by Greg Dragon
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“Rafian and Camille have gone to spy training. This is what you wouldn’t tell me,” Aurora said. She had found Abe RUS at his table in the Jabyb Café, where he liked to unwind at the end of his shift. They were off the record since he entertained her questions and then she dropped that bombshell on him.
The admiral laughed, a loud booming sound, and then his face got serious as he regarded her. “You’re persistent, Aurora. You are something else, but I cannot confirm that they are with the spies. What makes you think they would leave us to go there? Isn’t it you who said that Rafian wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye?”
Aurora wanted to tell him that she found the tablet, but going into an officer’s quarters when they were away would not be the smart thing to admit to the top man. She shrugged at the commander and then finished her drink before telling him instead that someone had suggested it to her. “It’s common knowledge that the spies recruit the best of the best, commander, and Rafian and Camille were the best on this ship.”
Abe RUS shrugged as if he was bored with the conversation and his eyes took on a look of dangerous intent. “Aurora, stop. This is as far as it goes. Do not let me hear any more of this spy business and I will tell you one last time to be patient and wait. Your brother and Camille YAN could be on a mission, and some of them do take a long time to finish. They could be on Meluvia, defending our allies, or pressing an attack to retake Vestalia. The bottom line is that it is classified and you’re beginning to wear on my nerves.”
“Fine!” Aurora sighed and put down her empty glass. She made a weak salute, then spun on her heels and stormed out of the bar. She had read about the spies and asked around and what she heard was frightening. Recruits were made to abandon their old lives and were brainwashed into their doctrine. When a soldier became a spy, their friends and family considered them dead, but she didn’t want to give up on Rafian.
She also read about their powers and why the military gave them carte blanche on recruits. Spies were sent in to kill untouchable targets and no less than ten Geralos leaders had been put to the las-sword thanks to the efforts of the Virulian spies. They were aces in dogfighting and masters of weapons, and some people believed they could disappear into thin air. Aurora thought this was ridiculous, but not as much as the rumor that spies neither aged nor died.
That’s so stupid, she thought. If they were that powerful we’d all be spies. It would only take a hundred Immortals to drop on Vestalia and take our planet back, if that were the case. She rolled her eyes at the memory of the soldier who had whispered this to her. But she felt helpless; her brother was gone and there was a chance she’d never hear from him again.
