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

The display on the wraparound screen shifted to include a holographic overlay of the spatial distortions that weren’t yet visible to the naked eye. The waves seemed to be closing in on the station.

Jason’s chest tightened. “We’re going to figure this out, Tiff.”

Wil leaned forward in his seat. “Any sign of a ship or something we can talk to?”

Rianne held up her hands in a helpless gesture of what was on the screen. “Take a wild guess.” Any other Militia officer wouldn’t have gotten away with talking to an Agent that way, but she’d been through enough with Wil and the others that it was fitting for the situation.

“Okay, stay back from the station, outside the zone of the distortions,” Wil instructed. “As soon as they make an appearance, we’ll try to open a dialogue.”

“What’s the plan?” Tiff asked.

Jason wished he had something more reassuring to tell her. “We’re trying to figure out a good way to get a look at the bad guys.”

“I must say, I’m curious.”

“Me too. The only thing I’ve seen is foking nasty.”

“Well done! You’ve gotten the hang of swearing like a normal person.”

“I’m more adaptable than we thought, apparently.”

She hesitated in her response. “If this is some kind of gesture about how things could be different with us—”

“No, I was just ready to fit in properly. I’ve been holding onto Earth for too long.”

“Okay.”

“But I do miss you, Tiff.”

“I miss you, too. Maybe we can—”

The space surrounding the station suddenly became unfocused with the telltale appearance of a localized spatial distortion beginning to form.

“We need that imaging now!” Wil shouted into the comm.

“Tiff, something is happening!” Jason warned telepathically.

The station began to vibrate. It took a second for Jason to realize that it wasn’t actually oscillating, but rather the structure was coming apart. Not pieces, but as if the individual molecules had released their bonds to one another and the thing was dissolving before his eyes.

“Jas—” The telepathic link cut out. There was only emptiness where her presence had been moments before.

He stood in horrified silence as the station dematerialized in the span of three seconds. Space was once again smooth and still.

Even after the structure was gone, as if it had never existed, no one spoke.

“Tiff?”

He reached out telepathically for her, but there was nothing outside the presence of those on the Conquest. The space where the station had been felt wrong. Empty. Reality dropped out from under him.

She was gone. No…

—     —     —

What the fok? Fear gripped Wil in a way he’d never experienced. The hum of thousands of minds on the station had been extinguished in a moment. His immense abilities had always afforded him confidence that he could control a situation through force when diplomacy failed. But this… How is this even possible?

Next to him, Jason gaped at the place on the screen where the station should be. “Wha…?” He slowly dropped to his knees.

The blackness where the station had been somehow seemed darker than the surrounding space, though that was probably his imagination trying to cope with the sudden horror of it all. For a split second, Wil tried to reason that the station had been taken from this place and moved elsewhere—transported or transitioned outside visible spacetime. But he knew that wasn’t the case. It had been destroyed, utterly and completely. And, along with it, everyone on board. Including…

Jason was staring silently at the spot on the viewscreen where his friend had been.

His heart broke for his son. He was all too familiar with the agony of loss, and especially the feeling of being powerless to stop it. But there wasn’t time to grieve now.

Wil snapped himself from his own shocked daze. “Curtis, back us up fifty thousand kilometers. Rianne, order all other ships to leave the area immediately, and then take a thorough scan of the vicinity—everything we’ve got.”

“Aye,” they acknowledged.

“Let me know as soon as the scan is complete.” He then added to Jason telepathically, “Hold it together. We’ll figure out what happened.”

His son hadn’t moved from where he’d sunken to the deck. “Where’d they go?”

“I don’t…” Wil faded out. He didn’t want to voice his thoughts that the station had been destroyed, because that would make it real.

“That wasn’t a conventional weapon,” Curtis said to him telepathically.

“It was like the molecular bonds gave out,” he agreed. “Perhaps at an even smaller level.”

“Shite, all those people…” Curtis shook his head.

Wil’s chest constricted with thoughts of the tragic loss of life. But the commander in him was focused on the larger issue. I don’t know if this is an enemy we can fight.

Next to him, Jason’s brows were drawn together with fear and confusion. “Dad, what—”

“Maybe you should go wait in the lounge,” Wil suggested. Once the shock wore off, Jason would realize his longtime friend and lover had been dematerialized along with the station. That wasn’t a scene he wanted to handle while in the Command Center.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Jason rose to his feet, somehow maintaining composure despite the catastrophic loss.

Wil couldn’t help feeling a swell of fatherly pride about the fine officer Jason was becoming; he knew many great soldiers who would have cracked. It was one thing to see strangers die, but losing a close loved one could send anyone over the edge.

“We’ve got the results,” Rianne stated.

“Are you sure you want to be here for this?” Wil confirmed with his son.

Jason nodded. “I need to know.”

“What’s the verdict, Rianne?”

She took a shaky breath. “It’s as if the station was never there.”

A sob caught in Jason’s throat and he turned away.

Wil swore under his breath. “Open an external comm broadcast, all frequencies.”

Rianne nodded when it was ready.

He