Free The Shattered Empire (The Shadow Space Chronicles Book 2) by Kal Spriggs

thought of his older brother in years, other than somewhat absent regret about how his brother seemed bound and determined to follow their in their father's footsteps.  “Why would she be there?”
    Abigail's face fell.  “Uh... seriously, you don't know, do you?”
    “Don't know what?”  Garret felt confused.  He'd been gone ten years, why would she assume he knew what his brother was up to?  He looked over at Daniel, but the older man seemed at a momentary loss for words.  His gaze went back to Abigail, who stared at him with an expression of shock.  “What?”
    “Garret...” Daniel started.
    “Jessica married your brother, Harris, a few months after you left,” Abigail said.
    ***
     
    Faraday System
    United Colonies
    July 16, 2403
     
    Lucius’s troubled dreams ended with the harsh buzzer of an alert.
    He sat up and wiped the sleep out of his eyes even as he wished he could scrub the cobwebs out of his brain.  “Yes?” He asked as he answered the alert.  In the next room, he heard Kaylee start to cry.  Well, there goes any chance of sleep, Lucius thought dryly.
    “Baron, sorry to interrupt you, but we’ve just had an alien ship arrive in the system.”  The duty officer said, her voice calm.
    “Balor or Chxor?” Lucius asked, suddenly wide awake.
    “Neither, sir.  We’ve nothing like it in our records.”  The woman cleared her throat, “Sir, they’ve commed us, verbal only, asking to speak with you.”
    “I’m on my way to the command center now.”
    ***
     
    Being both the military leader and nominally the civilian head of the new government on Faraday, Lucius had transferred most of his day to day operations ground-side.  The unfortunate consequence of that was that he no longer had only a short walk to the bridge of a ship.  Instead, he had to take a ground car to the newly-constructed command center.
    It seemed more than a little alien to him still, as he walked quickly down the freshly-painted corridors.  He’d served aboard ships so long that he felt far more comfortable aboard the narrow corridors and cramped conditions of a warship.
    “Any change in status?” Lucius asked as he stepped into the Faraday Defense Command Center.  Admiral Dreyfus appeared on one of the screens, “Baron, we’ve detected no signs of hostility, as yet.  The emissions are definitely alien, but we’ve noted some similarities in drive readings to Nova Roma vessels.”
    Lucius brought up the data as he took a seat.  He frowned at the sleek hull of the battleship.  It looked oddly familiar.  The sensor readings looked familiar too, though he couldn’t say why.  The running estimate from intelligence was that the ship had a similar power output to a Desperado-class battleship, which made it roughly on par with his old ship, the War Shrike.
    “Have they said anything more?” Lucius asked.
    Captain Trevors, the officer of the watch, spoke from his station, “No, sir, nothing since their request to speak with you.”
    Lucius nodded slowly, “Very well, let them know I'm ready to speak.”  He waited.  A moment later a familiar face appeared on his screen.
    “Lucius, it is good to see you again,” Strike Leader Maygar said.  The old Ghornath's brown hide showed a pattern of scars from the wounds he still sported at their last encounter.
    It took Lucius longer than he’d liked to form a response.  “Good morning, Strike Leader Maygar.  I must admit you caught me a bit off guard,” Lucius finally said.
    The Ghornath’s brown hide flushed the slightest green shade of amusement.  “That is unfortunate, yet perhaps fitting, considering how you caught me off guard at our last meeting, Lucius Giovanni.”
    Lucius smiled slightly, “In any case, it is good to see you and your new ship.”  The familiarity, Lucius realized, came from the similarities in design to the Gebneyr ’s construction.  The Ghornath battlecruiser and it’s handful of original crew had doubled Lucius’s