Free Fallen Empire 2: Honor's Flight by Lindsay Buroker Page A

he can’t. Especially me.” She rapped a knuckle on Beck’s armored shoulder and started after Leonidas.
    “After a few good jobs, when you’re flush with cash, you can get some combat armor, too, Captain.”
    “I suppose being able to pee wherever you’re standing would be useful.”
    Beck snorted. “That’s really only for emergencies.”
    “Like when you’re in battle and get so scared that you lose control of bodily functions?”
    “Basically. Or when an overly muscled mech stalks up to you, disarms you, and breaks your favorite gun.”
    “You weren’t in your armor then.”
    “No, but I wished I was. You get what you needed in that building?” Beck pointed his thumb over his shoulder as they followed Leonidas away from Sylvia’s apartment.
    Alisa’s humor drained away. “No.”
    “Maybe you’ll find what you need at the library.”
    It was possible. Assuming that whatever was vexing Alejandro didn’t turn out to be that serious, she could make time for some research there. Alisa doubted any imperial subjects could help her locate the men who had taken her daughter, so there was little use in talking to the authorities here—as Sylvia had already found. From everything that Alisa had heard, the Starseers operated outside of governments, answered to nobody, and had ties to few who weren’t in the Order. That meant she would have to find a Starseer to get information on Starseers. There had to be at least a few here on Perun. Maybe the library would have data about a monastery or group residence or whatever they called their homes.
    “Maybe I will,” she replied, nodding to herself.
    Of course, even if she found a Starseer, there was no guarantee the person would talk to her, and it wasn’t as if she could coerce someone with prodigious mental powers into answering her questions. Maybe Leonidas could. After all, the imperial army had originally created their cyborg soldiers as an answer to the Starseer warriors, pitting physicality, endurance, and the ability to take a lot of damage against the mental powers of the Order.
    “Beck, next time you hear me making sarcastic comments to Leonidas, stop me, will you?” She should dull the edge on her sharp tongue if she wanted his help. Of course, that might be moot until she actually located a Starseer. Still, she probably shouldn’t be so sarcastic with him. He had a knack for making her feel silly and immature about her comments.
    “Stop you? I’m usually cheering for you. When that bastard orders you around, you should definitely tell him to balls off.” Beck quirked his eyebrows at her. “Or to bring you chocolate.”
    “Chocolate is the way to my heart. And also to my compliance. Especially the good dark stuff. None of that wimpy cow or jakloff milk diluting the flavor.”
    “Well, I’m not telling him that. Nobody wants you complying with the mech, Captain.”
    “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Chapter 5
    To Alisa’s surprise, nobody rushed out to stop Beck from walking onto the open tree-filled campus of Morgan Firth University in full combat armor. Students in sandals and sarongs, strolling from class to class and enjoying the warm day, did give their group strange looks. Most of them veered away. A few glimpsed Leonidas’s jacket and veered far away. The reactions here—and of those boys in her old neighborhood—surprised Alisa. Even though she supposed she’d never wanted anything to do with cyborgs, even before the war started and they officially turned into enemies, she had not considered that the imperial subjects—Leonidas’s own people—would ostracize him.
    Their luck ran out at the Staton Hall Library, its two intertwining towers spiraling up to great heights from the rounded base of the main building. As they walked up the wide marble stairs leading to the open double doors, an armed man in the blues of campus security stepped onto the center of the landing to block their way.
    “No weapons allowed in the library,” he