Read Online Star Runners 2: Revelation Protocol by L E Thomas - Free Book Online Page B

old friend.”
    “An old friend?” Austin blinked. “You mean Nubern?”
    "I served with Nubern years ago during his first command."
    "You were a Star Runner?"
    He nodded. "Until I lost my leg."
    "Your leg? What?"
    "Wonders of robotics, lieutenant. One of the reasons I don't leave campus often, so I appreciate this diversion even if it is for unfortunate reasons. I took this assignment to help younger Star Runners when I was no longer cleared to fly."
    Austin frowned. “Forgive me, sir, but security chief seems to be quite a demotion from a Star Runner?”
    “It wasn’t easy losing my wings, sure.” He stared out the window. “But you can’t risk a robotic limb failing during a dogfight, either. They offered me other positions, but I wasn’t interested in being around the fleet when I couldn’t fly anymore. It’s fine. I enjoy what I do.”
    Austin stared back at the road. If Sharkey was ever wounded or needed medical assistance, the discovery of an artificial leg would certainly turn heads in an emergency room.
    “May I ask how, sir?” Austin asked, his eyes flickering from the road to Sharkey’s artificial leg.
    “Line of duty,” he grumbled, his head swaying toward the window as if he drifted off to sleep. “I served on a carrier a long time ago. Boring tour at the border. Our task force got involved in preventing a rebellion on Lian, fighting got out of hand. A rogue Zahl warlord decided to take advantage, came in guns blazing, said we were invading the planet. He received a distress call and came in for the good of the empire.”
    Austin swallowed, his eyes fixated on the lone road.
    “The Zahl interceptors are fast, faster than anything you’d believe. They swept in like a wave, crashing into our picket ships. I was on alert status and launched. Bogeys filled the space around Lian like a fiery meteor shower. Never seen anything like it before or since. I did what I could, but they blasted me out of the sky. The ship came apart. A piece of metal ripped my leg to shreds. I had to eject and woke up on our ship. Nubern saved me.”
    Austin exhaled. “He’s a good man.”
    “The best.”
    Austin had never heard anyone speak of a conflict with the Zahl Empire, only read about it in his required text. He didn’t know Nubern had faced off against Zahlian forces.
    He shook his head. 
    “Once we retrieve my Mom and Kadyn, how do we know who to meet?”
    “We are scheduled to meet with an EIF agent for further orders and those guys can disappear in a crowd like no others. I have some instructions in my tablet. Remember, we’re on strict radio silence—that includes internet. Make sure what you have is offline.” Sharkey frowned. “Whole world’s upside down right now, so I’m taking things one hour at a time.”
    “I understand,” Austin said, his stomach growling.
    "Let's get gas at the next stop," he said. "We need to move and get some coffee.”
    Up ahead, the massive lights of the interstate highway exit illuminated the black sky. Austin leaned forward over the steering wheel.
    “I never thanked you, chief.”
    “Me?” Sharkey asked. “Why?”
    “Your training. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.”
    Sharkey laughed. “No charge, Stone. I get off campus so rarely. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you. We’ll call it even.”
     

CHAPTER FOUR
    A crash woke him. Josh’s joints popped as he folded his sore legs beneath him and propped against the damp wall. His teeth chattered. He clenched his jaw to stop and strained to decipher the chaotic sounds echoing through the halls. Men shouted in unfamiliar languages, the voices coming closer.
    "What's that?" he whispered.
    "They are coming," Delmar answered, his gravelly voice grim.
    In the weeks since his arrival, the nearby area had been relatively quiet other than the guard bringing the same, inedible slop of slithering mucus. Machinery occasionally rumbled in the distance. Several times, Josh wondered if the pirates had