Starblood: A Military Space Opera Series (War Undying Book 1) by N.D. Redding

Author:N.D. Redding [Redding, N.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aethon Books
Published: 2021-07-26T16:00:00+00:00

13

The night fell across this side of Detera as the local sun slid beyond the horizon. Its darkness was quickly cast away by a billion lights that shone from Instormia. Fireworks exploded below the protective shields of the city. Hundreds of parades lumbered through the white streets, millions of people celebrated the Sun Dusk Festival, and in its cover, the three of us sat watching the entrance to the Xaroo Chapel. I tapped my knee to the music as it boomed in the distance.

The Aloi had thousands of these small chapels around the city. They looked like three black-green domes stacked upon each other. Engravings of their saints, holy wars, scriptures, and whatnot decorated the whole thing. It looked ancient, although it was fairly new from what our patron told us.

“I’ve got movement,” Leo spoke over the INAS. “A dozen individuals, all Cantari.”

He was closer to the chapel than Layla and me, hunkered down behind a small wall ready to use his cloak if need be.

“Stay low,” I replied as I tried to keep my heart rate down.

“I’ve got security cameras above the entrance and two more across the chapel looking right at the door. There’s—wait. I’ve got visuals now. There’s someone else with them, no heat signature. Is it a bot?”

“A bot? What do you mean with a bot?”

“Well, it’s not a living thing if you got me, but it walks on two legs, looks like it’s made from metal, all shiny and…”

“I didn’t ask for—forget it.”

The Aloi didn’t use bots, and neither did they have Technomancers to summon them. They had the technology, but they shunned the idea of using AI. It was a cultural thing that gave the Federation the upper hand in battle, as AI moved on a speed no living creature could. I always wondered how some races would put their cultural practices before survival, but then again, maybe that was exactly what they were doing.

“Can you read the markings?”

“No markings but the tech looks strange.”

“What do you mean?”

“It looks like an assault-bot variant summoned by a Technomancer.”

“Stay focused. Keep your eyes peeled and wait.”

An Aloi Technomancer? Impossible. There had to be an explanation for whatever that thing was. If there was a Technomancer with a summoned assault bot among the Aloi, it would complicate our mission immeasurably, but then again, shouldn’t the shield’s sensors notice the summoned familiar?

“That piece of Takkari son of a bitch! He lied to us!” Layla hissed through gritted teeth.

“Quiet,” I hissed back, trying to get heads or tails about what the hell was going on. “I agree, though.” Fucking Urgon Feyn hadn’t said anything about this. He hadn’t said anything about the whole thing now that I thought of it. How the hell had I even put myself in such a situation?

“Sir, I see fourteen Cantari priests, an assault bot, and a hovering icebox. I can see them clearly now that the door opened. What are your orders?”

The idea was to wait till the last Aloi entered the chapel and then jump in there with them, take the package, and bring it to the pickup spot.

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