On the Run (Verity Chronicles Book 3): A Cadicle Space Opera Adventure

by T. S. Valmond

“Great, I’ll get them.” She moved to the door and let herself out.

  Joe stared at it, willing Iza to come through. Instead, he saw his friend Emery peek around the corner, followed by Skyler. Joe jumped to his feet to greet them. They both rushed to his side, but it was Emery who threw his arms around him and squeezed until Joe almost couldn’t take a breath.

  “Okay, okay, release,” Joe said, trying to make light of the fact they were two grown men with tears in their eyes.

  “I thought we’d lost you for real, man. But your sister, she wouldn’t give up. She made them go after you.” Emery stepped aside, allowing space for Skyler.

  His eyes filled again at the sight of her with tears streaming down her face, waiting for him to make the first move. They’d been through so much, why did I pushed her away all those years? Now, it seemed silly and petty. He wanted her to know it. Joe reached out for her hands and then pulled her against his chest holding her as she sobbed. Then, as if he couldn’t bear it a second longer, Emery came up behind her and wrapped his arms around them both. The three of them held each other for a long moment.

  When they pulled away, Joe wiped a sleeve across his eyes and laughed as he did. Then he moved to the chair leaving them the couch to sit together in front of him.

  “Tell me everything I missed. How was the wedding?” Joe asked.

  They looked at each other and back to Joe.

  “There was no wedding. You think we’d get married if you couldn’t be there?” Emery said.

  “Oh, I’m sorry you postponed it.”

  “It doesn’t matter. We’ll have it now that you’re back,” Skyler said.

  “I’m not really back. Now that my treatment is over, they’ll probably ship me back to Earth.”

  “No, they won’t. The High Commander made arrangements for you to return to the Verity,” Skyler said.

  “Why?”

  Emery and Skyler looked from each other back at Joe and then at the ceiling where an observation camera was mounted. He’d almost forgotten that his doctor was probably watching everything he did. He’d gotten used to it.

  “Can we speak freely here?” Skyler asked, slipping into his thoughts like she belonged there. He missed the sound of her internal voice.

  “Yes, they know everything. It’s not like I could have hidden anything from them, even if I wanted to.”

  “I think they decided you’ve paid your due,” Emery said aloud. “You can go anywhere in the Taran worlds you want now.”

  “We hoped you’d still want to come to our wedding. We’re planning it for next week, and we insist you be a part of it,” Skyler said, her lips firming in a straight line. The expression was so much like their mother, Joe had to look away; she probably had no idea.

  “Of course, I’ll be there.”

  “Does that mean you’ll stand up for us?” Emery asked, looking between Joe and Skyler.

  “Yes, I’d be honored,” Joe learned across the gap between the furniture and grabbed his sister’s hand. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else on your big day.”

  “Good, because we already resent the invitations,” Emery said with a giant sigh of relief. “Your friends are invited, of course. They were good to Skyler while she was with them.”

  “Iza, knows?” Joe asked, not sure how he felt about sharing her.

  “Yes, and she’s just like you described,” Emery said aloud. “I mean, it makes sense why you chose her over the TSS.”

  Skyler nudged him in the ribs, and he flinched.

  “They were good to me,” Skyler said. “While I was there, they took care of me like one of their own. You could do a lot worse.”

  “She’s special,” Joe said to them.

  “We know.”

  They nodded.

  “Either way, they’re welcome,” Skyler said aloud. Emery took the other hand balled in her lap and lifted it to his lips. Joe watched the stress drain from his sister’s face. He was glad he hadn’t missed their wedding.

  “After the wedding, where will you go?” Joe asked.

  “Undecided. We’ve been offered a joint assignment at an outpost. We’re considering it,” Skyler said. “We’re going to miss you.”

  “I’m going to miss you, too. But I won’t be far, no matter where we all end up,” Joe said to them, then he spoke aloud, “I can’t wait to settle a bet I’ve got with Emery. He swears he can dance, but I’ve never seen it.”

  “It’s going to be epic. You might want to get something a little more formal,” Emery said as he eyed the material of Joe’s casual shirt.

  They departed after a few more minutes of light conversation.

  The doctor returned, and she gently probed his mind. He could keep her out now; he had that much strength again. He reveled in it, but he didn’t let it show on his face. Instead, he clenched his jaw, waiting for this final analysis to be over.

  “You didn’t tell them.”

  “Tell them what?”

  “Why you chose to be here. Why you didn’t return to the Verity immediately.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I’m here now, and I’ll be there for them when they need me most. That’s what matters.”

  “They might have been sympathetic, even understanding of your feelings, but you chose not to share them.”

  “I didn’t want them to know.”

  “Because you’re afraid of being judged?”

  “No, I don’t want anyone to know how much that machine took from me.”

  — — —

  The time in the Apex ship port on Beurias was the perfect opportunity for the TSS to reclaim their independent jump drive. Iza hated watching them do surgery on her ship, but it was a small price to pay for Joe’s freedom.

  After several days of waiting, she’d finally received the message Joe was ready to come back. He had agreed to meet them on Beurias at the service port. Iza had hardly slept the night before from the excitement.

  Karter had come through and arranged for Douketis to return her shuttle. She was still livid he had swiped it and left her for dead in the middle of a blizzard. Karter served as their mediator so she wouldn’t have to deal with Douketis directly. Though, she would have loved to see the look on his face when Karter told him about the revised contract he’d be working under. She heard Douketis had thrown his hat to the ground and stomped on it in his fury.

  While on Beurias, she and Karter also made the dissolution of their engagement final and public. She owned the Verity free and clear, and Karter was now free to court Becca. Iza couldn’t help but smile at the idea that they’d probably make the Sensationals as the new power couple of the year.

  The clang of metal on metal got Iza’s attention. Who thought it was a bright idea to start a metal band? Atano kept to her side, his tail wagging, and unfazed with the racket as she made her way to the cargo hold where the noise was concentrated.

  As it turned out, Trix and Braedon were smoothing out the dents on the outside of the AS-225 shuttle, and Cierra was adding paint to a panel they’d already flattened out. It would never look brand new, but it didn’t look like it was going to fall out of the sky anymore.

  “Good morning, Captain,” Trix said in her chipper new tone of voice.

  “What are you doing here?” Iza yelled out over the clanging.

  Trix and Braedon stopped what they were doing. Viper climbed out of the inside and stood next to her sister.

  “Morning, Iz,” Braedon said dropping his hammer and moving over to present the shuttle as if it were his own. “I couldn’t sleep last night so Cierra and I got to talking about how we might help out with the shuttle. We started about an hour ago, and Trix wouldn’t leave us alone, so we put her to work. Viper stumbled inside about twenty minutes ago.”

  Viper stared down at her shuffling feet, sounding excited but not meeting her gaze. “I’m working on the controls. You’ve got some glitchy components that I thought could use some attention,” she said. “I hope that’s okay.”

  Iza’s th
oughts were racing to keep up with the information they were throwing at her, but her eye landed on the side of the shuttle where Cierra had been working.

  “What’s that?”

  “We know how much you loathe naming things, so we thought a symbol would be the best way to identify the shuttle. Your necklace holds significance, so we chose that for the hull. If you hate it, we can paint over it, but I did spend some time trying to get it right with help from Trix.”

  Speechless, Iza stood staring at what they’d done. Then someone entered the cargo hold behind her. Before she could turn around, the familiar voice spoke.

  “I kind of like it,” Joe said.

  “Well, look who’s back,” Braedon said, beaming, and passing her to grip Joe’s arm. “I thought you’d decided to reintegrate yourself with the TSS and abandon us criminals for an honest life as an Agent dressed in black.”

  “Robin Hood,” he said, then flashed a smile at the others. “Little John, Maid Marian, Will Scarlet.”

  “Pause, are you in beta?” Viper asked then faced Braedon. “What’s he talking about?”

  Iza watched them each welcome him back, her eyes never leaving his face. Joe was thinner than he’d been before, though the color of his skin was back to normal. When his blue eyes met hers, it was like a bolt of energy passing between them. Dozens of missed conversations from the last few months filled her thoughts, but nothing came out. Questions she didn’t need answers to occupied her mind. How have you been? What did they do to you? Did you think about me? No, none of that mattered anymore. He was standing here in front of her, and she couldn’t think.

  Somewhere behind her, she heard Braedon call the rest of the crew back to work.

  Iza went to the shuttle and climbed inside. She’d been fantasizing about leaping into Joe’s arms the moment she saw him, but now that they were together, she found herself overcome with nerves.

  Joe followed her in.

  “I need to re-program this component, it’s going to take at least an hour to get the code re-tested,” Viper grumbled as she passed them and climbed out.

  Iza needed to give herself a little time to get used to Joe being close to her again, so she picked up the closest available project to keep herself from fidgeting. The front console lay open, the wiring exposed. She got down on the floor and slid underneath to pick up where Viper had left off.

  “It’s going to look brand new once it’s all finished,” Joe said, breaking the silence.

  “Yeah, I don’t care about how it looks. I want it to run like new more than anything. I just need to rewire the navigation controls so we can keep her steady on exit and entry. I need to bypass a few other systems to make it work. Pass me those wire cutters, will you?”

  Joe knelt down and passed her the cutters, but he stayed on the floor at her side. Iza didn’t want to meet his gaze yet. Having him near was enough to turn her insides to jelly.

  “All of the paperwork has been filed. I’m a free man of the Taran Empire.”

  Iza’s heart lifted. She busied her hands focusing on realigning the wires in front of her. “The soldering gun should be over there. Can you grab it?”

  He dug around in the pile of abandoned tools and found the soldering gun and held it out for her. Iza reached for it, and he held on forcing her to look at him. “I think we’ve spent enough time dancing around things. I’d like to take you on a proper date.”

  Her heart fluttered. “Is that so?”

  “In fact, I was hoping you accompany me to my sister’s wedding next week. I’m supposed to stand up for them. They want the crew to come, too. It seems you all left quite the impression on her and Emery.” He was rattling on the way Braedon did, which meant he was nervous. She couldn’t help but find it endearing.

  Determined to play it cool, Iza lifted one shoulder. “Sounds like a good time.”

  She pulled at the tool again, but Joe put it down out of reach so he could cradle her face with both hands.

  Iza placed one hand on his chest. “I’ve missed you.”

  “I’ve missed you, too. More than I thought one person could ever miss another.”

  It was what she wanted to hear, but she needed to know what was behind the words. Is he ready to go all-in the way I am? She searched his eyes, looking for lingering signs of what he’d been through. “Are you okay?” she asked.

  Joe tilted his head to one side. He seemed to be listening to the pounding and steady conversation outside the shuttle. He smiled and shook his head. “No, I’m not.” He pulled her in and kissed her senseless. When he pulled back to get his breath, he touched his forehead to hers. “But with you, I will be.”

  Thank you for reading On the Run!

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  READ MORE BY T.S. VALMOND…

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  More Books and Stories

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  ALSO BY A.K. DUBOFF…

  The Verity Chronicles are part of the broader Cadicle Universe, which includes epic space opera tales spread across thousands of years of history and lore. These stories center around the Taran Empire—the ancestors of humans—who are waiting for the day when the people of Earth will rejoin their forgotten brethren.

  Learn more about the Cadicle Universe:

  www.cadicle.com

  The Original Cadicle Series

  The seven-volume original series sets the stage for a political revolution which will change the Taran Empire forever.

  "Exciting space adventure" - Publisher's Weekly

  A secret war. An empire in crisis. One final hope for victory.

  Wil Sietinen is torn between two worlds. As a High Dynasty heir and the Tararian Selective Service’s most promising telekinetic Agent trainee, Wil is expected to be nothing short of exceptional in every way—even though the weight of responsibility is slowly crushing him.

  When Wil finds himself face-to-face with the Bakzen, a mysterious race skilled in advanced telekinesis, he’s forced to confront his destiny. His unique gifts can help end a secret war waging within a hidden dimensional rift, and time is running out.

  However, as the dire nature of the war and the truth about his own abilities begins to unfold, Wil realizes that he and his family are at the center of a generations-old galactic conspiracy. Enemies are not as they seem, and the future of the entire Taran Empire hangs in the balance.

  Wil holds the key to victory, but saving his people may come at the ultimate price.

  Get Book 1: Rumors of War (Cadicle Vols. 1-3) - Buy it now: smarturl.it/cadicle123

  More Books and Stories

  For a complete list of Amy’s writing:

  www.amyduboff.com/books

  AUTHORS’ NOTES

  From T.S. Valmond:

  Dear reader, thank you for picking up this series and giving it a read. I know you have plenty of other things going on in your life, this year in particular, and it means so much that you shared this journey with me.

  This has been the most fun I’ve ever had writing with someone else, and I have to thank Amy. Without her, this amazing universe wouldn’t exist. As you probably know, finding people with whom you can cohesively work on a single project can be a challenge. My time working with Amy has been awe-inspiring and a true joy. With a guiding hand and an open hea
rt she helped me bring this story out of chaos and seamlessly into her world. I’ll always be grateful to her for her insights and care with my characters and ideas.

  A special thanks to the entire team for taking time out of your busy lives to help make this book the best it can be. Thank you to our elite beta readers who’ve been with us throughout the entire series. I couldn’t be happier, you’re all sensational! I appreciate so much the proofers who sniffed out the typos big and small, you’re the best!

  Thank you to my wonderful husband, Matthew, for standing by me and being there at all times of the night to listen as I worked through the story. I couldn’t have done it without your support.

  Thanks again to the readers. I’m so grateful to have shared this story with you. There’s a lot more in me yet, and I can’t wait for you to see what’s next.

  An additional note from A.K. DuBoff:

  Thank you for reading this third book in the Verity Chronicles! This little trio of books has been great fun to work on with Shelina, and I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading them as much as we’ve enjoyed writing them.

  The ending of this book leaves a bit of a cliffhanger for these ‘others’ and what may come, but rest assured that there are big plans for this open storyline. The Taran Empire Saga will blow the Cadicle Universe wide open in scope, so stay tuned for that. It’s been great being able to add alien entities into the universe, and I’m looking forward to exploring these threads further.

  Thank you to Shelina for bringing such great characters into the Cadicle Universe and for bringing new dimension to my characters from the original series, such as Ian. It’s been a great experience working on this together!

  Many thanks also to our amazing beta readers and proofers—John, Taria, Steve, Doug, Leo, Eric, David, Gil, and Bryan—for their valuable feedback, great ideas, and assistance adding the final polish. These books are truly a team effort, and I feel so luck to work with such incredible people.