Night had long since fallen, and Malan had left Tarai to the business of preparing herself to join his crew. In the back of his mind, he could feel the subtle shifting of energies and she moved back and forth, transporting her belongings aboard and to her room. Tanwen’s new iteration was intended as a small-crew ship—a team of specialists working together to support him, he supposed.

  As a result, the ship had reconstituted with a series of crew quarters. There were currently three, not including the Captain’s rooms, but given that he’d been greeted with a notification that his crew had expanded the moment Tarai had shook his hand and agreed to come aboard, he figured that Tanwen may well construct more should the need arise.

  There was probably a limit to that, but with just he and Tarai, that was a problem for another time.

  For his part, he’d excused himself to his own quarters, telling Tarai they’d be leaving for the Celestial Nexus in the early morning. His was a simple room, with some extra flourishes that set it apart from the rest of his crew. It was a spacious room set in the area of the ship above and slightly behind the bridge itself, allowing him easy access to Tanwen’s command centre.

  Against the far wall, a large, grey-sheeted double bed lay in the centre of the room, with a small personal workstation set against the right wall in the far corner, with the rest of the wall being taken up by a large holographic display with dozens of rectangular viewing stands. Most were empty, but a handful held 3D images of familiar craft.

  Tanwen’s two iterations had positions along the top of the display, whilst far below images of the Elipse Interceptors and Frigates he’d fought lay in an area clearly designated for Eclipse ships. On the second row from the top, Namhai’s sleek, hulking form flickered ominously orange; and Malan quickly also managed to locate a representation of the Sparrow.

  On the opposite wall, a large glass tank sat empty, presumably so Malan could fill it with some kind of creature—fish, or a variation of a reptile perhaps, he wasn’t sure.

  None of these things were the reason he’d retired early instead of studying the course they’d be taking tomorrow, or any of the numerous small maintenance tasks he might be able to get done in the time before he slept. No, his reason for being here rested in a small alcove adjacent to the entry door.

  To be sure there were no misunderstandings about his decision to hold on for another night on Mykeser, he’d sent a message explaining his plan to leave in the morning to the Namhai and Major Odyll, in order to give his new crewmate the chance to get situated and properly rested. Neither had returned his message, so either they hadn’t received it, or they were fine to give him that long before forcing the issue.

  That had given him the first real peace that he’d had since the alarms had blazed on the Miotov. That felt like another person’s life now, and that Malan felt like a total stranger. He’d grown so much, yet he knew he’d only really taken the first step on a journey that would last him a lifetime.

  If he could change this much in a few days, how different would he be in a few months? In a few years?

  The old him might have been intimidated by that thought, but he wasn’t. He was exhilarated, because Malan knew he would be the one to set the course of that change.

  He stood, and walked to the small alcove, where a series of boxes clearly purchased planetside rested, along with a small dataslate on top. Across the top of the alcove’s entrance, a dense metal bar had been bolted into the walls about a foot from the roof, and Malan couldn’t resist reaching up and tapping it as he passed underneath into the small space and picked up the dataslate from the uppermost box in the stack of boxes marked with images of a variety of simple weights and workout equipment.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  On the screen of the dataslate was a message, along with an attachment that held what must have been several hundred workout plans that focused on a variety of different aspects of personal fitness. Malan likely could have used the net to find this information in a few hours, but he knew these hand been hand picked just for him.

  He smiled as he read.

  As promised.

  Find your edge, and never stop honing it, and they won’t know what hit them.

  Give ‘em hell, Mal.

  E.

  Sometimes, when she gazed out of the window up at the clear blue sky, Isolde Tierin could swear she could see past the light of this system’s sun bouncing off of oxygen, right up to the stars and planets above. When Professor Spearing was in a particularly droning mood, she imagined she could see Malan flying around up there, doing…. something.

  She shifted in her seat, the uncomfortable thought of her absent brother bringing her down from the stars and back into the packed lecture theatre, and Spearing’s pacing down at the front, and his droll, disinterested tone. Isolde had already learned the material they were covering today. Of course, she’d already learned most of the material for this semester—she supposed she’d inherited an affinity for academics from her parents, though she sometimes wondered if they’d be a little disappointed that she’d never followed them into studying the Celestial forces, and had instead chosen to focus on engineering.

  Malan might have been able to tell her, had she not chased him away.

  There wasn’t a single day what happened on the Jauda didn’t bully its way into her thoughts. She still twitched at shadows and flinched embarrassingly every time somebody touched her without warning. That said, the more time passed, the more it was what had happened after that really haunted her.

  The Abyss were simply a part of the galaxy. Sometimes you got unlucky, and it was your poorly armed research station that got caught up in an incursion. Isolde was certain the trauma from that would be with her forever, and she’d made a kind of peace with that.

  The sight of her brother’s heart literally breaking in that hospital room, however? That memory would never give her any peace.

  Malan had carried her out of the Jauda on his back, and she had put it all on him. Of course, she’d never said that out loud—it had been weeks before she’d been able to speak—but Malan had always been able to read her like a book.

  She had been so unbelievably angry and scared and devastated at the loss of their parents. Why had he rescued her, and not them? Her, and not any of the dozens of people they’d run past as they were ripped limb from limb. Of course she’d known the reason. She’d have done exactly the same for him, but there in that sterile prison, she had needed a target, and Malan was the only person with her close enough to what had happened.

  If that had been that, and he had left her alone, the guilt still would have eaten away at her. He hadn’t. He’d left immediately to find some god awful job on the first ship looking for help. Then he’d used that money to pay for her treatment, before switching to paying her tuition. He’d never messaged or tried to reach out. Isolde figured she’d hurt him too bad for that. But he’d never stopped being the big brother who’d carried her from hell, looking after her even though she’d hurt him beyond forgiveness.

  “…You will all have three standard months to complete this project, and several high-profile corporations send representatives to the showcase in order to scout talent, so I trust you and your assigned partners will put forward their best efforts. Good luck.”

  Isolde froze, her eyes snapping back to the Professor’s hunched form, now with back to them packing several dataslates into a small briefcase as the surrounding students began to rise and chatter.

  Fuck! What the hell did I miss? Fu—

  Before panic could truly set in, a soft hand landed on her shoulder, and a friendly voice said, “I suppose we’re partners. Nice to meet you!”

  Isolde turned towards the newcomer. It was a relatively new member of the course—she’d transferred in from another University, and had quickly begun giving Isolde a run for top spot. Like Isolde, she was similarly slight in build, and even had dark hair. Where they were different, however, was this girl’s violet eyes that glimmered in the low light of the lecture hall like stars.

  “I-Isolde,” she said, by way of an introduction. “Isolde Tierin.”

  The girl’s smile widened, and she extended her hand for Isolde to shake.

  “Talia Vaelynn. I’m very much looking forward to getting to know you, Isolde!”

  Voidborn Arc 1

  Designation: Ascendant

  Status: Complete.

  Now loading Arc 2…

  Designation: A Grave in the Void