Star Defender by J. N. Chaney & Scott Moon

Author:J. N. Chaney & Scott Moon [Chaney, J. N. & Moon, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B0BRMXZCMN
Goodreads: 89575358
Publisher: Variant Publications
Published: 2023-01-29T07:00:00+00:00

22

“So what you’re telling me, boss, is that the Sterling could be a lost fleet from the Milky Way who encountered some influence, probably sentients or collections of lost technology, during their transit and arrived in the wrong section of the Andromeda galaxy,” Regina said.

I blinked sleep from my eyes. Omar was out cold in his flight chair. We’d drawn a shift together. Nova did the schedule and liked to mix it up. Combat tech training was wearing out the bunker expert physically and mentally. I let him sleep.

“That’s one scenario. There is a lot we don’t know.”

“Boomer must have thought the Sterling and the Ultar were related somehow,” Regina said. “My review suggests they never worked together. This book is embarrassingly archaic. I’ve scanned it, but I must have lost some of the nuance. What is the obsession humans have with writing on paper.”

“It feels nice. And it’s harder for someone to read over your shoulder, since they would need to be physically present, unlike everything we do on screens,” I said.

“A rogue ship AI could easily read over your shoulder with cameras.”

“Thanks for setting my mind at ease.” I flipped through Boomer’s workbook. The side panels were full of sketches and doodles. His artistic skill paled in comparison to Snow’s talent.

Omar woke up and stared at me like he’d never seen me before. Most of my agents woke up ready to fight or run to a hot call. He really was worn out. “What are you talking about with Regina?”

“You heard that?”

“Some of it.” He yawned.

“We were discussing Ultar and Sterling theories,” Regina said.

Omar shook his head, then blearily focused on Boomer’s books. “Anything in the book about Helm ships? That’s what I dream about since Cissi and Yolo started force feeding us episode after episode of that show.”

I checked a few sections, then flipped all the way to the back where my old friend had kept notes and even more elaborate doodles. One page held the stick figure drawing equivalent of a massive space battle like we’d drawn in school when we were kids. For the first time since I’d started rifling through Boomer’s stuff, I didn’t feel like an intruder.

He would want me looking for answers. Void, he probably left me something tucked away where it wouldn’t be obvious. Never mind that I’d already been through the workbook, the Sterling Rosetta Stone, and several other printed manuscripts, and I’d found nothing useful.

“Anything in there about finding them?” Omar asked as he came fully alert and ran scan updates at his workstation.

“Who, the Helm builders or the Sterling?”

“Either. Are you sure they’re not the same thing? We don’t know diddly jack about either of them.”

Answers wouldn’t come. I’d been staring at the problem for too long.

Nova and Snow arrived to take the next shift. That seemed like trouble, but I kept my mouth shut. The last thing I wanted was for my CT to share all the most embarrassing stories about our service in the Transit fleet. They looked like they should be friends.

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