Read Defender of the Empire: Cadet #1 for Free Online

closed my eyes and ducked my head. I forced myself to step to the side out of the doorway so that I wouldn’t cast a silhouette. Then I focused on trying to keep tears of pain from falling due to the brightness. Gradually my eyes got use to the suddenly abundant illumination. Which was a relief because that made it easier to avoid stepping on tails and wings and other people’s feet. It also helped keep my own feet from getting stepped on. A painful prospect on a normal occasion. It would hurt much more as I was bootless.
                  I hunched my shoulders briefly before forcing myself to look around. But to be honest? All I saw were the boots I had been lent sitting in a little nook in an empty store front. In the dark. Near where a woman had been killed. And a crowbar surrounded by shattered glass or whatever they made light orbs out of in the same room as the dead woman. A crowbar with my fingerprints and DNA all over it. I didn’t know if the man would find them or if he would just leave them and clean up his own mess and let the authorities find it. Then I would be blamed.
                  All of which made me more determined to tell someone who had the power to find the killer before he could do it again. Because if the voice I heard was real and not my imagination, this sort of thing had happened before and was likely to continue. But what Citizen would listen to a colonist? I wondered really starting to notice the hall I was in.
                  I blinked several times. To my right was a sign that said ‘Ring One, Corridor C.’ I glanced around before following the sign. Not too long after entering Corridor C, I saw an old space age decorated restaurant. The sign was a cartoon crescent moon sitting at a small table with a coffee mug in its hand, a satisfied smile on its face. Floating around the happy moon were the stylized words ‘The Moon Café’. I tilted my head in wonder before shaking it slightly and convincing my feet it was time to walk again. What were the chances that Westley’s directions had always been intended for that detour? And if so, why ? Then there was another thought, though not as relevant. H ow could they make a cartoon moon look so creepy? Was that how they drew in business? Make people so freaked out that they couldn’t sleep and so went to that café to sip coffee and eat cinnamon rolls in the wee hours of the night? Was that the conniving plan? Did any of that make sense?
                  Probably not.
                  Another slight head shake and I was able to think about more important things, like remembering Westley’s directions. The Legion Fleet Academy Branch was located fifty feet past the Moon Café and near a transport rental place. My thought was to show up there as I had originally planned and give them not only Captain Wingstar’s letter but also a report on the murder of the woman. They might not believe me, but they would know who to have check it out. Or they would hopefully remember it when the body was found or someone filed a missing person’s report.
                  I grimaced. Of course, this whole thing may completely ruin whatever slim chance I had of convincing them to let a colonist join the Legion Fleet. My hand touched the pocket that crinkled softly with the letter the captain had given me. It was my only chance that they would consider me for the merest of moments. Maybe.
                  Don’t make yourself quit before you even get there. I thought to myself as I spied the rental shop. And sure enough, just as Westley had said, there was the Academy Branch. My crowd weaving pace slowed as I got closer. I couldn’t help but think about how the next couple minutes were going to shape the rest of my life. Amazing how every single moment effects the next.
                  My hand pressed against the cool metal plate on the utilitarian door with the Legion