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

“If it makes you feel better, I miss her, too.”
    “I know,” Habraum kissed him softly on the forehead, his heart swelling with love for his son. “But it makes me happy that you help remind me of all the good things about her.”
    Jeremy blushed and grinned, bashfully shuffling his feet. But Habraum had thought enough about his late wife. It hurt more than helped his broken, empty heart.
    “So, I got a permission slip from your teachers,” Habraum said, as he stood up and continued to walk. The walkways had finally thinned out, making it easier to get around. “It’s about going to the Manoff Museum on Calliste, six weeks from now.”
    Jeremy smiled brightly. “My class gets to see the Earth museum during Earth Memorial Week.”
    Habraum snorted contemptuously. Even after 26 years, earthborn and Terranborn humans still milked the Earth Holocaust like it was a cow with inexhaustible udders. He stopped as he saw Jeremy look down sadly at the ground. “Some of my friends don’t think I should go.”
    “Really?” Habraum frowned in surprise. “Why not?”
    “Remember the picture I drew of old Korvenite ancient stuff for my art class history project?”
    Habraum’s golden eyes narrowed as he recalled. “Yeah, I do.”
    “After I showed it to my class, some of my friends called me a race-traitor and a blekdritt lover—.”
    “What!?” Habraum froze in his tracks, not believing his seven-year-old had just said that word. “They called you that?” His disbelief gave way to anger. “Sprouts these days,” he shook his head in outrage.
    “Daddy, what does blek—?”
    “Jeremy,” Habraum moved Jeremy off the walkway and knelt down, taking his son by the shoulders.  “It’s a bad insult to Korvenites. Never say it or think it again. Got me?”
    The younger Nwosu nodded obediently and a bit fearfully, his hazel-grey eyes wide.
    Realizing how harsh he sounded, the Cerc stopped himself. Jennica had always been better at chiding, rarely raising her voice with the boy. Before Jenn’s death, Habraum had been a little too piss and vinegar, taking after his earthborn Nigerian father in discipline. How would Jenn handle this? he’d been telling himself for months now, continuing more softly. “You still want to go on this trip?”
    Jeremy nodded so eagerly that Habraum feared his head would fall off.
    “Then go.” Habraum declared conclusively. “No matter what other people think. Oh, and find some new friends. Those klonks aren’t even worth your breathing space.”
    The boy looked down with such shame that Habraum felt his heart break a little. Children were so impressionable at this age—and cruel. “Have you ever been to Earth before the Holocaust, Daddy?” Jeremy asked as he looked up again.
    The question surprised Habraum. His face soured immediately at the memory. “A few times, when I was a tad of a lad, younger than you. It was a grubby, overpopulated dump,” he stated, causing his son to laugh. “You know this planet used to be the Korvenites’, yea?”
    Jeremy nodded. “They said in school that Earth humans discovered it before the Union was created.”
    “That’s right,” the Cerc smiled at his son’s knowledge and mussed up the boy’s fro of hair. “The earthborn colonized this world because it was so close to other Union memberworlds. Back then, the Korvenites only lived on a fraction of the planet so they had no issue with humans using what they weren’t.” Earth history came to Habraum as easily as breathing. It had become a hobby for many children on Cercidale after the Earth Holocaust.
    “By the mid-2200s,” he continued, taking a captivated Jeremy by the hand and walking slowly down the footpath. Visitors strolling down the same path had picked up significantly. “Humans from Earth, Mars, Cor Leonis and other earthborn colonies were immigrating here in droves. The Korvenites were the minority on their own planet. Even the lands that they occupied were now being taken