Star Brigade: Resurgent (Star Brigade Book 1) by C.C. Ekeke Read Free Book Online

walking this journey alone.
    He looked up and smiled at the pale-blue sky overhead, unspoiled by any clouds. In its center, the star Rhyne shined like a radiant ball of bullion, quickly warming Habraum’s dark brown skin once he and Jeremy stepped outside. Habraum walked briskly through the greyish ferroment walkways with Jeremy in tow. Many sentient beings were milling about today and observing the variety of animals in their natural environments. A Kintarian, with short grey fur and pointy ears stood at a petting kiosk, hungrily eyed a frightened little rhomerax curled up in a furry red ball. A family of stalk-eyed Galdorians ambled past them, heading toward the Garden Sector of the zoo.
    Aside from being able to spend time with his son, the sights and sounds of the Corowood Zoo wowed Habraum, at least on a superficial level. Jeremy would point, exclaim and shake Habraum’s arm at everything he saw. The design for this zoo’s spires and dome-shaped structures was breathtaking. Most were smooth and rounded, yet unorthodox due to the mix of architectures from the many species within the Union. This type of design was largely seen at the multi-leveled Aerie where many sub-species of Terra Sollan myryposes and other avian creatures inhabited.
    The Aerie was a semi-transparent globe; silvery and unflawed in appearance on a thick cylindrical base at least 20 stories high, a gift from the Thulicans at the end of the Ferronos Sector War. One could see the graceful gliding of the myryposes through the silvery globe, as they astounded the zoo’s visitors with their aerial superiority. Despite all this grandeur, Habraum realized with a sad smile, that it was never enough to fill the emptiness. Not the sight of his son’s smile or their improving relationship, not even removing himself from almost anything connected to Star Brigade.
    There was no escaping this ever consuming black hole in his heart.
    A year and some weeks had passed since his wife…and unborn daughter’s death.
    A year and some weeks since his combat team and various other Brigadiers had been slaughtered.
    Habraum had visited the graves of his family numerous times, struggling to live with their loss, dulled a large sum of the pain. But not nearly enough.
    When it came to his Star Brigade family, Habraum’s wound was still as raw as that devastating day on Beridaas. His failure to save all but one taunted him still, a barbed nettle repeatedly puncturing a hole through his chest, making the thought of visiting their gravestones still too agonizing.
    He suddenly wanted to talk to Jennica—right now. A few days had passed since his last letter. Yes, Habraum had promised to start weaning off what started as a grieving method during his darkest times. But his pride regarding his progress with Jeremy was overwhelming. He wanted to tell Jenn about the father he had become for Jeremy…the father he should have been when she was alive.
    Would she have approved of him leaving the career he loved to focus on Jeremy?
    Might she have seconded his choice to stay on Terra Sollus, so Jeremy would be close to her family—despite how they felt about Habraum? He wanted to blurt out these prideful musings, before his own overthinking ruined it all. This cycle had become a pattern when the bad days began to be less frequent, wondering if the decisions he made regarding his current life had been out of fatherly duty to Jeremy or out of remorse. Remorse from missing so much of Jeremy’s life beforehand?
    “You’re thinking of Mommy again, aren’t you?”
    Habraum stiffened. He looked down and saw the worry on his son’s face. “How did you know?”
    “When you stare off into space,” Jeremy blinked, squeezing his hand. “But you do it less now.”
    Habraum smiled at this. He knelt beside his son, cupping Jeremy’s face in his hands. Just looking into his son’s large eyes, he saw the sincerity there. “What can I say, Jer? I miss your mum very much.”
    Jeremy frowned,