Morning Song: A Seeders Universe Novel Read Online Free Page A

from this lodge. That sounded heavenly after the year she had just spent onboard her ship.
    Chairman Ray and Tacita stood, forcing all of them to their feet out of respect.
    “We meet back here tomorrow for breakfast at 8 a.m. planet time,” Ray said. “That is sixteen hours from now exactly.”
    Maria nodded, as did everyone else.
    “Keep your ships shielded and cloaked,” he said. “The locals on this planet will detect it otherwise.”
    Then Ray turned to Roscoe. “Chairman Mundy, come with me and I’ll give you a tour of your new command.”
    With a quick nod, Roscoe smiled at her and then the three of them vanished.
    That smile almost took her breath away. Wow, he was something.
    Maria turned to Fisher and Callie. “Thank you for your hospitality. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
    “You are more than welcome,” Callie said. “This is our home we’re trying to save so glad this is being taken so seriously.”
    Maria nodded. “We’ll save it.”
    With that she transported back to her ship, hoping that they actually could.
    And hoping beyond hope that she could find time with Chairman Mundy. Private time.

 
     
     
     
    FOUR
     
     
    ROSCOE FINISHED THE quick tour of his ship in the Command Center of The Huntington . The big Command Center felt at home to him instantly and scared him to death at the same time.
    The ship was huge and had firepower that could take down an entire planet if it needed to. Roscoe hoped it would never come to that.
    Ever.
    But from what he had seen of the big ship coming into the galaxy, nothing The Huntington had in firepower would even dent it.
    The ship already had a full engineering crew and some basic officers who had gotten it here, but they were not as trained as he would like.
    “I have dinner to eat, and you have some core crew in the mess,” Ray said, smiling, after he gave him the quick rundown of the Command Center. “They all will head certain areas of your ship and one is your second-in-command. Might want to go meet them to help you get started.”
    Then smiling, Ray vanished, leaving Roscoe stunned at not only being in charge of such an amazing warship, but that he already had some command crew. He knew the ship needed a basic crew of a hundred to just limp along, which it had now, mostly in engineering and communications, but three hundred would be better.
    He had a couple of weeks to get that many in place and no idea how to do that. Now it sounded like he had some help.
    He took a deep breath and looked around at the three-level Command Center. His station was in the center of the second level. One entire wall was a giant screen in front of his station. It didn’t feel right to go sit in the chair just yet. Maybe tomorrow.
    So instead, he took a deep breath and transported to the mess.
    Four people were sitting there on the far side of the huge room, around a table near the kitchen door. They were all eating and laughing. Two were men, two women.
    The place smelled wonderfully of hamburgers and fries. And they all seemed to have milkshakes in front of them. Clearly the ship had some kitchen crew already. One more detail to not worry about.
    Roscoe’s stomach rumbled, making him realize he needed to try to eat as well.
    He started through the sea of empty tables toward the group of four when he suddenly realized he knew one of them. He would know that shaved head and long nose anywhere.
    Jonas Craig, his second-in-command at Sector Justice, the police force that watched over different parts of the Milky Way, sector by sector. Sector Justice knew nothing about Seeders being in their midst. They still believed that all Seeders had done their work and just moved on. Which was mostly true, but not completely.
    Jonas was one of the best fighters Sector Justice had and could kill a man with a single finger. They had worked together now for ten years and Roscoe had trusted him with his life. How was that possible that Jonas was a Seeder as well?
    “Jonas,