Free Anstractor (The New Phase Book 1) by Greg Dragon

duties were more mundane. Being primed for navigation, she often pored over galactic maps projected so large that it took up most of their tiny apartment. Vani had grown fond of Aurora, but her jealousy of the closeness Aurora shared with Rafian was hard to put in check at times. The fights she would get into with Rafian would range from her being upset about Aurora hanging out too much to his aloof attitude about everything that seemed to concern her.
    For Rafian, Vani was a drama queen. But he saw her as his drama queen. He would often call her a “spoiled spacer brat,” better suited for some tucked-away planet like Louine, with maids and manservants who would cater to her every whim while she was oblivious to the galactic war. Louine’s royalty was frowned upon by the galaxy because they stayed out of the wars that threatened even their own privileged existence. It was a nice insult to levy at Vani, but Rafian would say it only in those rare moments when he was angry, since he cared very much for his Vani no matter how crazy she would get.
    Rafian and Vani were the talk of the ship as far as passionate, dramatic lovers go, but it was all her. If he had it his way, she would be as quiet as he was—quiet in her objections toward everything and quiet about her disagreements with him. She was so vocal and expressive that it made him love her when she was happy and hate her when she was upset. He never wanted to end up coddling her and bend to her will, as he feared she would get used to it. So he fought back when she was disagreeable and encouraged her when she was being cute. At the end of the day, he loved her immensely, but he was concerned about their future if she didn’t find a way to curb her rage.
    It had been three months since he rescued Aurora, and he was told that he could finally fly his first mission whenever he was prepped and ready. But he was restless and mentally drained from both Vani and his superiors. So he decided to hop onto the next shuttle heading to Missio-tral . This was a large Vestalian cruiser that was primed for heavy space combat. Since the Helysian was part academy and floating barracks, missions were not carried out off of her. This prevented any retaliation against her from enemies who may follow the pilots home or spies who managed to see where she was cloaked and orbiting.
    Rafian stepped off of the shuttle with a spring in his step, 3B suit primed and air supply full. He was armed to the teeth with the weapons he had chosen for this particular trip. On his person, as usual, was the gun he had cherished since childhood, a las-sword very much like the one that had almost taken his arm off, and a sniper rifle fitted with a stealth shield that he had stolen from the special reserves.
    “Rafian VCA in the flesh,” a loud, deep voice stated from somewhere in front of him. He recognized the voice as that of Val, his old friend from his days as a cadet. Val had grown to be very mature—in terms of looks and speech—unlike the other boys, who still maintained boyish features and higher voices.
    The pair grasped forearms in the customary greeting for Special Forces, and they took a corner to catch up on their individual happenings in life. After the first-class exercise that Rafian had undergone, Val was transferred to the front lines on the marine vessel Alpha Terracydes , where he was deployed into fighting on a small moon by the name of Cairn. Many had died on the moon, but Val had proved himself an ace at survival. He told Rafian of his tour of duty, and Rafian in turn told him of the Aurora mission.
    “So with a badass like Val Tracker down there with a star gun and balls the size of planets, why would they need a half-witted spec-ops scrub like me to do a drop?” Raf jokingly asked.
    But Val reassured him that the mission was indeed important and best suited for a soldier who could pull off a stunt like the one he had done on Geral as a cadet.
    The friends spoke for an hour before