The Prodigal Sun Read Online Free Page A

The Prodigal Sun
Book: The Prodigal Sun Read Online Free
Author: Sean Williams, Shane Dix
Tags: Fiction, Science-Fiction, Space Opera
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Roche knew well, and especially not for a civilian.
     announced the Box shortly.
    “ Between the freighters?” Roche frowned, concerned.
    
    “That’s not what worries me. What if they’re freebooters? We’ll be at a disadvantage should one of them take a shot at us. It goes against everything I learned in Tactics.”
     Something in the Box’s tone suggested that it was playing devil’s advocate, rather than honestly defending the captain.
    “Captain Klose is—” A fool , she had been about to say, but thought better of it. He had traveled this route many times, after all, and knew its dangers better than she. A course correction would cost them energy and delay their docking at Kanaga Station. Why should he give way, when he was so obviously in the right? Besides, fears of freebooting and other forms of treachery seemed naive even to her.
    “—just doing his job, I guess,” she concluded with a sigh, and settled back into the chair to watch the approach. The red circles on the navigation display drifted apart, widening like a mouth to swallow the Midnight. Although she was no longer protesting, she was unable to quell the flutter in her stomach.

    // continuing hostilities forced intervention on the behalf of the Commerce Artel. The long-running dispute between the Hierocratic Kingdom of Shurdu and the Pan-Rationalist Alliance of neighboring Zanshin flared into open warfare two months ago, following racist comments made by Hierocrat Kaatje Lene in response to a plea for peace from his opposite number, Provost Hemi Felucca. The exacerbation of inter-Caste tensions as a result of these comments has been cited by concerned observers as a major contributing factor to the current situation. Some have even suggested that the comments were made deliberately, in order to incite war. Exactly why the Hierocrat would do such a thing remains a mystery at this time, although some delegates have not ruled out interference from an unknown third party keen to see war between the two nations.
    Meanwhile, on a more cheerful note, an explanation has come from High Human Interventionist, the Crescend, regarding a garbled transmission received from the homeworld of the Jaaf Caste—which, it turns out, has successfully Transcended to the status of High Human, not been annihilated by the nova of their primary star as was first thought. Concerned friends and business associates can contact //

    A brisk rap at her door startled her from both the view and IDnet’s incessant patter. She stood automatically and straightened her uniform. The moment her hand left the contact pad without canceling her link to IDnet, an inactive screen mounted in the wall above the workstation flickered to life, continuing the display of the Midnight’s approach.
    “Who is it?” she called into the intercom.
    “To be honest, I was hoping you might be able to help me answer that question.”
    Her hand hovered over the switch that would open the door. The voice had been male, deep and articulate, but the statement itself suggested anything but conviction. “If this is some sort of joke—?”
    “I assure you it’s not.” There was a moment’s pause before the man on the other side of the door spoke again. “Look, my name is Adoni Cane, but that’s about all I can tell you. Everything else is just—” Another pause. “Please, I need to speak to you.”
    Roche removed her hand from the switch and checked the name in the ship’s datapool; it didn’t register. Although she was no rigid stickler for standard military procedure, as Klose was, there were
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