Star Runners: Revelation Protocol

Chapter 7-3

A mother sat next to him for a few minutes, watching her child ride the carousel. She stood and left, arguing with a man Austin assumed was her husband.

He folded his arms across his chest. Sharkey had told him to just sit here, but he didn’t say for how long. Was Sharkey going to drive around the parking lot until he came out there? He kicked the sack of bird seed. Would he have to bring this stupid sack of seed?

A man in a bright yellow shirt with black flowers sat next to him. He wore a white baseball cap and large, round sunglasses. He waved at a child on the carousel, who didn’t wave back. Burying his hand into a bag of popcorn, he stuffed an entire handful into his mouth. “Don’t look now,” the man said with a mouth full of popcorn, “but it is good to see you again.”

Austin’s eyes widened. That voice…

He cleared his throat and forced himself not to look at the man. “I see.”

Stuffing another handful of popcorn into his mouth, the man yanked out a cell phone from his shirt. “I’m your contact,” he said into the phone. “Just act natural.”

Austin couldn’t place the voice. He twiddled his thumbs. “Have we met?”

“I’m disappointed in you, Austin.” He made a clicking sound with his tongue. “After all, we did live together.”

His head jerked to the side. “Stetson?”

“Easy,” Stetson Levine said softly. “You’ll blow my cover.”

His jaw dropped. “How?”

Stetson snorted and pretended to work on his cell phone. “Not everyone who left Tizona Campus was sent home or expelled. We all aren’t meant to be pilots. Some of us were recognized for other talents.”

“You work in Intelligence now?”

He nodded. “Bottom of the totem pole, but moving up. I volunteered for this assignment though. I wanted to see you again. Nice job with the bird seed lady.”

He shoved his hands into his pockets. “She’s not with you?”

“Her name’s Krista. She lives a few miles from here and has worked in that store since her friend Sherry opened it twelve years ago.”

Austin rolled his eyes. “That’s just great.”

They watched the children play for a moment while Stetson typed into his phone. Austin thought back to the days on Tizona Campus. Stetson had been a helpless soul, cast adrift in a sea of angry, pushy students. Austin had wanted to help him when the other guys in the dorm threatened Stetson to cheat on an exam, but he didn’t. Soon after, Stetson had been removed from the school.

“I’m sorry,” Austin whispered.

“I’m not. You did the best you could. I’ll never forget it. You’re the only friend I’ve ever had.” Stetson placed the popcorn bag on the bench between them. “Inside this bag you’ll find your instructions.”

Austin pulled the bag closer to his leg.

Stetson placed the phone to his ear again. “Tell Sharkey Star Runners are being targeted by Phantoms.”

“Phantoms? What are they?”

“He’ll know,” he said in a deep, confident tone he never had when they were roommates. “I don’t have time to explain, but let’s just say they’re mercenaries. The kind you don’t want to mess with.”

“What do they want?”

“It seems they want to disrupt our operations here on Earth. We don’t know why, yet. I can tell you these guys are professional, well-equipped, and expensive. Whoever hired them means business.”

He grimaced. “We got away. Are we safe now?”

“You won’t be safe until you get to a government location. Your instructions will explain everything.”

“Is Dax Rodon doing this?”

For the first time, Stetson looked at him. Austin saw his own reflection in the sunglasses.

“Follow your instructions and everything will be fine.” Stetson nodded. “It was good to see you again, my friend.”

“Wait,” he said, “there’s so much I still want to know.”

“I know,” Stetson said calmly, “but there isn’t time. Sit here for another two minutes and then go to your car. Goodbye, Austin.”

Stetson stood and strolled over to a hotdog stand, his sandals flopping. He bought an early lunch and disappeared into the crowd.

Austin waited as instructed, thinking about his former roommate and wondering what the past year and a half had been like for him.

Swinging the bird seed over his shoulder, Austin hurried to the parking lot.

“Where is this place?” Austin asked, pulling the visor down to shield his eyes from the sunlight beaming through the front windshield. He looked down at the information Stetson—now Agent Levine—had put in the popcorn bag. The crumpled paper, with numbers stretched out like a bar code, meant nothing to Austin.

However, Sharkey had nodded when he glanced at the paper. He drove away from the outlet mall, heading north on the two-lane highway winding through the forests and mountains of North Georgia. Mom and Kadyn passed out in the back seat. Kadyn leaned back, her mouth hanging open. Mom crumpled against the door, her arm folded up like a pillow against the glass.

“Not far off this highway,” Sharkey said. “We should be there soon. If we’re not being followed.”

Tingles prickled on his neck. Austin glanced at the side mirror, seeing nothing but empty road. “Followed? You don’t think this is over?”

Sharkey looked at him, his dark eyes hard. “You really believe that was it?”

He looked out the front window. “No.”

“Neither do I.” Sharkey shifted in his seat, his gaze lowering as he gripped the steering wheel. “Whoever launched that attack back there means business. Once we’re stationary, I’ll check in with Command. Something tells me all the Earth-bound Star Runners are having a hell of a night.”

Austin sighed. He thought of Ryan Bean. After only a short time chatting on the plane and over one cup of coffee, Ryan had become a brother-in-arms. It was a camaraderie among the Star Runners he had seen on Tarton’s Junction when they marched down corridors. They moved as one, even when they were not in the ships. And now Austin was one of them.

A sick twist penetrated his gut.

An unseen force attacked his family and friends, both on Earth and beyond. They must be stopped.

“Do you have any idea who hired these Phantoms?” Austin asked, rubbing his chin as he watched the landscape pass.

Sharkey’s gaze darted to Austin. “Who said anything about Phantoms?”

“Agent Levine did. Said the attackers were Phantoms.”

Sharkey slowed the car. “Be very clear. Are you sure he said that? Was he very certain the attackers were Phantoms?”

Austin looked at the road, replaying Stetson’s conversation from earlier that morning. “He seemed pretty sure, sir.”

Sharkey sighed, turning back to the road. He accelerated faster than before, the engine straining up a hill. “Then this most definitely is not over.

“What are Phantoms?” Austin asked, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.

“Mercs. Bounty hunters, sometimes, but there’s not much difference in the two. They are hired guns, killers. Very professional, most of them ex-military who couldn’t deal with peace time when their tour was up or simply saw the money and went for it.”

“You don’t think they’re Zahl agents, do you?”

“I don’t think even Zahl agents would use off-world tech like those masked rifles. Not because they have morals or anything like that, but they wouldn’t risk a dark Legion world getting their hands on technology that could give them a jump. Most in the Zahl Empire believe our policy toward dark worlds makes us weak.”

“You don’t?”

“When a world comes willingly into the Legion’s embrace, they’re part of a family. They come to love the Legion and gladly do their part.”

Austin remembered his conversation with Bean. “Then why do we recruit from dark worlds? If we are so benevolent and good, why do the recruiting?”

“Because the galaxy cannot wait. We need personnel—especially Star Runners.”

“What does the Zahl Empire do that’s so different?”

Sharkey hesitated. “When they see a dark world they need or want, they take it. Sure, they’ll make contact with the natives of the planet, give them terms to join the empire. If they agree, good for them. If not, well, it’s not pretty.”

“Guess I should be glad Earth is in Legion territory.”

“Be very glad,” said without delay. “Be a much different life for you if the Zahl Empire came knocking on Earth’s doorstep.”

Austin turned to Sharkey. “You have a strong opinion about this, Chief.”

Sharkey grimaced. “I grew up on a dark world.”

Austin blinked. “You did?”

“Yes. In what is now Zahlian space. A planet called Codara.” He paused, clenching his jaw. “My mother, father, and little brother were killed in the initial attack when my people refused to bow to the invaders. They were at first heralded as a new era for Codara. That didn’t last long.”

“What happened?”

“The war was devastating, but short. The Zahlian Regional Governor leading the conquest, a man named Tulin, had no mercy. He seemed to love the blood, the c*****e carried out on my people. Our technology simply couldn’t compete. My uncle led a resistance force for a short time. I joined him. I was only a teenager.” He tensed, his face contorting. “After his execution, the younger guerrilla troops were sold into slavery. I was being transported by a slave ship near the border when a Legion patrol intercepted it and rescued us.”

“I had no idea, Chief. I’m sorry.”

Sharkey looked at him, a lopsided grin forming on his face. “I’m not. I’d be dead if a Legion flyboy like you hadn’t decided to investigate the slavers’ ship.”

Movement from the back seat caught his eye. Austin turned back to Kadyn, who pressed against the passenger door with her face obscured from view.

“Hey,” he said, touching her shoulder as he leaned between the front seats. “You okay?”

She turned around, her face damp with tears. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do. I’m scared.”

“I know. Can you sleep?”

She shook her head. “I can’t. I can’t believe this is real.”

“That sounds familiar.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “Sure. It took me a while, too. I’ve come to accept the strange and unbelievable over the past year. The world is not what I thought it was.” He watched the rural land pass the window for a moment. “But I never thought my past would crash into my present the way it has today. I though these two parts of my life would stay separate, you know?”

He looked at his mother, who had pulled away from the window, her eyes drowsy.

“I didn’t want to have to tell either of you,” he said. “Not like this. I wanted to protect you from this because…I’ll admit sometimes I wish I didn’t know what I know. There has been a little part of me lately that has been wishing everything was just normal. I guess this proves you can’t always get what you want.”

“I’m proud of you,” Mom said. “I don’t pretend to understand all of this, but I am still proud of you.”

“You should be proud,” Sharkey cut in. “Your son saved the life of two veteran pilots while putting his own at risk. It’s the reason he was able to come home early. He earned his wings and has become quite the story in the Legion Navy.”

He pulled his knees together and sat up. “I think that’s enough, Chief.”

“That is wonderful news,” his mother said, her voice straining.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

She paused. “I always knew you’d grow up to find success, but this…this is a little tough for a mom.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

Austin reached back and squeezed her hand. “I know exactly how you feel.”