Destiny Found (Epsilon Chronicles Book 1)

by Beth Valentine

  “Hannan, leave Taavi alone. He’s worried about leaving Natalie, and he’s worried about not returning. You have no idea how hard it is to leave the person you’re in love with. I feel the same way with Selly.” Aaren defended Taavi.

  Taavi shot him a grateful look, too mixed up to defend himself.

  Natalie had been emitting so many emotions he had to shut himself down to focus. It felt unnatural, after all this time of bonding with her, to not be able to feel her. He wanted so badly to turn around and be with Natalie while the others went out and fought. But he was the highest-ranking warrior, an elite; therefore he had to lead the others.

  He sighed, annoyed that he was feeling this way. He had an obligation, a privilege, to serve his king and protect his planet, and all he could do was think of his soile-miena.

  She’ll be fine. I need to do this to protect not only the planet, but also her.

  They hit turbulence coming out of the atmosphere, and when they steadied, they were able to see a wave of Nezlean ships racing toward them.

  They had to warn the others coming after them.

  “Shit. Aaden, arm the weapons. Andris contact Trystan; tell him the computer is reading two hundred warships. Aaren, signal a level three alert on planet, let them know to be ready for anything. Hannan, raise the shields. Things are about to get messy.”

  The ships, both Nezlean and Tarlon, raced toward each other, firing at the same time.

  “Aaden, to the left. Hannan, get on the other canon. Aaden, the ship is going to destroy one of ours.”

  “I’m kind of busy. We’ve got ten on our rear, firing on us.” To prove his point, the ship rattled from laser fire. “Sir, I can’t keep up. We’ve got to shake them.”

  “Aaden, keep firing. Hannan, to the right, get those ships. Everyone hold on. Computer, activate evasive maneuvers.” Taavi held on as the ship spiraled into a spin. “Keep shooting. We want those bastards to back off or die. Andris, what’s the word?”

  “Sir, Trystan and Teams Four to Ten are surrounded by fifty ships. They are calling for help. Teams Twelve and Seventeen are closing in to their position. We’ve lost Teams Fifteen, Twenty, Twenty-two, Thirty, and Forty.”

  Taavi closed his eyes as he was suffused with anger and sadness.

  So many deaths, so much waste.

  He shook his head. Now was not the time to allow emotion to rule. He needed to keep his head clear and keep his people alive.

  “Teams Three, Fourteen, Twenty-eight, and Thirty-two have been damaged and are unable to fly. Weapons are still functioning on those ships. Seventy-six Nezlean ships have been destroyed.”

  “Good. Aaren, open the hatch. Detonate the flare bombs.”

  They watched on screen as another five Nezlean ships exploded. Just as they were turning back to shoot another Nezlean ship, a smaller silver ship broke through the atmosphere.

  Taavi shook his head in annoyance.

  A little late to the party there, now aren’t you?

  He watched as Nezlean ships immediately swarmed the smaller ship, and he wasn’t afraid to say he was impressed by the pilots’ skills.

  Whoever it was, twirled and danced through the fighting, getting hit by some laser fire and destroying others with its own.

  “Sir, Trystan says that Teams Four and Eight have been taken out. They are losing and need assistance.”

  “Well, where are they? Coordinates?”

  Andris read out the coordinates as Taavi typed them into the computer.

  As the ship started moving, he realized the little ship was already making its way over to Trystan, a line of Nezleans on its tail. It disabled enough ships that Trystan and the other teams were able to handle the rest, and then it did some stunning acrobatics, racing toward a couple ships that broke off to the surface.

  “Computer, halt course. New coordinates.”

  “That was some piloting, wasn’t it? I’m impressed. I wonder who it is.”

  “I bet it’s Martime from Team Thirty-eight.”

  “No way. It’s Baliana from Team Fifty-one. She’s one of the best pilots on Tarlon. It has got to be her.”

  “Enough. Focus. There’s a war going on out there,” Taavi growled, annoyed with their banter.

  “Sir, yes sir.”

  They moved away from the surface, confident that the other teams had it handled.

  Some of the Nezlean ships were trying to go the long way around, so Taavi set their course to intercept. On screen, the small ship was surrounded by Nezlean ships, taking heavy laser fire.

  He felt a moment of unease, like something was seriously wrong. He searched himself, and wasn’t able to locate the source. He watched as the small ship was shaken and battered by fire after fire.

  Taavi started to feel sick, a sense of dread choking off his breath.

  FUCK! The curse echoed through his head, and he knew something was wrong.

  He stared, unseeing at the monitor, opening himself up to Natalie and being bombarded by fear, determination, and anger.

  Natalie, what’s wrong? Are you okay?

  Not right now, Taavi, I’m busy.

  She sounded exasperated with a hint of fear.

  Just then the comm bleeped, signaling a message. He answered, listening to Jarrod curse and complain about Natalie.

  And he saw red.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  Natalie, what’s wrong? Are you okay? Taavi’s thoughts assailed her.

  Not right now, Taavi, I’m busy.

  There was a short pause before a blistering retort made her flinch.

  Natalie! I fucking told you, hell Ty told you, that you were not supposed to fly your ship. What the hell?

  Don’t tell me. Jarrod contacted you. The little backstabber. Look, I’m sorry, but I needed to do something. You came up here and I was scared. I’m a good pilot and Tal and I added some of Jarrod’s experimental weapons on. We should be fine.

  Natalie felt fear and panic infuse her as the assault continued, and knew what she had told Taavi was a lie. More than forty ships surrounded them and she couldn’t help but wonder where the heck the others were to rescue them.

  Hold on, me and a few others are on their way to you now.

  “Shields at twenty percent. This is a critical level.”

  “No shit,” Natalie mumbled, trying to figure out a way for them to get out of there.

  There was still the one weapon they hadn’t tried yet.

  The photon-ray.

  Natalie was too scared to use it, but desperate times and all that.

  There isn’t enough time. I have one last thing to try. Love you.

  She lowered the photon-ray amidst lasers firing at her from every angle.

  “Shields at seven percent. It is recommended no more damage occur. Decompression is inevitable.”

  Well, shit. It’s now or never.

  She held her breath as she fired the photon-ray, and then sat in stunned silence.

  “Did that… did that really just happen?” Tali’s hesitant voice broke through the silence.

  “Yup.” Natalie nodded her head. “That happened.”

  When Natalie had fired the photon-ray, a bright green energy bolt had hit the first ship and then in a streaming line, had hit the next ship and the next and the next. Soon, all the ships surrounding them were just sitting there, unmoving.

  Natalie and Tali looked at each other and whooped, laughing in relief.

  “I cannot believe that just happened. One minute, you were shooting like a mad woman and doing these crazy acrobatics, and the next we are surrounded and basically dead. Then that thing saves us. Holy crap. I think I peed myself.”

  Natalie laughed in relief, almost unbelieving of their good fortune.

  No one could have such good luck; she was missing something important, she was sure.

  Natalie, what’s going on? Why are you surrounded by Nezlean ships?

  We used Jarrod’s photon-ray and they all just stopped. We stopped over forty ships, Taavi. Jarrod and his
team are GENUISES!

  Did you say photon-ray? Get out, Natalie. Get out NOW!

  Natalie didn’t have a chance to respond, she was too busy watching the ships in front of her bulge out.

  No ship, no matter what material it was designed with, would buckle like that.

  She watched as small fissures appeared in the hull of the ones in front of her.

  Oh shit. They’re going to blow.

  Natalie quickly put the ship in gear and floored it, barely making it away before all of them started to explode. They were close enough that they were hit by the aftershocks, and they rode the wave as it pushed them outward.

  The other Nezlean ships that were still fighting started to retreat, leaving the silver ships to either pursue or let them go.

  A buzzing filled the air, someone hailing them.

  “Tal, flick that button again.”

  When Tali flicked the button, a stream of curses erupted from the speaker.

  Natalie rolled her eyes. “Hello Jarrod, what do you want?”

  “Taavi is going to kick my ass. Thanks to your stupid commando moves, now I have the King riding my ass, too. You two, get your asses back to the surface. And I mean now!” he yelled.

  Once he swore a few more times, calling them all the names under the sun, Tali looked at Natalie and said, “We are so busted. If we don’t get thrown in jail, I’ll be surprised.”

  “Technically, I don’t think it was against the law. And even if it was, we just saved a crazy amount of people, so I call that a win.”

  “True. Okay, let’s get back before we land ourselves in more hot water. By the way, you weren’t lying about being a great pilot. A few times I thought we were going to die, but you handled yourself like a pro. I’m impressed.”

  Natalie smiled and shrugged. “I guess it’s just in my blood.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  They made it back to the surface and the hangar safely, laughing now that the trouble had passed. They made their way out of the ship and were hit with a wall of sound.

  People were standing outside the ship, clapping and whistling, hailing them as heroes. There had to be over a hundred people standing around.

  As Natalie and Tali smiled and waved, people came up and hugged them, patting their backs and thanking them. It was surreal. She hadn’t done it for the praise, only because she didn’t want people to be hurt or killed; and because Taavi went up and she wanted to protect him, but that was neither here nor there.

  Natalie caught a glimpse of a man at the back of the crowd and she swore she’d seen him before. He had dark hair and pale eyes, staring at her from a blank face. Her skin prickled in unease when he continued to stare – not blinking – before giving her a smirk, a brief nod, and then walking away. She watched him go, a sinking feeling invading her before she was caught up in the revelry of the people.

  As they exited the crowd, they were confronted by a mob of angry men.

  Taavi and his team were standing front and center; arms crossed across their chests and, apart from Hannan who was sporting a grin, their faces were blank. Jarrod to their right, his face flushed an angry red, his hands clenched into tight fists; and Ty and his guard to the left and back, standing there, watching the spectacle, his face set in a grim mask.

  Uh oh. This can’t be good.

  Until that moment, Natalie hadn’t realized she had been blocking Taavi, but with that thought, his broke through.

  She was flooded with his fury and anger that she hadn’t listened to him, Jarrod or Ty. Underneath that mess was hurt and disappointment that she hadn’t listened or trusted in him to come back; trusted his word that it wasn’t safe.

  She was about to say something when she felt another emotion that made her skin break out in goose bumps.

  An all-consuming fear.

  He had been terrified when he saw her there, surrounded by the Nezleans. If it hadn’t been for that last weapon, her and Tali would have been killed. His sister and his soul mate, his other half, would have just been gone, forever. And he hadn’t been able to stop or help. He had to sit there, watching and praying that they would be okay. That he and others would make it in time to help or that the Nezleans wouldn’t obliterate them.

  All of that hit Natalie in an instant and she was flooded with remorse, but also resolve. Even though she hated that she had made him feel all that, she didn’t regret saving so many men and women’s lives.

  She took a step away from Tali, walking until she was looking up into Taavi’s face. She hesitantly brought her hand up and placed it on his bicep, brushing her fingers over the muscle. When he didn’t touch her, didn’t say anything, just stood there, she moved her hand onto his heart, feeling the pounding beat there.

  A pounding he had once told her beat for her.

  She licked her dry lips and spoke. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause all this trouble. I only meant to help. But I stand by my decision. I may have helped save hundreds of lives, Nezlean and Tarlon alike, mother, father, brother, sister, wife, and husband. I don’t regret what I did. I’m just sorry I hurt you.”

  Please forgive me, Taavi. I’m sorry. Don’t hold onto this.

  She sent him all of her reasons why she did what she did, and that she would do it again. She showed him how good she had been, how she had been in her element and actually felt useful in longer than she cared to admit.

  She waited for him to respond.

  No one else spoke, waiting to see what Taavi would do.

  He took a long slow breath, held it for a few seconds, and released it. His face softened, if only a little, and his tense posture eased. He brought his hand up to cover hers on his chest and squeezed.

  Natalie slowly let out the breath she was holding, relief so intense she felt light headed, infusing her.

  “I still don’t want you doing that again. You disobeyed direct orders, from both Ty and Jarrod. I know you saved a lot of people, but I don’t want to think about that just now. I’m still angry with you, but I’m glad you and Tal are alright. We’ll talk about it more, later,” he said looking around at their audience and then added, “When we have some privacy.”

  Jarrod came up to them, blustering in anger.

  “That’s it? You’re not going to say anything else? Look at her ship!” he gestured toward her badly damaged ship. Black char marks covered the whole body, almost all of the silver Itronium hidden beneath it. “Her and your sister could have been killed! And for what? So they could have a moment of glory, of adventure?”

  Natalie scoffed. “We didn’t do it for glory or adventure, you idiot. My bond-mate went up and all I could think about was protecting him. Now I know none of you know what it means to have that, but let me tell you something, I almost physically couldn’t breathe or move knowing Taavi was up there. Did we disobey direct orders? Yes, but only because we knew we could help. Plus, I forced Tal to come with me.”

  Tali had been keeping her mouth shut, but at that, she spoke up.

  “No she didn’t. I volunteered to go with her. And come on, you guys. It’s not like we were hurting anyone. The only ones who were in danger were us, and frankly that’s not your concern. We helped to kick ass up there. You should be thanking us, not chewing our asses out.” She marched up to Natalie and grabbed her hand, tugging her away from Taavi. “I may not have the bond-mate claim, but do you really think I enjoy my brother,” Tali gestured at Taavi, and then at the other men of Team One, “any of my brothers, going out there to fight and maybe die? Do you think I would allow Natalie to go alone? No. It’s not easy, and no, I wouldn’t. So shove your rules up your ass.”

  There was a deafening silence that followed Tali’s passionate speech. No one said anything, and Natalie was uncertain if anyone would speak again.

  No one spoke as Ty moved forward and stopped in front of her and Tali. He was silent, looking between the two women, no sign of what he was thinking on his face.

  When he finally spoke, Tali clutched Natalie’s hand
tightly.

  “You have broken a direct order from your King. You have broken a direct order from the master engineer. Now, as much as I do agree that you were brave and did aid in saving many lives, I was sent by the council to hand down your punishment. You are banned from this hangar for three months.”

  “Three months? But, what about my ship? That’s totally unfair.”

  Ty held up his hand, waiting for Natalie to finish. “It was either that or you and Tali were to be thrown in jail for a month. I chose the three-month ban. Would you choose that, or jail? I’ll allow you to choose.”

  “Ban.” Tali quickly said on a breath.

  They turned to Natalie and waited for her answer. When she pursed her lips and kept silent, Ty frowned.

  “Would you rather go to jail then? Because that’s the only other option.”

  “Well,” Natalie hedged, knowing this could either go really good, or really bad. “Ty, Your majesty, I can’t say one way or another which I would prefer. There is actually something I need to say, or rather ask, before I make a decision.”

  Ty nodded his head in assent. “Proceed.”

  “Okay, well, since we destroyed many of the Nezleans, and they retreated from our space, I was wondering if it would be okay to go see if that wormhole is still there. And if we could contact my people.”

  Again silence reigned, until Jarrod gave a delicate cough, garnering Ty’s attention.

  “Majesty, as much as I hate to say this, she has a point. If there was ever an opportunity to go explore, it would be now, when the Nezlean scum have ran away. I would say it’s an ideal situation.”

  “Since this was an emergency situation, I don’t need the council’s input on making a decision. I will agree to this.”

  “Thank you, your highness. I’ll need to go with them, of course.”

  “No, you will not.”

  Natalie looked back at Taavi, begging him to help her convince him.

  Come on, Taavi. Please help me. Help me convince him. I need to see if Ben and Kayla are okay.

  She felt a little bad, using her friends as something to make Taavi help her, but whatever worked.

  Taavi gave a sigh and stepped toward them.