Sneak Peek - The Last Angel: Siren's Song, Chapter 2 (Patreon)

And here we are with a look at my next upcoming bit of work - the continuation of Siren's Song. Liam Redfeather has a lead in learning more about the Ghost of Semtillian, but after some fruitless attempts to establish contact, he's tracking them down himself. At least, if he survives to get there...

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This section of the drift was old; it was originally a large passenger liner that had ferried in illegal colonists and “volunteer” workers to help keep the Unbound operations in the system running. Already centuries old at the time, its generations-obsolete shock drive had finally given out after one shock too many. The ship hadn’t been worth salvaging, so it had been stripped of anything remotely valuable and its plundered hull had become part of Approsa Drift. As the citadel grew, adding proper habitat modules (and more than a few other wrecks), the inhabitants of better means and fortunes had moved from this section into the newer, nicer – and often larger – sections. Now, only the bottom-most rungs of the drift’s society made this place their home. Addicts and homeless sprawled in the corridors, or squatted in apartments that they’d managed to take over, while those that still owned their own small slice of property on the rusting, neglected decks watched with furtive eyes from behind viewing slits or door cams. The odour of various narcotics wafted from some hallways, mess halls, technical substations and rec decks turned into flophouses and drug dens.

Liam could feel the inhabitants’ attention on him. Those that were still conscious, at least. Suspicion, veiled hostility – even some curiousity. Not many people had ever seen a Broken, let alone in person. Even after working Approsa for as long as he had, he still ran across people who didn’t even know what species he was.

It wasn’t safe here. This was a place where you could get stabbed just for looking at the wrong person the wrong way, for the money some junkie thought you might have or just for no reason at all. Part of Liam knew this was crazy. He should just drop the box, turn around and head back to the more ‘civilized’ parts of the drift (where you’d only get stabbed for saying the wrong thing), find Theina, get drunk and laugh about how stupid this all was.

But he had to know. Someone else had survived seeing the Ghost. He had their name. Emet’pa, formerly the off-shift scopes officer of the Unfortunate Encounter. He knew that ship. It had worked Approsa and Semtillian for years, until one day it had departed on a simple supply run and never come back. That wasn’t too unusual. The life of the Unbound was much more hazardous than normal spacers – it could have been intercepted by the Space Force, attacked by rival ships or even just reassigned on a whim by its clan’s leadership.

There’d been stories, though – stories that that ship’s name had been portentous, and in the worst way. It was said that Unfortunate Encounter had seen the Ghost, a claim its leader had vehemently denied, up until the day he disappeared along with his ship. That was all the confirmation that the old storytellers and rumourmongers needed. Liam had never believed in that. He still wasn’t sure he did. But... but he wanted to know more. He’d seen the Ghost. Even if it was nothing but superstition, it was superstition that everyone else here believed.

He had to know more. He had to find out what had happened. What was responsible for the loss of Unmistakable Threat Display and why his life had taken the turn that it did. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe he was just being played for a fool by the old Prolocutor. But maybe... maybe this was something.