Aurora Burning (The Aurora Cycle #2)(2)

ZILA MADRAN—THE FRIGHTENINGLY INTELLIGENT ONE. OR JUST THE FRIGHTENING ONE. ZILA IS THE SCIENCE OFFICER IN SQUAD 312. THOUGH SHE SPEAKS RARELY, HER INSIGHTS ARE USUALLY FLAWLESS, AND SHE APPROACHES LIFE WITH A SENSE OF ICE-COLD RATIONALITY.

ZILA HAS FEW TO NO SOCIAL SKILLS. SHE’S BLUNT AND DISTANT AND HAS TROUBLE SHOWING EMPATHY FOR OTHERS. SHE’S HINTED AT PAST TRAUMA AS THE REASON FOR THIS BEHAVIOR, BUT SHE HAS YET TO REVEAL WHAT THAT TRAUMA MIGHT HAVE BEEN. ZILA IS SHORT, WITH DARK BROWN SKIN AND LONG, CURLING HAIR THAT SEEMS TO HAVE A MIND OF ITS OWN (WHICH WOULD EXPLAIN A LOT, ACTUALLY). SHE WEARS A VARIETY OF GOLDEN EARRINGS, WHICH STRANGELY SEEM TO MATCH WHATEVER SHE’S DOING AT THE TIME. SOFT-SPOKEN, SHE’S SCARY SMART, AND WAAAAAY TOO FOND OF SHOOTING THINGS WITH HER DISRUPTOR PISTOL.

CATHERINE BRANNOCK—THE HOTSHOT. CAT “ZERO” BRANNOCK WAS A BRILLIANT PILOT AND MEMBER OF THE AURORA LEGION. BEST FRIENDS WITH TY AND SCAR JONES SINCE CHILDHOOD, CAT WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SCAR ON TYLER’S RIGHT EYEBROW (SHE BROKE A CHAIR OVER HIS HEAD ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN).

CAT AND TY SLEPT WITH EACH OTHER THE NIGHT THEY GRADUATED INTO THEIR FINAL YEAR AS CADETS. THOUGH TYLER CONVINCED CAT THAT A SERIOUS RELATIONSHIP WASN’T A GOOD IDEA, CAT CONTINUED TO CARRY A TORCH FOR TY AND STUCK WITH HIM WHEN HE WAS LUMPED WITH THE MISFITS OF SQUAD 312.

CYNICAL AND COMBATIVE, SHE WAS OFTEN AT LOGGERHEADS WITH AURORA, AND SHE TRIED TO KEEP THE SQUAD ON THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW. TRAGICALLY, SHE WAS INFECTED BY THE RA’HAAM HIVE MIND WHEN THE SQUAD VISITED OCTAVIA III. THOUGH SHE FOUGHT AGAINST THE GESTALT BRAVELY, ALLOWING HER TEAMMATES TIME TO ESCAPE THE PLANET, SHE WAS EVENTUALLY ABSORBED INTO THE COLLECTIVE.

I KNOW. I WAS SAD, TOO. ?

THE ESHVAREN—DEPENDING WHO YOU ASK, THE ESHVAREN ARE EITHER AN ANCIENT RACE OF MYSTERIOUS BEINGS WHO DIED OUT A MILLION YEARS AGO, OR A SCAM PERPETUATED BY TWO-CRED HUCKSTERS AND PURVEYORS OF BOGUS ARTIFACTS.

IN FACT, NOT ONLY DID THE ESHVAREN EXIST, BUT THEY ACTUALLY FOUGHT A WAR AGAINST THE RA’HAAM FOR THE FATE OF THE ENTIRE GALAXY. THE ESHVAREN EVENTUALLY WON.

KNOWING THAT THEIR ANCIENT FOES MIGHT ONE DAY RETURN, BUT THAT THEY’D LIKELY NOT BE ALIVE TO SEE IT, THE ESHVAREN HID DEVICES IN THE FOLD THAT WOULD LEAD TO THE CREATION OF THE TRIGGER—A BEING OF IMMENSE PSYCHIC POWER. THEY ALSO SUPPOSEDLY HID A WEAPON CAPABLE OF DEFEATING THE RA’HAAM OUT THERE TOO.

IF YOU KNOW WHERE TO FIND IT, HONESTLY, THAT’D REALLY HELP US OUT… .

THE RA’HAAM—A SINGLE BEING COMPRISING MILLIONS OF MINDS. WANTING TO INCORPORATE THE GALAXY INTO ITS “UNION,” THE RA’HAAM ONCE SOUGHT TO CONSUME EVERY SENTIENT MIND IN THE GALAXY.

DEFEATED BY THE ESHVAREN, THE RA’HAAM SANK INTO HIBERNATION ON TWENTY-TWO HIDDEN NURSERY WORLDS, SCATTERED ACROSS THE MILKY WAY. NESTLED BENEATH THE SURFACE OF THESE PLANETS—ALL LOCATED NEAR NATURALLY OCCURRING GATES INTO THE FOLD—THE RA’HAAM HAS BEEN LICKING ITS WOUNDS FOR A MILLION YEARS.

UNFORTUNATELY, ONE OF THESE WORLDS IS OCTAVIA III, A PLANET CHOSEN FOR TERRAN COLONIZATION. DISCOVERING THE NASCENT RA’HAAM BENEATH THE SURFACE, THE COLONISTS WERE CONSUMED AND ADDED TO ITS TOTALITY, INCLUDING AURORA’S FATHER, ZHANG JI.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT IS A LITTLE MURKY, BUT THE RA’HAAM APPARENTLY SENT THESE CORRUPTED COLONISTS BACK TO EARTH, INFILTRATING THE GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY TO FURTHER ITS AGENDA. IT NOW WAITS BENEATH ITS TWENTY-TWO WORLDS, GATHERING STRENGTH FOR THE MOMENT IT CAN SPAWN AGAIN, SPEWING THROUGH THE FOLD TO INFECT THE ENTIRE GALAXY.

MAGELLAN—THAT’D BE ME! HELLO! I MISSED YOUR SQUISHY HUMAN FACES!

OKAY, ALL CAUGHT UP? WELL, STRAP IN, FOLKS. WE AIN’T IN KANSAS ANYMORE… .





1

TYLER

The disruptor blast hits the Betraskan right in her chest.

She shrieks, and her armload of e-tech goes flying as she collapses in a drooling heap. I vault over her as she falls, ducking as another disruptor shot hisses past my ear. The bazaar around us is crowded, the mob parting before me in a panic as more blasts ring out behind us. Scarlett is running right on my heels, flame-red hair plastered to her cheeks with sweat. She leaps over the unconscious Betraskan woman and her scattered goods, offering an apologetic shout.

“Sorryyyy!”

Another blast rings out. The gangsters chasing us roar at the crowd to step aside. We leap over the counter of a semptar stall, past the gobsmacked owner, and out the back door into another packed, humid street. Hovercraft and rotor bots. Pale green walls around us, red skies above, yellow plascrete beneath our feet, a rainbow of outfits and skin tones ahead.

“Left!” Finian shouts over comms. “Go left!”

We left it, barreling into a grubby alleyway off the main drag. Hucksters and fienders stare at us as we sprint past, boots pounding, trash flying. The tiny gangsters chasing us reach the alley mouth, filling the air with the BAMF! BAMF! of their disruptor blasts. The whoosh of charged particles rushes past my ear. We skid behind a dumpster full of discarded machine parts, looking for some kind of cover.

“I told you this was a bad idea!” Scarlett gasps.

“And I told you I don’t have bad ideas!” I shout, kicking through a doorway.

“Oh no?” she asks, cracking off a shot at our pursuers.

“No!” I drag her inside. “Just less amazing ones!”

· · · · ·

Yeah, let’s back it up a little.

About forty minutes, maybe, before things got quite so shooty. I know I’ve done this before, but it’s more exciting this way. Trust me. Dimples, remember?