Free Star Brigade: Odysseys - An Anthology by C.C. Ekeke Page A

blithely, “About to fly up to Hollus for dinner with the girls. What’s up?”
    She’s coming to Hollus , Khal perked up. That saved him the trouble of flying down to Cobalt. He recollected the wonders Gigi could perform with that sweet little mouth of hers and smiled wolfishly. “Come over after dinner.”
    A sharp intake of breath could be heard on the other end. “Sure,” Gigi replied after a charged moment, barely hiding her eagerness.
    “Luminal! See ya soon.”
    “Bye handsome,” she whispered.
    Khal ended the transmission, still smirking. He’d gone through his share of extracurriculars amongst Hollus’s female personnel, but Khal enjoyed Gigi’s company the most. While plainer and plumper than his usual type, Khal couldn’t get enough of her unflappable positive outlook of the universe. Plus Gigi always came whenever he called, had zero complaints about their arrangement, always made time to help him on intelligence tasks, and could keep her mouth shut. In short, Gigi was perfect.
    Khal glanced at his ETA to Hollus: 10 macroms. He expected Gigi in about two orvs, more than enough time to get some headway on this task.
    Right then, data from his Glu Zlliosho search began to appear—the boring personal minutiae, of course. Then he spotted Glu’s connection to Bhoryus Corp, a renowned military defense contractor.
    “Okay, this just got interesting,’ Khal murmured, pointing and clicking to access the data packet.

 
Believe
    Surje could no longer feel his arms, his legs, or even his head. Not in the physical sense, at least.
    That’s because at the present time, he had no arms. Or legs. Or head. In the physical sense.
    Having shifted from his solid humanoid form into plasma form, the Voton had no need for corporeal extremities. Surje felt disembodied, as if floating in zero-G, yet connected to everything—the metallic tang in the air, the dim luminosity from the halolights above overpowered by the light leaping off his now shapeless body. All of Surje’s senses amplified tenfold, even though he had no physical means to touch anything. 
    This never gets old , he mused. Surje’s thoughts were shared by the Voton couple joined with him.
    You both ready?
    More than ready, Jabei thought.
    Qarm’s joy was like an actual sunrise. I’ve been waiting for this since the moment I met her.
    Let’s proceed then.
    Right now the Star Brigadier was a fluid mass of glowing red, joined with two other Voton, also in plasma state. Qarm burned bright orange and Jabei throbbed with pale blue shimmer. Together the trio formed a sizeable floating sphere of brilliant plasma energy, flooding the small quarters they were in with blinding light. Surje, Qarm and Jabei were joined in mind, body and soul.
    On its own, a joining transcended tactile sensation or individualism. But a joining under the radiance of the Living Light, allowing that hallowed glow to fill them up and guide them… Surje could find no words in any dialect to describe how that nourished his soul.
    Even though I walked away from that life.
    His mother was a Sun Matriarch, his father a high-ranking Joiner celebrant. They had taught their son everything he knew about the Living Light, pushing him into becoming a certified celebrant in hopes that he would one day take over their ministry. Surje remembered the training, getting the certifications, yet feeling no passion for that path. He wanted to contribute his gifts to a more active calling. A long, difficult stretch of time passed before his parents accepted his choice to enlist in UComm and then become a Star Brigadier.
    Correction— attempted to become a Star Brigadier. Surje’s father had come around first, seeing his son’s maximal gifts as bestowed by the Living Light itself. For all the good that did. A pang of resentment twisted his insides. Lights be gone.
    Excuse me, Pleiad? Jabei’s bafflement bled into Surje’s past memories.
    Apologies , Surje stammered.  He’d let his private thoughts