Scattered Suns Read Online Free

“Well, who would have thought Dad might like being a farmer? Working with dirt on his hands, sowing seeds, tending plants?”
    Crim Tylar’s brow furrowed. “Shizz, this sure beats skymining. Give me dirt any day. I always hated Ptoro—cold, windy, bleak.” He made a face.
    “You saw the images after the Eddies used their Klikiss Torch, right?” Nikko said. “Ptoro’s nothing more than one big ball of fire.”
    “Then at least it’s warm there now,” Crim grumbled.
    His parents couldn’t cover their pride as they led him through a lush vegetable sector. “You’ve got a grand galactic mission, Nikko, but take a few seconds to enjoy the little things,” Marla suggested.
    “When all the big words are stripped away, that’s what we’re really fighting for, you know.” Crim bent down to pluck a soft, red tomato. “Eat this. You’ve never tasted anything like it.”
    “I’ve had a tomato before.”
    “Not one of my tomatoes. This is as good as it gets.”
    Actually, Nikko had eaten one of his father’s tomatoes, but he humored the older man. He popped the small tomato into his mouth and bit down to release a gush of moist flavor. “Yes, as good as it gets.”
    A huge shadow crossed the fields like the black shape of a vulture passing overhead. The three of them looked up and Crim squinted to get a better look. “What the hell is that?”
    Nikko recognized the profile of an enormous warship drifting in front of the solar mirror array, blocking the reflected sun. “It’s an Eddy battleship! I saw them hit Hurricane Depot—”
    As if to reinforce his claim, the silhouetted vessel launched a volley of explosive projectiles into the gossamer mirror array. The artillery punched bright blossoms of fire through the reflective film, which sent dazzling ricochets of light in all directions. The tether cable snapped, and the mangled reflectors drifted, twirling like tissue blown in a high wind. The greenhouse dome was plunged into shadow, illuminated only by starlight and uncertain glints from the tattered mirror.
    Alarms sounded throughout the dome, and relay messages came from the artificial storage stations and satellite asteroids. Marla shouted, “Get an oxygen mask. Tell everyone to suit up if they have time—”
    Her instructions were cut off by an announcement from the EDF battleships over the dome’s intercom systems. “This is Admiral Lev Stromo of the Earth Defense Forces. By order of King Peter, this facility has been seized by the Terran Hanseatic League. All assets are forfeit to the war effort for the protection of humanity.”
    “Oh, piss off,” Crim grumbled.
    “Roamers have been declared hostiles. Therefore, all inhabitants of this facility will be taken away and processed. Our ships will accept your surrender. Any resistance will be considered grounds for immediate and decisive retaliation.”
    Jumpsuited agricultural workers scrambled to their meeting points, as they had been drilled to do, but an overwhelming force of Earth military vessels already loomed above the greenhouse complex. They were bottled up here.
    The emergency lights cast strange shadows among the growing plants, and flickering alarms added to the nightmarish quality. Without the sun mirror, the temperature inside the dome was already dropping. Because they had no official military branch, Roamer security depended on secrecy and rapid dispersal of their ships.
    In direct defiance of the admiral’s order, one small cargo ship accelerated like a bullet down from a food storage satellite. The greenhouse intercom picked up the pilot’s transmission over a private Roamer channel. “I’ll keep them busy while the rest of you get away! Everybody better evacuate immediately.”
    “It’s Shelby. That idiot—what the hell does he think he’s doing?”
    The cargo ship flew in like a matador provoking a bull. Shelby launched one tiny potshot directly at the lead Manta cruiser.
    Nikko and his parents made their way to the