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

“Any mission parameters I should pass on?”

“Posing as a civilian, investigating a potential separatist group in the Outer Colonies. Possible connections to contractors, such as Renfield, with ties to those with deep pockets and more power than they should rightly have. And, that geneticist boyfriend of hers might be handy to have along. I’ll forward you the tip we received.”

“All right, I’ll reach out to her.” Jason paused. “And, Dad, we’ll figure out this thing with the Rift. If these aliens struck a treaty with ancient Tarans, that means the odds were even enough that they called a cease-fire rather than one dominant force wiping the others out.”

“As much as I want to believe that, we have no idea what kind of technology our ancestors had. Just because they were able to stand up to the enemy back then, we have no way of knowing if we can do the same now.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Jason smiled. “But they also didn’t have us.”

—

Some people left a lasting impact, even knowing them for a short time. For Jason, Major Kira Elsar was one of those individuals.

Throughout his time in the TSS, he’d encountered few people who could challenge his telekinetic abilities—and all of those were immediate family members. Granted, there were many powerful Agents, but he, his father, and his sister were in a unique class of their own. Kira, on the other hand, had no Gifted abilities in the traditional sense, but she was augmented in a different way that had posed a genuine challenge when he’d sparred with her.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t beat her; it was that she’d been able to catch him by surprise. Such a simple thing, but to someone who’d rarely been challenged, he relished the feeling of someone finally being able to get one over on him. More than that, she’d treated him like any other colleague while she’d done it. Perhaps it was because she’d grown up on a world outside of the formal Taran Empire where the Sietinen name didn’t command immediate deference. No matter the reason, he appreciated that he’d needed to earn Kira’s respect.

Jason went down the hall to his office to place the call. He pulled up Kira’s contact info; it’d been almost two years since their last exchange. Hey, still not as out of the blue as these calls I’ve been getting from people back on Earth.

He sat up straight in his chair and initiated the vidcall, expecting it to be forwarded to a message inbox. To his surprise, the call was accepted.

Kira’s smiling face filled the screen, her hazel eyes bright and red hair still styled in a casual pixie cut. “Stars! Jason Sietinen. Not who I expected to hear from today.” The video on the other end had a bounce and waviness to it, indicating that she was probably on her handheld.

“Hi, Kira. I owe you an apology for not staying in touch like I said I would.”

“Oh, psh!” She waved her free hand. “I was just as bad. I’ve been too busy to really notice. No offense.”

He chuckled. “None taken. I’m shocked I caught you.”

“Yeah, lucky timing. We just got back from a field op. I was actually on my way to the gym to work out some unspent energy.”

“If you don’t mind me delaying you for a few minutes, there’s something I wanted to discuss with you.”

“Yeah, go for it.”

“Can you get somewhere private?”

Kira looked at someone off-camera and nodded. “Yeah, gimme a sec.”

The camera pointed down at the deck, accompanied by the sound of jogging footsteps. Subsequently, the video panned up to her face again. The background looked to be a compact office similar to the study rooms found throughout TSS Headquarters.

“All right, there.” She tilted her head and looked him up and down. “So, how’ve you been?”

He was about to respond in the way he normally would to the question when asked by a casual acquaintance, saying things were good but busy. Generally, people didn’t want a genuine answer to the question; it was asked as a pleasantry to feign a sense of caring and closeness. A gesture of civilized society. Though Jason had been through a trying experience with Kira, they hadn’t spent enough time together to be the sort of friend where he’d bypass small-talk and jump to the heart of real issues. However, given what he was about to ask her to do, he also didn’t feel right pretending that everything was okay. So, he struck a balance between the two. “Life goes on, the good and the bad.”

Kira nodded. “I hear ya.”

“You’ve probably heard about what’s going on with the Rift?”

“Yeah, bits and pieces.”

“I lost a good friend on Alkeer.”

“Ah, shite. I’m sorry.” Genuine sympathy clouded her face.

“No one ever said things would be safe and happy in this line of work.”

“Yeah, I know that all too well. Doesn’t make it easier when you lose someone, though.”

“No, it doesn’t,” he agreed. “How’ve you fared since we last saw each other?”

“Better than most. The worst part has been being on a new team since my promotion to major. They’re good, but it’s not the same dynamic. At least I still have Jasmine; she says ‘hi’, by the way.”

“Hi, Jasmine,” Jason greeted Kira’s neurally embedded sentient AI, which had been paired with her to control her unique nanite augmentations. “Glad you’ve been keeping Kira out of trouble.”

“She says she hasn’t entirely succeeded.” Kira laughed.

Jason smiled. “Well, you did have an exceptional team before. I’m glad I got the opportunity to meet them.”

“They’re all the rock stars of their own units now. Apparently, we did our job too well and the Guard decided to spread the goodness around.”

Jason nodded. “I’ve seen it happen. It’s bittersweet.”

“Yeah.”

“And what about that boyfriend of