Star Runners: Mission Wraith (#3) by L.E. Thomas Page A

fresh in his mind as if it happened yesterday.  
    When he was awake, he focused on the beauty of Oma. He knew this experience had been made possible by his role as a Star Runner, but he didn’t want to go back. He wanted to stay on this planet forever.  
    But that ended today.  
    He closed his eyes and allowed the light to wash over his body.  
    “I’ve never done this before,” he said, leaving his eyes closed. He grinned, remembering their similar conversation from his first night on Oma.
    “What? Sit out on the porch?”
    “No.” He pointed between the two of them. “Done this.”
    “Oh.” She rested her chin on her tanned bare shoulder and smiled. “Me, neither.”
    Austin blinked. “Never?”
    “No.” She turned back to the sky. “There has never been time. Came close once or twice, but never like this. What about you?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You and other girls.” She lowered her gaze, a playful expression on her face. “Why didn’t you have a girl on Earth preventing you from coming here and getting involved with someone like me?”
    Austin laughed. “Someone like you? You mean an alien?”
    She punched him playfully on the shoulder. “Watch it.”
    Austin deflected her hit softly and exhaled. He forced his mind back to his high school experience. “No, there was no one. I dated a little, I guess—if you could call it that. But that was before Dad …”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “After that,” he said, clearing his throat, “I didn’t have an interest in giving my heart away when nothing lasts. What was the point? At least that’s how I used to think.”
    She looked at him for a moment. “You don’t feel that way anymore?”
    “No.” He held her hand and stared into the sky. “Not anymore. Time has gone by too fast. I don’t think I want to go back.”
    She set her coffee down and slipped on a pair of red sunglasses. “I always think that when I get my leave.” She sighed, tilting her head back to bask in the direct daylight. “This time has been a little worse, though. It’ll be a lot different when we receive our orders.”  
    Austin took a sip of coffee. “Different? How?”
    She peered at him over the rim of her sunglasses. “I’ve never been on tour and had … this.”  
    He smiled. “How many times have you been on leave?”
    “Once following my flight training and then after my first tour in the Carmicha sector.”
    He smiled, nodding toward the black and red tattoo of a Tizona Sword crossing a shield on her forearm. “When you got that?”
    “Yeah, that’s when.” A touch of red warmed her face. “Anyway, then I was transferred to Tarton’s Junction to monitor Earth’s servers and train the next wave of Star Runners. Only twice on leave, I guess, but it’s pretty amazing. Being out there on a carrier is tougher than just the job.”
    “How so?”
    She looked up. “The light rays, for one. You miss it more than you’d expect.”
    He snorted. “You mean, sunlight? I missed it on Tarton’s Junction.”
    “And that was a year. The carriers keep you in the dark for much longer, sometimes for years at a time. And there’s also little time for … a social life.”
    Austin’s stomach turned. “Fun. You really think that’s where we’re going? A carrier?”
    “A carrier? Sure. We get stationed planet side, and I’d be surprised. With what’s going on there with Regent Tulin rousing the war faction for expansion and blaming the Legion for wanting a war, yeah, we’ll be on a carrier on the border.” She settled her head back into the seat. “I just hope we’re stationed together.”
    Austin stared at her, marveling at the perfection of her almond skin. “I hope so, too.”  
    He thought of the message he read from Legion command they had both received yesterday. The message ordered them to report to a shuttle bound for the Tizona . Over the past months, he had heard of the legendary core vessel comprising the nucleus of the Legion Navy. Four