Empire Reborn (Taran Empire Saga Book 1): A Cadicle Space Opera by A.K. DuBoff (jenna bush book club TXT) 📕

of the act. The Erebus could strike while they were separated from their physical selves and sever the connection. Or they could attack the essence of their consciousness itself. But it was their only chance. That, or meet the same brutal end as those at the Alkeer Station.

“Okay,” Jason agreed aloud, and Raena nodded her assent.

“What are you doing?” Ryan asked.

Raena looked at him, and there was the buzz of a telepathic exchange.

One look in Saera’s direction, and she knew what Wil was planning. There was no protest in her eyes, only silent understanding.

“I love you always,” he told her.

“I love you, too. Come back to me.”

“I’ll try.”

Wil took the handholds at his command seat and linked with the ship, establishing it as an anchor for the astral projection to come. He sensed Raena and Jason establish their own links, and then they networked with each other. The joining was like grabbing hands to form a triad, only without the physical forms. Together, they left their physical selves behind and ventured into the void.

Normally, Wil found astral projection to be like a flight through space. He could roam freely, the immensity of the universe stretching around him as a pristine starscape in every direction. In the span of moments, he could soar across the galaxy. The part of himself that could journey in such a way extended beyond the limitations of spacetime. There was the energy of more, out of sight, but he’d never extended himself further than exploring the rifts.

This time, as he began venturing outward with Jason and Raena, there was more than the black starscape spread out before him. Invisible to the sensory perception of those existing solely within the confines of spacetime, he now saw the form of the being enveloping the Conquest and the rest of the TSS fleet. Its tendrils wrapped around each ship and connected to a central form reaching down through the cosmic veil from its native dimension. The entity dwarfed Tararia—what portion he could see of it through his extrasensory perception—and that wasn’t the extent of its essence. Energy crackled and swirled around it, as a tornado would break through a storm front, with a funnel extending to bring devastation on all it touched. Wil and his children were grains of sand on a beach compared to the star that was the being. And yet, they needed to get its attention and make it listen.

It was then he noticed that the being’s form was pitted and deformed in places. The entity kept the tendrils in those areas wrapped around itself, as a wounded animal might cradle a wounded paw.

“Are you injured?” he asked. The question was a risk, but he didn’t know what else to say. They were losing the discussion and needed to do something different to have any chance of staying in the conversation.

The Erebus’ energy aura shuddered. Wil wasn’t sure it was from surprise or anger, or perhaps a bit of both.

“You did this.”

The force of the statement in Wil’s mind struck like a physical blow. Never had he experienced a presence so powerful, so ancient. It enveloped him, as though he was not only hearing it in this present moment, but across time—becoming a part of his past, present, and future self. Like some forms of telepathy, he didn’t receive the message as words, but rather sensed the meaning of the statement, which was then interpreted into narrative in his own mind. There was such sadness in the mental tone, only spoken as a faint whisper despite landing on his perception like a deafening shout. The anguish from the being flooded through him in the brief contact. In that moment, he knew that what the Erebus was doing wasn’t an unprovoked attack, but an act of self-preservation.

It took all of his strength not to fall back from the immense force of the being pressing against his mind. He held firm, knowing this open dialogue might be his one chance. “Please, explain what we did so that we may understand. We didn’t mean to hurt or offend you.”

“We had a treaty.”

“You made that agreement with our ancestors over one hundred thousand years ago.”

The being’s aura rippled again. “Has that long passed for you?”

“Yes. Our civilization has transformed since then, and we have few links to the past. We didn’t know there was a treaty.”

“That doesn’t absolve you from punishment for what you did to our kind.”

“Ignorance does not make us blameless, but it should not automatically condemn us to the same fate as those who would act with malice.”

The Erebus considered the position. “Your kind has always wielded too much power for how little you know.”

“Teach us, so we may learn,” Raena chimed in. Wil could feel her straining under the being’s presence, but she was resolute.

Jason joined the front. “You already destroyed one of our stations and killed thousands of innocents. For what? Killing those of us here and now won’t address the underlying issue. Explain what we did wrong so we may share the message.”

“Your kind are spread throughout this galaxy?” the Erebus asked.

“Yes, on many planets,” Wil confirmed.

The Erebus seemed to pull back for several moments. Were it a person sitting across a conference table from them, he would have taken the act to be a whispered side conversation with a colleague. “We will speak with you,” it said when its presence returned full force.

Tentative relief flooded through Wil. “How?”

“We will create a representative.”

The Erebus vanished from Wil’s mind.

He beckoned for Raena and Jason to follow him back to their bodies on the Conquest. The conversation was over, as far as he could tell. He had no idea what would come next.

—     —     —

Jason took a deep breath as he returned to his body. Every autonomic function was briefly at the