Shilo sat at his desk hoping someone would call with a case. Or maybe a kohask would knock the door down or a hoshaness crime boss would stop by. He pulled out the crumbled note with Kristy’s contact information. It was a simple piece of paper in Danny’s scribbles with nothing more than a phone number and an address of an office building in Prime, the main government capital of New Earth. Shilo had mapped out the office, an impressive forty story skyscraper and from what Shilo could gather, the address was to the seventeenth floor. Kristy’s office was an eighty thousand square foot space on a decently high floor number of a skyscraper on the most inhabited and bureaucratic human city of the galaxy. She was doing fine and Prime had to have a hundred thousand detectives or private consultants. Besides, the number on the card wasn’t going through. It’s the fifth time he’d tried without even a recording or simple machine to pick up. Shilo started bunching the number in and dialed up a different extension.

  “Department of Space Transport. Registration and policy division. How can I help you?”

  “Is extension five hundred for security? For Kirsten…” What was her maiden name? It had been Kirsten Zander for sixteen years. Gowen. “Kirsten Gowen.”

  “Um. I think that’s the one. Yes. There she is. Would you like be to transfer you to her department?”

  “Her department?”

  “Yes. Says here Kirsten Gowen, lead management to FTL security. Floors fourteen to twenty.”

  “No thanks. I think there might be a problem with the comms, as that seems to disconnect on me.” Shilo hung up and considered calling the number again. Kirsty had six floors under her command. What in the world did she think Shilo could do that an expert in her own department couldn’t? And why couldn’t she take his call? Or was his number blocked? Or was she hurt?

  Shilo skimmed the news and sent out multiple search requests across the network, looking for anything amiss with the FTL network. Prime. Missing people. Plenty of results, but also nothing beyond the usual. Missing people, yes. Accidents, yes. Normal bureaucratic inefficiencies. Protests at the FTL hubs. Normal levels of activities and nothing to hint that Kristy was in trouble. He’d even dug up a single page news article mentioning that Kirsten Gowan was taking on the head of transport security operations two and half years ago. Nothing looked out of place or alarming.

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  He turned his search to the century ship and the inclusion of humans within the galactic hodgepodge of alien existence. The history was more lavish and detailed, with notes on the number of humans destined to attempt colonization Alpha Centauri. It was a desperate colonization attempt looking at two planets and three moons as potential places that would support human life. The century ship would have likely failed. Humans today know that the Alpha Centauri system would not have been easy to terraform. Even with today’s modern technology, let alone the laughably primitive technology, humans had available at them at that time. Human physiology was not modified to support extended living conditions further restricting them to a biome and gravity like Earth’s or subjecting them to harsh medical deformities. The century ship wasn’t the only one to be launched. Two other ships left for other more promising stars before this one launched. Three more were planned. Earth was either dreaming of expanding across the stars or desperately fleeing something when the ship was launched.

  Among all the species that mixed together in often less than harmonious ways across the galaxy, Humans origin story was a brutal and gruesome introduction into society. It was uncommon but not exclusively unique that humans found galactic civilization by travelling slower than FTL. Most species were introduced into galactic affairs at a similar technology level, with some attempting the same methods of crossing the stars. However, the vast majority of differing species were still sparking small cooking fires by flint when the galaxy was aware of them. Most were protected from outside interference but monitored as they advanced until such point introductions could be made.

  Human’s introduction was a complete unknown. Not one species was aware that humans existed prior to the day when an ore hauler travelling through a service node became aware of strange radio signals in a report section of space. A drone was left to monitor the node which alerted the galaxy to the strange ship passing by the hub. Officials were called in to check on the ship, which was unusually far out and not running any approved transponders. A crew spent four months on a ship to fly out and retrieve the vessel. Humans were shocked, riots occurred, but ultimately after months of administrative headaches, a location was picked, and New Earth became a home for those looking to settle. The more adventurous traveled along the FTL network looking homes or work.

  Shilo found this history intriguing, and it rang bells with the knowledge he learned growing up but he didn’t see the mystery. Unless humans had been known or if FTL went to Earth. But it was impossible to hide FTL nodes. Unless that was part of the lie. There were plenty of wild theories and accusations, but the evidence to support the official story was deep. There were plenty of video files of news reports on the discovery of humans. The colonization of New Earth and founding of Prime. The carcass of the century ship in all its rusted glory rested in a museum in Prime.

  There was no mystery here. And yet Shilo found himself packing his bags and taking his classic cruiser out and not looking towards the three days of countless hops and waiting in queues to make it to New Earth. The

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  Magic has returned, but not without consequences.

  Leo’s prospects darken when he’s sent on a peacekeeping mission to the mysterious desert lands of Ro-Tawgh—a perceived punishment for his dangerous, unstable powers. He joined the king’s services hoping to make a difference only to be cast away.

  But when an ancient and deadly magic stirs and old enemies resurface, Leo and the crew of the Arcturus find themselves in the heart of a storm.

  Amidst the hazards of the desert, while they battle strange creatures, they will find an unexpected ally where they least expect one.

  In a world of fragile peace, shadowy secrets, and unpredictable powers, can Leo master his magic before it destroys everything he loves?