked up. “Did you find what you were looking for?” he asked his parents.

“Yes, we got the treaty,” his father replied. “Along with another unpleasant discovery.”

“Stars! You actually found it?”

“Yes, and we confirmed that it’s the Gate tech usage that was prohibited. There’s more documentation we’re still evaluating. I’ll fill you in when we get home. Everything okay there?”

“Yep, nothing to report.”

Wil nodded. “Good. Well, we’ll be heading back first thing in the morning. Let’s touch base early-afternoon.”

“Okay.”

“You really need to come visit once this situation is under control.” Raena’s brows drew together. “I miss all of us being together.”

Jason smiled. “I’m ready for a vacation. No arm-twisting needed.”

“Thanks for holding down the fort. We’ll see you soon,” his father said.

“Anything I should do to prepare, now that you’ve found the treaty?” Jason asked.

“Rest up while you can. This is just the beginning.”

CHAPTER 10

Analysis of the treaty text was well underway by the time Wil and Saera returned to TSS Headquarters. The flight back gave him ample time to review the translation their researchers had made overnight, and the findings were both helpful and confounding.

On the one hand, it became clear why the Gatekeepers had been so upset about the use of their Gate technology, since it was explicitly prohibited in the text. However, they still didn’t know why that technology presented such an issue. The Engineering team was conducting another review of the scan data from the Gate sphere from when it had been in the TSS’ possession, so there was little he could do but wait for their report.

Meanwhile, Wil took the opportunity to fill Jason in on what they’d learned, and Jason gave a report about what he’d been up to while Wil and Saera were away. It was good to hear that Jason had thought ahead about sharing the Conquest with his students; the IT-series fighters that used the same direct neural link would be an important piece of the TSS’ defense against a transdimensional threat, so now was the right time to introduce them to the technology.

When he’d finished the recounting, Jason fell silent with a contemplative look Wil recognized, meaning there was something else on his mind.

“What?” Wil prompted.

Jason sighed. “I’ve been thinking a lot about the Rift… with Tiff heading out that way, you know.”

Wil nodded.

“I dunno. It might be nothing, but I keep wondering what the Andvari was doing out near the Rift at all,” Jason continued. “I wasn’t going to bring it up, but I was thinking it might be ancillary to the unrest that’s going on in the Outer Colonies.”

“Why?”

“Something Darin said about how the job came through. Nothing solid to go on, just…”

“I get hunches, too. I know how it goes.” Wil straightened in his seat. “Well, I maintain that dealing with that civil disruption is the Guard’s domain, but we’d be remiss to withhold information from our investigation into the Andvari that might relate to their peacekeeping efforts.”

“Exactly.”

Wil steepled his fingers. “What are your thoughts on the matter?”

Jason shrugged. “In terms of why the ship was out there, the easiest answer is that everyone’s trying to make a living. It’s harder in the Outer Colonies than most places.”

“But going through an off-limits former war zone?”

“A rich harvest for someone willing to take the risk.”

“There are a lot of easier places to get scrap metal.”

“It’s not just scrap metal though, is it? Aren’t there whole ships out there?” Jason asked.

“Well, pieces of them, anyway.”

“Okay, so first of all, we’re talking about TSS wreckage here. The tridillium in the hulls alone is worth a ton. Then there’s the drives.”

“Jump drives are notoriously fragile,” Wil pointed out. “If one of the prongs breaks, which they often did in battle, it’s easier to manufacture a new one than effect repairs.”

“I didn’t mean those. The energy cores.”

Wil considered the suggestion. “That’s true. The distribution cells are valuable and usually well-protected, so they often survive when a ship is damaged. And the PEMs themselves…” Most starship components sported a high price tag in secondhand markets, but the Perpetual Energy Modules at the center of every vessel’s