The Army Of Light (Kestrel Saga) by Stephen Fender

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attention. Her story was too fantastic not to, even if it was a bit
unbelievable. 
        
Once she’d made herself as comfortable as she was going to get in the unforgiving
padding of an old chair, she’d wordlessly produced a simple letter from her
handbag and gave it to Shawn, which he read aloud.
        
 
        
My dearest Melissa,
        
If you are reading this letter, then the outcome of my mission is uncertain,
and you will need to take up my assignment where I failed. I’m so sorry for
this, but you must consider this my final order.
        
I wish I could have seen your smile one last time. It is difficult to say with
any certainty if the OSI will be able to decipher the true nature of what I’ve
discovered, let alone the scant amount of personnel in Sector Command that have
been made privy to it. My darling, please know that there is a fundamental
truth out there, and the foundations of the lives we’ve made for ourselves are
built on shifting sands. If this mission is a failure, the entire sector may
well be in jeopardy, if not mortal danger.
        
My only request to you in this matter is that you find a man named Shawn
Kestrel. He saved my life on more occasions then I can remember. While I
consider you one of the strongest people I have ever known, and certainly one
of the brightest, his help will be invaluable in the task I’m laying before
you. His last known location was in the Antara islands on the planet Minos, near the Outer Rim
        
It is absolutely vital that my mission be completed, and I have full confidence
in your abilities to make sure that it will be. I’m sorry to have laid this
heavy burden upon your
     
     
    shoulders ,
but you and Shawn are the only people in the galaxy I can trust. 
        
Love always,  
        
William
        
 
        
Shawn breathed deeply as he processed the weight of the words, still holding
the letter loosely in his fingers as he conjured the image of his old friend in
his mind. William was really missing, or worse, dead. The cryptic message
to Melissa meant one of two things: either she knew more than she was revealing
about Bill’s mission, or she truly had no idea where to turn to from here. Were
he to go with his gut instinct, Shawn would agree with the latter, but he’d
been wrong before. He began to rub his chin absently as he contemplated their
next move, regretting that he hadn’t shaved that morning while he did so.
        
While it was true that he’d saved William in the past, the admiral had likewise
done the same for him. Shawn owed his life to the man several times over, of
that there was no question. Unfortunately, Shawn was stuck at the moment with a
broken ship—powerless to do anything to help his friend or his somewhat frazzled
daughter. He looked across the desk to Melissa, who sat silently staring at
him, her stoic countenance possibly the result of any number of emotions.
        
“So, you’re William Graves’s daughter?” he asked rhetorically. He hated
rhetorical questions, so he wasn’t sure why he’d asked it at all.
        
She rolled her eyes, probably at Shawn’s lack of verbal prowess. She swallowed,
then straightened her blouse and held her chin high, obviously very proud of
the distinction. “I am.”
        
Shawn’s eyes shifted back to the letter.
        
“My father never mentioned he had a daughter?” she asked as if he didn’t
believe her claim.
        
Shawn pursed his lips and shook his head once before he answered. “No. Then
again, it wasn’t common to talk about our families during the war. Most
everyone considered it bad luck.”
        
“How dreadful,” Melissa said with a shocked expression. “It’s ridiculous that
people were afraid to talk about their loved ones because of silly
superstitions.”
        
Shawn placed the letter back on the desktop separating them. “Well, it may be a
silly superstition to you, but I never talked about