Read Among Bright Stars... for Free Online

girl would become as jaded as the rest of her colleagues,
get on board where it came to matters of politics.
     
     
    A shadow passed slowly over her head, the
silhouette of a hunting bird, wings arched for an impending strike,
and its talons extended, prepared to rip its prey from the earth.
In the shadow, Arshira, stood, glanced up at the bird of prey.
Overhead, Temujin's command FS-9 Raptor hung on its VTOL engines,
and dropped Nemesis-class assault aircraft into the battle as a
counterpoint against the Imperium’s own jets that had only seconds
earlier arrived on the scene to reinforce the outpost’s failing
defenses. Cargo drop complete, the FS-9 Raptor lifted higher
upward.
    In the sky above the Falcanian Forward
Command, Arshira watched, picking out details of the battle above,
and marveled as two fighter aircraft exchanged salvos of artillery.
She remained captivated by the acrobatics of the aircraft, their
rolls, and dodges. The Imperium jet fired a missile at the Nemesis.
The Falcanian pilot however proved to be too quick. In the end, the
smart-missile looped around, and took out the Nemesis’s rear
thrusters, which forced the Skatha pilot to evacuate from his
plane.
    Which did not stop the Skatha pilot, who
flew ahead, toward the Imperium jet under power of his own wings,
where he landed on its fuselage, gripped to it by means of his
tri-claws, and tore into the metal. Translucent glassy green wings
shimmered in the sunlight. A pulse-cannon mounted on the right arm
of the Skatha hummed, ready to fire into the Imperium jet’s canopy.
Armored in organic plated armor, black, almost like it were
fashioned from crude oil, its darkness consumed all ambient light.
The Skatha stood stark against a blue sky. Conduits in the armor
glowed, as if they were red molten metal, and pulsed inside the
carapace, met at junction points along the arms. One handed, the
Skatha ripped the human from his cockpit, and dangled the man by
his broken neck. Had Arshira been closer, she could have made out a
deep satisfied laugh from the Skatha after he casually let the
human go, to flail away dead.
    Skatha didn't die so easily.
     
     
    Triumphant, Arshira entered the central
command hub of the Iksar’rang base, followed by Valküri Swans, and
Kulcarin's Skatha. Holograms and readouts lined the walls, some
still displayed locations of Falcanian forces, and Arshira could
discern that her people were outside cleaning up the rest of the
battle. “Send a message to ISG Kra, success!” To herself she
murmured. “Perhaps next he’d like for us to storm the walls of
Valhalla?”
    Assured that her bidding would be done,
Arshira went and found the administrator's office. Heavily she
collapsed into the comfortable chair behind a large black desk,
unlatched her helmet, took it off and placed it on the desktop
exhausted. Her honey colored hair loosely fell in curls down her
back. Somehow the exhilaration of the conflict only enhanced her
beauty, though she wore no makeup this day, her heart-shaped face
seemed to glow with an angelic vibrancy. Yet a clear hint of the
battle rage glimmered in her emerald cat eyes.
    Arshira scanned the decorations on the base
administrator’s desk. A human by the name of Malcolm Acker, who
only that morning had been killed in defense of his outpost. She
noticed a hologram, of what she took to be his wife and son.
Sighed, thought it all so wasteful.
    “May I enter my Rani?” The words were spoken
in a dry accent, one that said I am superior in all that I
do. The speaker wrapped his tongue around every syllable.
    Startled, Arshira gazed up at the doorway.
“Come in.”
    The Skatha Commander entered, and gave
Arshira the Claw-On-Fist salute.
    “Quite a performance up there.” Arshira
meant of course the Skatha’s recent elimination of the Imperium
pilot a few hours previously. Indeed, it seemed to Arshira he had
done it as much for show, as for efficient killing, which kind of
bothered her.
    “Yess, yess” He